Windmill

Acrylic on Cardstock - 6 x 4 inches - Sold

The is one of the windmills in Golden Gate Park, near the ocean. I painted it for the Daily Paintworks Windmill Challenge. Be sure to have a look at the other entries. 

Pool View 2

Acrylic on Panel - 9 x 12 inches - Click Here to Bid

Summer time and sitting by the pool to paint go hand in hand. This is the view over the pool, to the field beyond and the trees beyond that. Not the heat of the middle of the day, but during the first cooling breezes of the late afternoon.

I painted this view a few years ago (but long ago painted over it) and thought I'd try again, with a new look at color. The original had almost the same green throughout. I wanted to see if I could use color temperature to create a better sense of depth. So painted the distant trees with a greyed down tone and painted the patio surface with more light. It's still not great, but I think it works better.

White Slip Dress

Acrylic on Panel - 5 x 7 inches - Click Here to Bid

This is an second attempt to a quick sketch I did last year. This time I worked on the measurements and shape relationships better, but still tried to rush and keep it loose. The dress has not only in light and shadow, but had a sort of glowing luminosity that was hard to capture.  I think this one turned out better, technically, but the original had more movement and excitement.

Buena Vista

Acrylic on Panel - 9 x 12 inches - Click Here to Bid

My dad was in town and I was lucky enough to go paint with him. We went driving up around Buena Vista Park, and this house and majestic palm came into view and we both knew we'd found our subject.

The light can change so much when painting outdoors, and in SF that's even more so, because our weather changes every 20 minutes it seems. I did a quick sketch and then decided to paint the brightly lit faces of the building first, because that's what I was going to loose when the light changed or the fog came in. Which it did.

The geometry was a bit difficult, because we were perched below it, so I used the Digital Viewfinder to confirm I was getting the rake of the roof right.

When I brought it in, I touched up a few spots and added the middle window frames with a knife. Perhaps too many.

Leyla

Acrylic on Panel - 10 x 10 inches - Click Here to Bid

A non-commissioned portrait of the daughter of a friend of a friend... It's extremely difficult to paint the likeness of someone you've never met, especially from photos. It's also difficult for non-painters to deliver photos that have the kind of lighting etc. that we'd like to paint.

In this case I stumbled upon a video posted on FaceBook of this adorable girl, and was able to pick the exact frame that I wanted. But, by seeing the video I could gain a greater sense of her as a person.

Another great thing about the video is that is was noisy and low resolution so nothing was overly sharp or detailed, and the lighting was fairly flat. It really just jumped out at me, so I had to paint.

We'll see if mom likes it.