Kitchen Lamp

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

A quick study of my old kitchen lamp and it's effect on the wall.

Empty Pitcher

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

Not half full, not half empty. Just plain ol' empty. A quick study of the type I usually sketch in charcoal. Turned out to be a lot more complicated in color, as I'm learning. 

ARBORE dark

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

This is the dark-side companion piece to the previous post. Not only darker and more obscured, but looser and more "melty."

All copped up into postcards and sent individually. Haven't heard back from my pen pal yet, but we'll see how well he's doing piecing these together soon. (hint - this needs a comment, ahem).

ARBORE light

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

Part of a mail-art piece, this 12x12 piece was cut into six 4x6 postcards and mailed to my mail-art associate. There's another version that was cut up and mailed simultaneously. Wonder how he'll receive them, and if he'll piece them together. Hmmm

There may be a bit of a log in posts for a while. I'm relocating, so packing, moving, landing etc., I don't have a lot of time or opportunities to paint or post. Things will be picking up again, soon.

Pond (study)

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

A quick study based on what I saw outside the DeYoung in Golden Gate Park. I hear they had a problem with killer frogs here, but I saw no frogs, so they either solved the problem, or they were already hibernating, which seems unlikely due to the extremely looooong Indian Summer we're having. I don't thing that the reflection of the trees should be so much warmer than the trees they reference. Didn't even notice that until just now.

Alamo Square Day's End

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

I just love the way the rays of the sun skip down the hill at that angle. This is from a photo, but I hope to go paint this live when the weather gets a little better.

Hayes at 6:00

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

The same view (sort of) but trying to stay abstract and just go for big color shapes. Not as easy as I thought. And as usual, I get too hung up in being literal. The colors seemed so obvious as I was watching the day end, but getting them mixed right, and placing 'em side-by-side, it quickly becomes evident that value is more important than color (well, until you get the value right, and then color becomes the issue). Ahhhh, so much to learn, so much to observe.

Hayes at Night

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

A quick study of the building across the street. More and more I'm realizing that I don't have enough, or the right kind, of lighting on my canvas and palette. It makes mixing colors difficult and this looked so different the next day. 

Vine Ripened

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

Trying hard to complete a "Carol Marine" type still life in under an hour. These are really fun to do, but I need to figure out how to control the lighting — not only on the subject, but on my palette, and on my canvas. So many variables!

Tomales Bay (revisited)

Acrylic on Canvas Board

I tried re-working the original study to improve the detail and composition, but I think the quality of light that actually inspired me originally is now gone.  I'd heard about this phenomenon, but haven't really experienced it before. And now I can't really remember what I wanted it to look like anyway. Hmmmm. My reference photos of this are terrible, and my memory and eye are not yet trained enough to remember properly. Some day. Maybe.

Oh, and the cow was in one of my reference photos so I thought I'd put that element in, but it doesn't really add anything for me.