Sketches and Commissioned pieces

12" x 9" - Oils on canvas board. Had some extra paint on my palette after doing plein air. Took about an hour and half.

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Digital Sketches

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16" x 12" - Oil on canvas. Commissioned pet portrait, done from a photo provided by client.

12" x 9"

 12" x 9"

12" x 9" - Felt like doing something colorful. Unfortunately, the painting turned out almost unintelligible. It's hard to tell what the painting's subject is. 

12" x 9"

12" x 9"

18" x 14" - Commissioned piece. The piece was largely done on location, but finished with the aid of photos. The location is a country club in Burlingame.

Stony Point Road

10" x 8"
I had another spot in mind I was going to paint instead of this, but a very large man saw me getting ready to set up. 
He asked what I was doing from across the very busy road.
Me: I'm gonna paint
Him: That's not cool. Go paint somewhere else. It looks like you're......(unintelligible speech because of cars whizzing by).
I said nothing, packed up, and did what he said, I painted somewhere else. 
While getting ready at the next spot, I saw a woman walking towards me - I was already thinking she was going to tell me to leave too, but it was quite the opposite. She wanted to know if I needed help, as she thought my car might have been stuck. When I told her I was just gonna paint, she had no problem with it. 
A man who was mowing grass near the area came up to me and complimented me on the painting. I asked him if he needed me to move so that he could mow the grass near me, he said he would do it in the morning - for little old me! Incredible difference of attitude between people just by driving half a mile down the road.

While painting, some cows noticed me, looked at me simultaneously, then slowly walked right up to the edge of the fence to watch me. It is quite unnerving when a group of large animals stare at you. I thought they would get bored pretty fast, but they stood there for a good 10 minutes.

Betsy's Pond

12" x 9"

Sugarloaf Park

10" x 8"

20 Minute Digital Sketch

20 Minute Digital Sketches

20 Minute Digital Sketches

3/14/12


3/13/12

Born

8" x 10"
Process shots below:

Howarth Park and Yulupa Rocks

30" x 24"
This is a larger version of this painting.
I painted at this location 5 separate times. I learned a lot though about working at this size, and I think it wont take as long the next time around - give or take some time considering the complexity of the subject.
I truly struggled with this piece. There were many times during the process of making it that I was not happy with where it was at, so I had to force it into what I was trying to achieve - whether I achieved it or not is up to the viewer.



10" x 8"

Cemetary

18" x 14"
This was an attempt to mix together/collage different view points and times of day within one painting - similar to this work.
I don't think it turned out successful, but at the time I didn't feel any one view was interesting enough for a full piece.
At the bottom of the canvas, I tried to capture a gathering of people in mostly black attire, some in white.

Still?...Life

14" x 18"

Plein Air - Howarth Park, Yulupa Circle

8" x 10"
Definitely not a solid piece or study, but I seem to be painting this lighting scenario a lot - as it occurs often during sunset. When there are lots of trees or other complex shapes, it becomes difficult to paint in a short amount of time. To simplify these scenarios, I think I have to pick out only a few important forms, render them fairly carefully, then just quickly fill in the rest more loosely - as opposed to attempting to render everything I see.



12" x 9"



10" x 8"



10" x 8"



10" x 8"



10" x 8"



9" x 12"
This study fails as a painting on several levels, but again, even in the worst pieces there are usually some color combinations that surprise me.