More for the portrait party

Watercolor, 11×7.5″ Nel #1 (larger)
Last week I posted my portraits of Nel and Rita for the Portrait Party blog’s birthday celebration. Today I worked on painting Nel from a different photo. Above is my first attempt.
Nel and Rita both did wonderful portraits of me for the Portrait Party. You can see Rita’s here and [...]

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Am I Having Fun Yet? Uh, no.

Oil on panel, 9×12″ (reworked from original plein air) (larger)
Saturday was the first plein air paint-out of the season for the East Bay Plein Air Painters. We went to Old Borges Ranch, a charming historical old ranch with a blacksmith shop, old barns, farm animals, all surrounded by the brilliant green hills of springtime. It [...]

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Portrait Party Pics Part I

Nel in Sharpie and watercolor in Aquabee 12×9″ sketchbook (larger)
Two art blogger friends and I are swapping portraits for the Portrait Party’s Happy Birthday Party. You can see there pictures of me here on Nel’s blog and here on Rita’s Flickr page.
Anyone can join in the drawing fun. Just grab a friend and sketch each [...]

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Alpine Lake, Mt. Tam: Beautiful place, Ugh!ly paintings

It couldn’t have been a more perfect day, weather-wise, or a more beautiful site. Maybe it was the beauty and grandeur of the location that made it so hard to get a decent painting. Four of us met this morning on Mt. Tamalpais to paint and stayed until 6:00 p.m But despite the perfect conditions, [...]

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Time to Reflect Without TV

Ink in Moleskine (Larger)
This is a pocket-sized, hand-carved, portable altar. From the outside, when it’s closed, it appears to be two hands in prayer (see below). When you open it there are two serene Buddhas in meditation. (Unfortunately in my drawing they look less than serene.)

(Larger)
I watched no TV today and was astonished by [...]

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Life: NOT as Seen on TV

Ink & watercolor (Larger)
“Life is what passes you by while you’re watching TV.” I used to have a little sign on my TV with those words, but back then it was a reminder to my kids, not to me. Now I need it for me.
I was chatting with my friend Lin [View from the Oak] [...]

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Plein Air “Grunts” with No Green for St. Patricks Day

Oil on panel, 12″x16″,  (larger)
In Camille’s class today we painted at Helen Putnam Regional Park in Petaluma. Our instructions were to paint four small, very quick (about 20 minutes) starts (sort of like rough drafts in oils) on one 12×16″ panel. If I understood correctly, we were to try to capture the color temperature of [...]

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Vegetable Medley to Celebrate: Taxes Done!

Gouache on hot-pressed Arches paper, 7×5” (larger)
To celebrate E-filing my taxes tonight I wanted to paint something bright, cheery (and low calorie to make up for all the chocolate I ate while preparing the return). For years I fueled my tax preparation with a big bag of Mother’s Iced Circus Cookies that I stuck in [...]

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Red Onion, Wrench & Lighting Still Lifes

Oil on panel, 8×6″ (larger)
My favorite part of this quick oil sketch are the little flag or wing-like thingees on the top of the onion. I had a variety of problems with this painting, some of which I solved and some I didn’t.
I still haven’t gotten still life lighting worked out. I was about to [...]

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Mustard Grass Meadow, Albany CA

Oil on panel plein air (mostly), 12×9″ (Larger)
After working at my “day job” most of Monday, a day I usually don’t work, I grabbed my painting gear and headed to this field covered in brilliant mustard grass. I’d driven by the field the day before and was desperate to paint it. By then it was [...]

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Figure Painting Workshop Sketches

20 Minute Sketch: Oil on panel 12×9″ Larger
I thought I would scrape off and reuse this panel but when I photographed it I found there was something about the rawness that I liked. It was the second sketch of the first day of my “Weekend Warriors” figure painting workshop with Randall Sexton, a talented [...]

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How NOT to Start a Workshop

Ink & watercolor in Aquabee sketchbook (larger)
I’m taking a figure painting workshop this weekend from Randy Sexton in Crockett, CA. It’s two full days of painting a beautiful model both nude and clothed in exotic gowns. Although I was excited about the workshop, I was also exhausted and stressed after a very difficult week at [...]

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Eternal (& Happy Birthday Sis)

Larger
I took this photo of an old house near Berkeley’s upscale 4th Street shopping area. There’s something about the image that I find so evocative.
Today is my sister Marcy’s birthday, and while I’m thinking about birth, eternity and old houses, I invite you to visit the Blue Lotus Project (click on Craftsman Home) where you [...]

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Citrus and Camelia Plein Air

Oil on panel, 9×12″ (Larger)
You really have to work fast to do a still life outdoors in the afternoon. In less than two hours the sun moved overhead far enough that I had to stop because everything was in shadow. I’d gotten all the objects and their shadows well blocked in and probably should have [...]

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Briones Regional Park, Plein Air

Oil on wood panel, 8×10″ (Larger)

Oil on wood panel, 8×10″ (Larger)
The last time we painted in this spot I had a terrible time with my paints and then stepped in dog poo as I was leaving (which of course I didn’t notice until AFTER I got in my car and drove off). Since the painting [...]

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