The weather has turned and we're full into wind and rain. I found the leaves on my last walk with my buddy Cindi. Love the colors! My studio is pretty colorful these days too, with the bad weather settling in I spend a lot more time painting. It's great to be so productive but my studio is a MESS!
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Here are some new paintings just finished and a continuation of the scale painting. I need to keep at the scale image because there is potential there but still not quite right. Now that I'm finishing up on a number of projects it's time to start on new ideas! This is always so exciting.
The bakers scale and gas can paintings are finished! I love the feeling of finishing a piece, satisfaction (hopefully) and the excitment of setting up new scenes.
So close to finished!!! The ARC competition deadline is October 31st, the goal is to get the gas can and bakers scale paintings finished and entered on time. I'm having such fun with these paintings, their utilitarian beauty is fantastic.
The late summer flower painting is 90% there. I need to work the background a little more and the leaves need more definition. The bakers scale is at about 75% there. Still lots of work on the scale itself. The other two painting were just begun this week so they are in the beginning stages. I'm having a lot of fun with all of these because the colors palettes are my favorite. Fall colors are gorgeous!
These little critters are created by needle felting. I've seen them online and wanted to give it a try, so here is a collection of my first attempts. The technique is fairly simple and inexpensive. Just requires a little patience and a willingness to poke yourself with a really sharp needle now and then.
Well, he's off on an adventure. Last week I drove my boy up to WesternWashington University and got him set up in his dorm. He'll be sharing this tiny apartment with four other guys... can you imagine? It's been said before, but boy does it go fast. One minute you're building legos with him and the next buying stuff for his dorm room. Yikes!!!
I'm excited to see the gloves in the gas can painting are starting to really look like should. Getting there!
The old master copy is coming along. It requires a lot of patience as there is an incredible amount of detail. Once the under painting is finished I can begin glazing in color.
Pumpkins, Orange Drink and Cow paintings are finished! Red and yellow birds and the master copy still in progress. The floral is a new image. I found the flowers at the local farmers market, $5 for the whole bunch! Normally I wouldn't work on the flowers and neglect the rest of the painting but in this case it's important to get the flowers before they wilt.
The landscape is about 90% there, just some tweeking in the lower right and possibly on the cows. The figs are complete. Our local fruit market had them and I couldn't resist. If they still have them this week I may have to do another painting. I'm feeling pretty good about the progress on the gas can still life. There are many hours to go but I think the start is good and solid. The last is an old master copy I started a while back and just brought out to finish. It's mostly for practice but also pleasure,
The pumpkins are finished. Getting ready for the fall season...
This still life is inspired by memories of my Grandpa Ken. He had a shed on his property that housed all of his tools. I loved the smell of gas, oil and lumber as you walked in. There is a feeling of possibilities when you're surrounded by the tools and materials needed to fix and build things. 
These are some studies and plein air paintings from August. It's amazing how spending time really looking at what happens to light and atmospheric changes the way you see the landscape. I took a workshop from Jim Lamb and really appreciated the ideas he discussed about simplifying and editing. 
We just arrived home a couple of days ago from camping. The weather was gorgeous and we were surrounded by breathtaking vistas.
As you can see, I've been getting outside to paint. The four small paintings were the result of a workshop taught by Jim Lamb on plein air painting. We spent five days painting in Kittatas (sp) area, which was absolutely gorgeous. It's so helpful to paint on location, all of the nuances that are lost in photos are there for us to see. The atmospheric perspective is especially interesting.
are from my studio. They are all in progress. I hope to start on some new still life and landscape this week, as I'll be finishing up these paintings.
All of the major forms are blocked in and light and shadow for the most part mapped out. Now it's time to slow down a bit and work in all of the subtle variations of color and light throughout. This is the fun part, frosting the cake so to speak. On Saturday I will visit the family and take photos of the pets to add to the compositions.
