Friday, October 19, 2007

Sunny Acres and Dan's Crane SLO


Sunny Acres 12x16
Another view of Dan's place. I plan to finish this one
out a bit more, but decided to put it up anyway.


Oil 9x12

Note: My on e man show at Segil has been extended for a week, if you thought you missed it you still have until Oct 27th.

Dan De Vaul runs Sunny Acres on his ranch on Los Osos Valley Road a the clean and sober facility in San Luis Obispo County. He’s given a hard time by the locals, as they don’t care for old rusty cars, and neat piles of firewood. He’s up against the local money of the once small town that is now becoming a haven for corporations and chain retail who want him out due to the run down nature of his place.



Of course I found the place rustic and beautiful. The residents I talked to were sober and trying to turn their lives around. He was kind enough to let me have free run of the place and I did two different paintings on two different mornings. If anyone knows someone who works in welding metal that has an artistic bent and needs a place to live with a full metal and wood shop with free assistants, Dan is looking for someone to help find a way to use old wood and metal to make some kind of sellable art objects or gifts for tourists.



If I were young and freewheeling or need a little help with sobering up I’d go for it. San Louis Obispo is a lovely area, clean air mountains and a beach nearby. Contact me if you think you know of someone who would fit the bill.

19 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

I love your painting with the crane and I love this photo with the car, It would be a perfect sketch for my new long sketchbook in which I only want to draw American engines...trucks, trains, cars, fire engines...

10:49 PM  
Blogger Stefan Nuetzel said...

Another great WW painting with an unusual composition. I like the subtle variety of the colors in the lower part ( I mean the manmade things). It is like Stef said, the car would make a great painting.

12:44 AM  
Blogger tonypetersart said...

Looks like you pulled a nice painting out of the old scrap yard, I really like the color in that crane painting. Excellent comp too, those hills receding into the distance work well. And the gravity of the scrap yard ranch toward the bottom is killer. I love that I can see little recognizable details of cars and trucks down there.

Nice photos too, and you're still probably holding back your favorites for refrence. One of them reminds me of a Van Gosh landscape... but with a rusty car plopped down in the middle.

2:06 AM  
Blogger Tim Bye said...

Tremendous stuff - I love the pinkish undercoat shining through - super

7:23 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Sketch away Stef I'd love to see your version. Lets go on a photo safari soon.

12:06 PM  
Blogger MARCO PIERSMA said...

Great painting!
About visiting Ireland and finding out places to paint:
I know lots of them for ya: beautiful nature , lots of ruins, etc. and the place where I live has a lot of old derilict farmbuildings and there's lots of old junk, dying and rusty agricultural machinery and other things lying about.There are also hundreds of rooks(large crows,who live here up in the trees) flying around at dawn and dusk. It's like "The Birds" here every day.
Not everyone's cup of tea, but right up your street I think.
Let me know when you're planning to come over.
Realy like visiting your blog.
It's never boring.
Cheers!

6:10 AM  
Blogger Cooper Dragonette said...

Great painting and fascinating back story Bill. Great work as always!

7:44 AM  
Blogger Miles Thompson said...

nice sky family and great tight clumps of color billy - i say yes

my bro in-law lives in osos and man it's dead cold there

8:22 AM  
Blogger Ambera said...

Your neutral grays in the first painting are still so vivid and dynamic. How do you do it? My grays, even using just the primaries to mix them, always seem flat. I'm impressed!

4:32 PM  
Blogger William K. Moore said...

great pics and even better painting. appears your eye has regained its sharp focus. your pictures have given my inner hillbilly much solace and happiness.

10:29 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Hey Stefan,

I may just paint it. so many to do!

11:50 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Hey Tony,

Since I hate the sun my choices of views were limited. In this case it got me to paint a view I might not ordinarily have done. Sometimes limited choices work. I took a few more shots, but quickly got to work.

11:57 AM  
Blogger Ger Apeldoorn said...

Bill,

If I want to buy the book, is there a way to indicate I am from the Netherlands so the postage will be adjusted? Or do I just repay you in copies of unknown 1944 Kurtzman work?

2:19 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Hey Ger-- sure the Kurtzman thing works-- Why not just go to your paypal account and send me the quasi cash direct?

11:27 AM  
Blogger Leslie Sealey said...

I like the composition in the top painting (with the blue and white RV). Do you take canvases that are already toned, or do they make you start with a white canvas during these paint-outs? Just curious! : )

2:24 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

thanks Tim!

1:06 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Sounds good marco-- I'll keep in touch.

1:07 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

This might be the man: www.byjohan.se

Maybe a bit too far to go?!

Anyway, he's worth a look.

/R.

12:20 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Hey Rita-- Can you point him my way?

11:27 AM  

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