This is a commission I just completed for one of my collectors. This is of his family's Ford tractor purchased new back in the forties. It sits on his family's ranch out in Northern Colorado. I found myself painting much softer after a semester of figure painting. Skin has so many more subtle transitions that it made me see so much more when painting other subjects.

My blogs have dwindled since my enrollment at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. Between teaching art three days a week, taking two classes in the city and trying to keep up with my homework on the weekends, I have lost almost all contact with the outside world. Now I am between semesters and have a moment to reacquaint myself with old friends and my blog.

Last semester I took figure painting and have never worked so hard in a class. It is funny remembering how when I first started painting and developed "painter's vision". By "painter's vision" I mean I suddenly saw the world as a painting. Colors of fields and old twisted fence posts took on a whole new interpretation. This vision was limited to my subject matter which consisted of landscapes, old tractors and cityscapes. Now with figure painting, I get a whole new vision of people. Their faces now morph into interesting shadow patterns, color notes and cast and form shadows. Above is a painting I did for my final last semester.

This painting I started during the "The Great Petaluma Paint Out" and finished on Monday for a homework assignment. The Petaluma Mill has always been one of my favorite painting subjects.

This painting was done of Petaluma two weeks ago of my favorite French Bistro.

I finished this in time for my class tomorrow. I really had fun painting this way. Much more sculptural.

Even the cows were on strike today. This morning driving to the studio it rained the umpteenth time. The cows had given up and were sitting in huddled groups in the wet fields. Though the day started wet and cold, my studio time flew by. I am working on an assignment due Monday for grad school and picked a cityscape. In this painting, I am experimenting with a palette knife and am working super thick. The results are exciting but defiantly a longer process. This is the first stage from last week. Tomorrow I will post the finished piece.

I just finished adding the last touches to this tractor painting after receiving some critiquing from my professors.