Back from Pismo Workshop.... June 21, 22 & 23 2013

Shell Beach Icon Study, oil on linen, 8"x12"

Well I'm back from my Pismo/Shell Beach Workshop in the beautiful Central Coast. This was a very small and intimate group of painters but dedicated and hard working just the same. They produced some very good work. I'll will try and see if can talk them in to posting some of their paintings in my next blog. Here are five paintings I did while I was teaching and helping out my students.

If you've ever been in this area in the summer, you know the weather sometimes can be a little foggy/overcast. I sorta expected a day or maybe two days of iffy weather. It can also be fairly cool during the month of June. Even the wind on the central coast can sometime be a bit strong for painting outdoors. Much to my wonder and delight we had 70 degrees bright and sunny weather both Friday and Saturday!  I was so appreciative of our good luck. And Although Sunday morning started out a little overcast as luck would have it cleared up by 11a.m and we were happy painters once again. I hope you enjoy the work.

Sorry, some you folks missed a great time.

 Dinosaur Cave Park, oil on linen, 9"x12"

View from Shell Beach Cliffs, oil on linen, 14"x11"

Shell Beach Icons, oil on linen, 16"x 20"

 Painting from Avila Pier, oil on linen, 11"x14"

Figure Drawing, Pastel Painting and Pleinair work.

I attended a figure drawing class last night in San Pedro a wonderful little city just across the bridge from Long Beach. This class is composed of three hours of short and long poses. The model was really a joy to draw. She was imaginative and creative with each pose, especially the longer poses. Below is a pastel drawing I thought was worth posting. This drawing was one of the longer poses...a 20 minute pose. The size of this piece is 16" x12". Really liked this models attitude and of course the unusual props.

I also finished a pastel piece (9"x12") that I have been toying with for sometime. There were elements in this design I wasn't happy with so I decided to display this little fellow on my mantel in my living room. I do that sort of thing every now and again when I 'm not satisfied with a painting. I like to put the painting out somewhere in my line of sight so that I can revisit it. Of course this action also reminds me that I'm not done with the piece yet. Every once and a while I would stop by the fireplace and visit this landscape and ponder the possibilities of change. Then one day it hit me. What this piece needed was some scale. This painting needed something that would give a relationship and presence to the size of the trees and landscape.  So I put the figures in and added the fire and smoke as a secondary center of interest and compositional balance. OK. Now it works for me.

And finally I finish an oil painting I did while teaching my Friday landscape class. I say finish but quite honestly I may still go back with some last minute changes. My class and I have been painting in and around the Palisades Park in Santa Monica for a couple of weeks now. There is so much to paint here. We have the ocean and mountains, structures and trees not to mention all the people and dogs there are to paint. If there's a drawback I would say the price of parking but everything seems to have a price? I mean we are painting in Southern California? You can't have everything.

The image I'm posting today was painted very close to the large green pavilion in the park on Ocean and Idaho.

I teach a plein-air painting class every Friday for Kline Academy here in the Los Angles area. You can always check us out at http://www.klineacademy.com/ 

Let me know your thoughts, comments or questions. Cheers!

It's been sometime since I've Posted on my blog

Well it has been sometime since I've posted anything on my blog.  So here are a few images that I've finished.

It's not like I haven't been busy 'cause I have. Teaching mostly. Its just that blogging is not what I think about doing when I've got a to do list.

Most of the time when I do paint today it's usually in my Friday Landscape class. Although this summer I do hope to be getting outside here in Signal Hill/Long Beach to do some pleinair painting. I'm also hope to be doing so long awaited studio painting.

Here are some images I've painted over the last six months or so.

Last Evening at Andreas Canyon, 12"x16" oil on linen panel

Morning Sail,  12"x16" oil on linen panel

Across the Lagoon, 12"x16" oil on Linen Panel

Across the Bay in Morro Bay, 18"x24" oil on stretched canvas

Big Sky at King Gillette Ranch, oil on 11"x14" linen panel

Enjoying The Day at Santa Monica, oil on 11"x14" linen panel

Morning Shadows at Temescal Canyon, oil on 16"x20" linen panel

Pathway at Will Roger State Park, 11"x14" linen panel

Reminds me of Marilyn Monroe, 8"x10" on stretched canvas

What I did on my summer vacation

Looking East off Highway 6, 11" x 14" oil on linen

Bishop California. What a terrific place to paint and wander. In years past I've always traveled through this sleepy town on my way to Mammoth or other parts North thinking I'm really not missing much. Boy was I wrong. This summer my good painting pal and generous friend Joe Mancuso invited me along for a three day painting trip. Needless to say it was memorable. The good thing was...Joe knows Bishop. When he was a kid Joe and his family spent many summer in the area and because of that we were able to preplanned our painting locations. We visited almost all the painting areas first and decided which would be morning painting and which would be good evening locations. The painting above is one of three pieces I'll be posting. Stay tuned. More to come.

Will Rogers' Blacksmith Barn

Over the past few weeks my Friday landscape class has been painting at Will Rogers' State Park here in LA. The weather has been perfect in so many ways. Rogers' State Park is a good place to paint but like many locations one needs to slooow down and pay attention to the elements in order to find the right composition. I'm not just talking about usual trees and fences. I'm actually looking for the abstract qualities. I'm looking for the verticals and horizontals, big and small shapes, light and shadow, scale and patterns. These are the elements I search for because I've learned these are the keys to creating a good painting. My class and I have scoured these grounds both North and South looking for just the right composition and yet sometimes you overlook the most obvious things. I must have walked by this composition five or six times but never really saw it. You need to look at things from all angles and really slooow down. That was my lesson in this painting.

4th of July Weekend

I thought I would post some paintings I finished over the 4th of July weekend. I like most artist have a ton of unfinished paintings that I keep promising I will finish someday. As someone once said there are many days of the week on the calendar but "someday" is not one of them. So having some time over the 4th I thought OK it time.

When I begin to work on this sort of painting the one thing I notice is that the emotional connection has changed. It now feels a little mechanical. Generally I will only return to a painting if I feel I already have a good start and good reference. My other consideration is to try not over use my reference material. How do I know when I'm finished? I know I'm finished when I feel I've said enough in the painting to keep folks interested but not bored. My goal is to simplified enough information to let the viewers participate. Not all passages in a painting need to be explained. OK enough said.

Starting from the top the paintings are "Desert Bloom" 5x7, "Malibu Creek Bridge", 5x7 and "Still Life Drama" 14x11.

Enjoy!

Still Life In the Cape Cod Style

Elaine, a landscape student of mine actually inspire this painting last week. She is working very hard in my Friday landscape class trying to achieve a different painting style. She really loves color and is determined to get more color in her landscapes. She has been reading "Painting The Impressionist Landscape" by Lois Griffel which is all about using color to express light. The book promotes the principles and techniques that were developed by American impressionist Charles Hawthorne, founder of the Cape Cod School of Art. She gave me the book to read so that I could help her achieve her new goal. And I did read it here and there but decided if I was going to help her understand these principles maybe I should give it a try. So I created this 12" x 16" oil painting on a linen panel. Sad to report these peonies literally died in the sun for this painting. (Thanks Maylei). This style of painting was not as easy as it looks. It takes a lot of mental planning, underpainting and really being observant about cool and warm light... and yes still working with values. It was a challenge. I'll have to read more and try to do more.