May Study #3

Here was my quick study for day three. Another view of the happy red truck from San Luis Obispo. I was trying to say under 60 minutes but went to 90.

It's Day #2 of a painting a day under 60 minutes. This is from a photo I took last year in Santa Cruz.

Today, I silently gave thanks to my grandparents. Both sets of my grandparents chose to settle and raise families in one of the most beautiful parts of the world, Sonoma County. It rained all day and I was quite content to be working in my studio on top of the hill. I had empathy for the soggy sheep huddled outside at the fence.

For the month of May, I decided to commit myself to a daily small painting before working on one of my larger works. I am allowing myself 60 minutes for the warm up. The painting above is a figure study over an abstract background. Below is my red truck warm up from a photo I took down in San Luis Obispo.

I had two good art happenings this week. One was I was chosen to be Blick's Facebook Artist of the month and the other was I was selected to participate in Alameda's Plein Air Competition in July. These daily warm ups will get me in shape for the "quick draw". At the end of a competition, all the artists gather in one area and only have a couple of hours to complete a piece of work to be auctioned.

Though this is a painting I did last spring, I wanted to post it because on Friday it was selected to be in the Napa Art Museum's Plein Air Show. It will be displayed there for two months and also will be a page in the museum's 2010 calender. I had a wonderful day painting on Friday with my painting partner Sterling. We spent the day in one of my favorite spots, the tractor yard. This property is owned by a man named Bill who collects hundreds of tractors. I am in love with the old rusted 1950 models of Farmalls and Olivers. I love their rusted colors, flat tires,curves and boot/tin can capped exhaust pipes.
For those people who have tried to post a comment, I have now opened up the comment link to make it more accessible. I appreciate all your feedback.

Painting Classes

In February, I began offering small group painting classes. I have to admit, I was nervous about teaching adults. I have been teaching children for over ten years and felt I had the kid lingo down. It has surprised me how much I enjoy teaching adults painting. My Petaluma studio is in a great location. It sits on a hill on my late grandparents ranch overlooking great views and the Sonoma Mountains. I have sentimental feeling towards my ranch studio. My grandparents built the ranch back in the fifties and the studio which is part basement was worked on by both my uncle and father when they were young. When I was four, my parents bought and built a log cabin kit on another hill adjacent to my studio. I have memories of sleeping in the cabin as my parents built it. The roof was not on and we would lay in our sleeping bags staring up at the stars. The above painting was painted plein air from my studio in December.

Today I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. My country studio sits on a hill and the wind was like a tornado. From the windows I could see birds whizzing through the air and an inflated plastic green bag dancing across the sky. I am a little late this week on my blog. Last week was insanely busy with no time to paint and yesterday I ended up at the doctors with a case of bronchitis. Today I was able to finish this painting of another view from my studio. I also started a small painting of jazz musicians over an abstract. If the wind dies down this week, I planning to spend the rest of my Easter vacation painting outside.

Yesterday I finished the Santa Cruz painting and I am happy how it turned out. I really enjoyed painting the small abstract window reflections and working in the abstract under painting into the road. Last week I received an email asking if I would like to show at a Wine Tasting Room in Healdsburg called Rosenblum Cellars. It turned out to be a great place and tomorrow I am setting up a show. I am so inspired by the Santa Cruz painting that it makes me want to take a break from landscapes and focus on urban. Too much to paint and so little time.