Zangle Tideland

"Zangle Tideland", 8 x 8 In, Oil on Museum Board, Unframed

To paint over and over what is directly in front of you--that is the exercise of a lifetime.

Pricing for this unframed painting.
Contact me if you would like to purchase a plein air frame.

Pink Rose

"Pink Rose", 8 x 8 In, Oil on Museum Board
This is a study using a big brush to lay down abstract shapes, more or less. I want to go more abstract, but it requires a new process--and I keep falling back on what I know. So this and some of the paintings to come are somewhere in between and in order to not become too particular, I am leaving them in a rougher stage.

Purchase this unframed painting.
Contact me if you would like to purchase a plein air frame

Roses in Orange Cup - SOLD

"Roses in Orange Cup", 8 x 8 In, Oil on Museum Board
This is another small painting with big thick brushstrokes--I way I particularly like to paint.

Two White Roses - SOLD

"Two White Roses", 8 x 8 In, Oil on Museum Board
Last year I was expanding to larger size panels, but now I'm back to smaller ones and it feels right for now.

Rose Study

"Rose Study", 8 x 8 In, Oil on Museum Board
Sometimes small fast studio paintings are the ticket to deal with angst about what to paint. They are fun and I may be doing more of them!


Purchase this unframed painting.
Contact me if you would like to purchase a plein air frame.

Two Roses - SOLD

Sometimes its fun and a big break to do fast and small still life paintings.

Above Grinnell Lake - SOLD

"Above Grinnell Lake", 8 x 8 In, Oil on Museum Board
This was actually my last painting of the trip on the day we hiked the mile up to Grinnell Lake, after the first three paintings. I wasn't sure I had another painting in me, but this view looking up from the lake toward the basin of the Grinnell Glacier was worth it.

SOLD

Yellow Apple

"Yellow Apple", 8 x 10 In, Oil on Panel
This painting is just what it is--I don't have much to say about it. Some days I just paint and see what happens.

Purchase this unframed painting.
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Jar and Pear

"Jar and Pear", 8 x 8 In, Oil on Museum Board
I'm going to start my new year of blogging with this modest little painting done late in the day as the natural light from my skylight was diminishing. Ovanes once commented that a student should do 20 or 25 paintings a day and it made me wonder seriously if he had actually ever done that. I think the most I have done (other than quick sketches in a class) was seven small paintings in a day and at the end of that day I was exhausted. But it is good to do a second painting in a day because after the first one, I give a big sigh of relief and realize that now I can do whatever I want! And if both turn out OK, then the next day I will feel even more experimental. Such is the psychology of painting ahead!

Purchase this unframed painting.
Contact me if you would like to purchase a plein air frame.

Yellow Mug

"Yellow Mug", 8 x 8 In, Oil on Museum Board
I did this painting a few days ago at the end of the day after I had gotten fed up with spending so much time on another painting. Sometimes it relieves the painting soul to just slap on the paint and not worry about the result, but it is definitely easier to do this on a small size panel.

Purchase this unframed painting.
Contact me if you would like to purchase a plein air frame.

Tibetan Woman - NFS

"Tibetan Woman", 8" x 8", Oil on Museum Board
At the end of our trip to China in 2009, we hired a driver to take us from Zhongdian (now called Shangrila by the Chinese) on a seven hour journey over a 15,000 foot pass to a remote small village on the headwaters of the Mekong River in the Tibetan area of China--called the Three Parallel Rivers, a World Heritage Site.  This lovely young Tibetan woman agreed to pose for us in traditional costume.  I did a painting of her at the time and this side view was done from a photograph.  The most fun thing about Zhongdian, also Tibetan, is the nightly dancing--young and old and tourists dance for about two hours.  Believe me, it is more complicated than it looks!

