Painting 118 Pigeon Pt. Lighthouse (oil)

Pigeon Point Lighthouse, oil on canvas board, 12 x 9" is the same painting that I did in watercolor, but I switched to oils. I like the windows in the lighthouse, the water splashing, and the mustard in the loose foreground.

Paintings 113, 114, and 115 NH Foliage

These two cuties are (below) Concord Road and (right) Chopper's Walk, both oil on canvas, 2.75 x 2.75". I painted from photos that I took when I visited Dee and Fran this last October.
I painted NH Leaf Peeper (above), oil on canvas board, 9 x 12", during the last day of my Senior's art class and touched it up on Friday. I have gotten a lot of mileage out of the photos from that trip.

Day 127 HMB Kayak Co.

I painted HMB Kayak Co. (oil on canvas board, 16 x 12") out yesterday with Rebecca. I see these colorful kayaks many times a day as Harold and I ferry onto Highway One. I have wanted to paint them for years, so yesterday was the day.

I first painted an underpainting of yellow and orange. Then I sketched them with french ultramarine blue a la Van Gogh. In the image below, it looks as though he outlined in black or indigo, but when you see the original at the Getty, you can see that it is french ultramarine for sure. (Thanks Grant and Julie for taking me to the Getty, which continues to inspire me.)

One thing that I am noticing about my oils this year, is that I am getting looser and looser, which doesn't surprise me because I like to paint fast and just capture the feel of the place rather than try to produce a photo like quality. Also, it is often cold, damp, and windy out painting here on the coast, and I would rather finish in the field than go inside with a photo for the final details. I think it keeps the paintings much fresher.

I would like to paint this scene again, but from farther back, so that more of the harbor is in view and the kayaks are smaller in the focal point in the lower right hand sweet spot.

I thought that you might like to see my easel set up out when I paint plein air.

Days completed: 77

Days missed: 50

Days to go: 238

Day 118 Roses

Roses (oil on canvas board, 8 x 10") was painted in less than 1/2 hour as a demonstration painting during my Wednesday afternoon Senior Coastsiders art class. For the first time, I set up a still life from which we all painted. Go to my sister blog called Coastside Artists to see some of the student's work. http://coastsideartists.blogspot.com/

Days completed: 76

Days missed: 42

Days to go: 247

Day 79 HMBVFD Bell

I've been working on HMBFVD Bell (oil on canvas board, 12 x 16") all week. I went down to the fire station to take more pictures of the wall on the right of the painting so that I could finish it up tonight. It was very important to Clay that I get the shape of the bell just right. Claire, too. She says, "the bell looks like a bell, now."

The writing on the arch that supports the bell reads, "STEEL ALLOY" and "ALARM BELL". Even though the real plaque is rather wordy and describes the history of the bell, the plaque in the painting reads:

100 YEARS OF SERVICE

HMBVFD

I'll donate this picture to the HMBVFD Crab Feed and Auction on June 5th. (Tickets are $55/person.)

Days completed: 79

Days missed: 16

Days to go: 286

Collection of Max DeVos

Day 56 Ross's Cove

I took the dogs for a walk up on the bluff by Mavericks today. I had my oils and an old canvas in the back of Harold so I hiked back up the bluff and painted Ross's Cove (oil, 11 x 14") in about an hour and half. Bailey took off but came back just as I was leaving. I think he was on the road eating worms.

Days completed: 52

Days missed: 4

Days to go: 309

Day 53 Ocean Course

After tennis, I stopped Harold at the parking lot and painted Ocean Course (watercolor, 5 x 7"). It wasn't quite sunset; but, hey, artist's prerogative.

Does anyone know what hole this is?

Days completed: 50

Days missed: 3

Days to go: 312

Day 48 Old Hay Derrick

One more try at the Old Hay Derrick (watercolor, 5 x 7"). I used a couple of Zoltan Szabo's techniques: one, putting in the mountain range last; and, two, using backruns to form the trees.

Days completed: 48

Days to go: 317

Day 30 Red Mushroom (oil)

Fascinated with this Amanita muscaria, I painted it in oil, 8 x 10".

Days completed: 30

Days to go: 335

Day 20 East of the Weir

East of the Weir (oil, 8 x 10") is the same view as the one in Walker River from Day 11, only in oils.

Days completed: 20

Days to go: 345

Day 17 Calla Lilies

Calla Lilies (oil, 20" x 16") was Eleanor's idea. She cut the flowers in the yard and arranged them in the vase. The blue velvet is left over from the shadow box from Clay's uncles.

I've never painted a still life in oils before; this was my first attempt. I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I almost feel that I was sculpting the flowers, rather than painting them.

Days completed: 17

Days to go: 348

Day 16 Blue Farmhouse

Blue Farmhouse (oil, 12" x 16") is the next painting in the series I started yesterday. I started out in plein air, but finished up in the garage working from the photos that I took today.

The most amazing thing about this scene is the mustard field in which this blue farm house sits, which I've wanted to paint for years, every time the mustard blooms. The mustard is false advertising, a lost leader. Once committed, the difficult decisions begin: what to omit, what to leave in, how to shade the angles of the house...

Days completed: 16

Days to go: 349

Day 13 Hydrangea

Hydrangea (oil, 8" x 10") is the view out the window of the Sunroom at the Ted Adcock Community Center in Half Moon Bay where I teach my Wednesday afternoon art class for Seniors. I originally planned to go in early and paint another snow painting from Glenn's ranch, but, when I got there, I realized that I didn't have any white paint. Ooops, kinda hard to paint a snow painting without any white paint. Time for plan B.

One of the "rules" that I made for myself when I made this New Year's Resolution was that I could work on a painting for more than one day, and the day that I finished it would become the day that I could post it. In this manner, I could paint some larger pieces as long as I did a "quickie" to post for the day.

Luckily, I had this painting that I had started this summer of the hydrangea outside the art room and had a print of a picture that I had taken from my cell phone. The colors of the hydrangea were so beautiful, I wanted to capture the feel of these colors. And best of all... I didn't need white paint!

Days completed: 13

Days to go: 352

Day 10 Mason Valley

Mason Valley (oil, 12" x 16") is the view driving out of Glenn's back yard. I particularly liked the tracks in the snow with the blue shadows, the fence post, and, of course, the cottonwood trees and willows. I painted for nearly three hours using Quinacridone Gold, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, and, mostly, cerulean blue.

Days completed: 10

Days to go: 355