Gold Country Plein Air + Monrovia Backyard

I'll be at this little paint out, I hope you can stop by-- Sponsored by the Vault gallery--see links------->>>>

Gold Country Plein Air

Directions to Paint-out Site Saturday, May 5: From the west, Highway 108 through Oakdale. Skip the first "Sonora" exit and turn right at the next exit, Limekiln Road. See signs for Mountain Springs, 2 miles. 17566 Limekiln Road.

From the North: Highway 49 through Angels Camp, on to Sonora. Stay on Washington Street (same as 49 until the stoplight), do not follow 49 to Oakdale. Washington Street crosses Highway 108 and changes name to Limekiln. 17566 Limekiln.News!
(4/14/07) The location for the paint-out is on the Mountain Springs property. Not the golf course, but on the ranch area. With rolling hills, oaks, wildflowers, barns, cattle, ponds, it's just perfect! And very beautiful. We will have a crew out there on Saturday morning from about 7:30 onwards helping you find parking and the artists. This is going to be a great spot and I can't wait to see the paintings roll off the easels.

Artists will arrive and be ready between 8 and 9 a.m. and will paintuntil 2 p.m. Parking will be near the artists on a dirt trail, or at the golf clubhouse parking lot a short walk away. Lunch at Birdie's Cafe at the clubhouse until 3 p.m. And a porta potty onsite. All the modern conveniences. Bring bikes or a picnic lunch, hats and cameras, make this a fun day. Think about bug spray and sneakers and sun lotion.



Also here is back yard view in Monrovia. 9x12 oil on linen panel. This is a departure as I didn't paint my usual ground color-- this is pure canvas. Feels a bit washed out, but it sort of suits the white light that was the moment.

Tearing It Down

This is part of the glass Bottling plant they have in El Monte. I first painted it last year when they were still in operation, finishing their last Coke in glass bottle order. I believe the rumor is that Coke is going all plastic. The security guy told me that the operation itself was losing money do to the high cost of running antique equipment. I imagined this will be a blow to the locals. A lot of jobs lost in this closing. To bad as I think we are on the cusp of figuring out how bad drinking water from plastic is along with the better taste glass gives beverages.
This a view I could see from the street before as the building in front of it was torn down. I considered my painting unfinished, but sort of like the abstracted quality that gives the painting. Honesty, I also needed to feed the blog and It's hard to find the time to paint.






When there today---this is the same view-- BOOM!

Garfield Substation

. 8 x10 oil on linen.

It was with unexpected delight that I had some backgrounds I had planned to do over the weekend cut form the show I was working on so I got to go out and do some P A painting. I've been is the studio so much this was a real treat.
This is on a hill above The Pasadena Department of Water and Power. It was a gray day, but I still tried to get a little more color into the shot than was really there. Something about palm trees is always fun.

Also a reminder to make it to try and make it to my Demo This Wednesday the 18th at the Riverside Museum of art. 6:30. scroll down for more info. Only 5 bucks!

Foggy Busses

oil on linen 8x10
While walking around the San Francisco bay bridge I wandered into a huge city parking lot where all the busses were out except these three. It was getting dark and the fog came in obscuring the bay behind the busses. Only in the big cities do you find land by the water used for parting lots. Somehow I found the little group compelling. I did this little study and may do a bigger version soon. I had a heck of a time scanning this one, dosen't quite do it justice.

SF NIght

A shot from a hotel room down in the tenderloin. The night wasn't this warm, but the reference photo made it look that way and I like the effect. 24x32 oil on wood. I also played up the sky out of out of my head. I may re- work the clouds a bit more.

Lincoln Cropped.

My new job is seriously cutting into my painting time. Here is part of a large unfinished portrait of Lincoln it ran out of steam on two weeks ago. It's mostly done, but the hands that are hard to see it the photo. I think I need to photograph reference to finish. Anyone have Lincoln hands and live in Southern California? The full painting is about 16x24 the crop is about 11x15 oil on wood. Why Lincoln? Your guess is as good as mine. I always wanted to paint him. Had a love affair with the penny as a child. I don't know how much more you can bring to the most famous photo of him by Mathew Brady, but I gave it a shot. For years I didn't do it as I felt Mark Ryden artisticly owns his image, but as you can see I changed my mind. A nod to Keewon Hong http://keewonhong.blogspot.com/ who's portrait of a civil war General reawakened my dormant need.