Zangle Cove #14

6/14/10 "Zangle Cove #14", 8" x 8", Oil
I realized this morning that the tension around being in the Daily Painters Contest for so many days was causing me to veer off into being too careful.  So this is a not-so-careful painting, and by that I mean painting with a big brush--a #10 bristle, a lot of paint, in a short period of time--about 30 to 40 minutes.  One thing I admire about painters like Sorolla, is the tactile quality of the paint surface--and that seems to be partly because he painted fast.

This painting is a snapshot of the light in the Cove and the height of the tide this morning from about 9:15 to 9:45 am.  The tidal variations are a fact of life here--they vary approximately from a high of +14 to a low  of -4.  The lowest tides during the summer occur during the day. During the winter the lowest tides occur during the night.  Because we live on a small pocket estuary, when the tide goes out there are mud flats--and it is teaming with life.  Yesterday I saw some crows harassing a bald eagle.

Zangle Cove #11

6/11/10 "Zangle Cove #11", 8" x 8", Oil
This was a quick 40 minute sketch with the goal of making color notations.  The tide was going out this morning with bright but overcast skies.

Zangle Cove #10

6/10/10 "Zangle Cove #10", 10" x 12", Oil
I am always trying to find new ways to express the moods of the Cove, mostly through color and abstraction.  Sometimes everything about the Cove is misty and ambiguous.  Other times there is great clarity in the air.  Sometimes the water is emerald, other times violet.  This was a violet water day.

Miraculously, I made it into the top 5 on the Daily Painters Contest. I'm still not sure how the voting works--some people say you can vote again in a new round. Thank you for your support and words of encouragement!

Zangle Cove #7

6/4/10 "Zangle Cove #7", 8" x 8", Oil
Limited Palette--Triadic:  Viridian, Dioxine Purple, Cadmium Orange, Titanium White

For a landscape painting like this, the limited palette of secondaries is interesting.  Beautiful blues can be made from purple and green, interesting reds from orange and purple, and muted yellows from orange and green, turning the idea of "primaries" somewhat on its head.

Harstine Island

5/31/10 "Harstine Island", 8" x 8", Oil
A break in the incessant rain brings paradise in the Pacific Northwest.  Thank you again to everyone who voted for me on the Daily Painters Contest.  I made it to the top 10 and this round of voting is open until June 8.  There are some artists way out ahead with votes, but if you'd like to help me give a good showing, then go to the contest page and vote for me.  Remember that it is the number of votes that count, not the star rating.

Custard Dish and Spoon

3/9/10 "Custard Dish with Spoon", 8" x 8", Oil
I'm not actually sure this is a custard dish, but it was fun to paint.  This painting is a little abstract and I was having fun with saturated color.

One of my subscribers asked me about how I prep the panels, what kind of gesso I use and how I lay in the paint.  I either use cut pre-primed linen for these smaller paintings, or more frequently, panels made from 4-ply all cotton rag museum board.  I get the museum board in 32 x 40 sheets and seal them on both sides with Gamblin PVA glue.  Then I roll on (with fine white roller) three coats of Basic Liquitex Gesso (not Liquitex Pro) to one side of the sheet.  Then sometimes I put an imprimatura (transparent toned ground) on the entire sheet.  Lately I've been using ivory black/ultramarine mixture diluted in Gamsol.  I put this on with a large foam brush.  Then I cut the panels with my mat cutter.  Of course everything has to dry in between layers.

I usually start the painting with a rough structural sketch (meaning placement/design rather than detail), then a thin layer of paint (not diluted with turp or spirits) using a big brush such as a #10 filbert or #10 round bristle brush) with big flat shapes of color to develop the value structure of the design and the color structure of the design.  Then I go back with thicker paint to work and finish the painting.  It doesn't always go like this from start to finish--if something is not working, then I may scrape off paint or redefine the design with structural lines.  This is just a general outline.

Hope this answers the questions!

Red Mug, Green Apple

2/23/10 "Red Mug, Green Apple", 8" x 8", Oil
Landscape painting is easier for me, so going back to the still lifes is a struggle, but learning how to do it is a worthwhile goal.