Last Weekend of Sonoma County Art Trails

Roughen It

Here is the finished version and another personal favorite from my trailer series.   One of my personal goals this year is to work more on including figures into my paintings.  Unlike my "Let the Good Times Role", this painting was painted on a pre painted canvas so some of texture and color coming through is from the last painting.  It makes the process a totally new experience.  When I start on a blank canvas, it is a very direct road to where I want to go.  Using abstract or previous paintings I find myself looser and more experimentive. I will make washes for shadows leaving some traces of the former underneath or leave bits of unexpected color peering through.

Let the Good Times Roll

Just finished my first weekend of Sonoma County Artrails.  Had a wonderful time sharing my newest works and it is always great to see people return to the studio. I decided to paint a series of vintage trailers inspired from a show at our local campground.  The above was one of my favorites from the series. Had so much fun painting these that I decided next year I am going to rent a cabin at the campground so I can paint plein air and catch some trailers in morning and evening light.

Trailer Series

New trailer painting on the easel.  Very excited about this one.  I am happy with the figures and light.  Still a work in progress.

My Heart Sings

The above painting is one of my most recent ones.  I was so excited painting it that I found myself so driven so that I could not focus on anything else.  This is a friend's niece visiting from Japan.  They went to San Francisco Academy of science.  I painted it using a poorly printed image from my computer.  I had a teacher once tell me that "poor pictures can make great paintings".  His point was that the artist has to fill in the blanks instead of being so caught up in the details of a photo. At one point, I left the photo and began experimenting with edges and values.  This is a large piece 48" x 30".  The title was a gift from a friend who  said when she looked at the painting it made her heart sing.  

The Silver Lining

 

An unexpected breakthrough arrived recently after a long frustrating day of painting.  Though I usually paint tractors and landscapes, lately I have been drawn to portraits.  They are both painful and compelling to paint.  Painful because of how exacting the measurements must be to capture a persons likeness and compelling because of the desire to capture their expression and their spirit

on a flat surface. I have found myself working countless hours on the same piece feeling guilty of neglecting the beautiful spring fields now awash in yellow mustard flowers.
     The other week I entered my studio with the conviction I would not touch the portrait but force myself to paint a landscape but upon seeing my recent portrait all my conviction evaporated.  My painting time is precious with the rest of my time divided between teaching and family. So it was on that day, I continued to struggle through the portrait only to find after five hours that I had only made it much worse. I was deflated. It was time to take a rag and wipe it all out.   Soaking a rag full of turp, I prepared my usual attack to remove all traces of my day's failure.   Then it happened.   I did not erase with my usual valor but went slowly as if unpainting my days work and what emerged was an unexpected breakthrough. The hard edges blurred and my strong colors mixed and my days catastrophe turned into a happy accident.

Day three working on garden painting.  Felt much better about the painting today. I have been waiting a couple of days in between  to let the paint set up.  Today I was able to get it to look fresh.  My idea was to paint a strong woman figure gardening.  I want the garden to become a jungle.