Dusk Tranquility

Dusk Tranquility

I've never attempted a 'sunset' with my oils / acrylics, so this is my first shot.  Done in acrylic, one has to work really fast to blend the colors before they dry.  This scene is fictitious, gleaned from my memory of this and that, growing up in Kansas.  The grass on the other side of the road wasn't intended to look like a marsh, although they has some soggy weather last year.  

It's always an adventure...

Cottonwoods

This will be at the Parklane Gallery during May and June.  It's from my photo just outside of Salina, Kansas.

It's always an adventure...

Duster!

Duster

My family lived through this up in Salina, albeit on the edge.  I read "The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy Egan, saw the PBS special.  It affected me.  The magnitude of these dust storms in the 1930's is eclipsed only by the enormity of greed and ignorance by us and our government - to let this happen.  

It's always something......

Runnin' the Storm Out

Runnin' the Storm Out

Finished one of my 'Prairie' series paintings for the featured artist show in June.  I wanted to show the striking light/shadow/color contrasts of the weather and land.  The buffalo add something to this somehow.

It's always an adventure...

Rusty Door

Rusty Door

I've been practicing watercolor sketches while visiting my mom last couple weeks at her assisted living home in Salina, Kansas.  This is from my memory of old barns and manufacturing buildings.

It's always an adventure...

Ethel's Tomatoes

Ethel's Tomatoes

My aunt Ethel was born in 1906 and lived in Horton, Kansas.  She died a few years ago.  I wanted to do a painting from an emotional memory of her.  Neither house nor setting is accurate, but it's the way I remember her.  This is mostly acrylic with knife and brush.

It's always an adventure....

Corner Pasture

Corner Pasture

I took this photo just southwest of Salina, Kansas last summer.  I'm working on capturing sense of place through simple paint strokes and simple form.  Black Angus cattle aren't that short - they're all sitting down.  Not much going on that afternoon.

It's always an adventure...

Green Boat

Green Boat

I took artistic license and combined some scenes to do this piece.  It's acrylic underlay with water-base oil over.

As with all my posts, you can click on the image to enlarge

It's always an adventure...

Sun Through the Vines

Sun Through the Vines

Another view through the vines using sunlight.  I painted this from a combination of views and memories of observations.  I used a mix of acrylic underlay and water-base oil over.  Acrylic paint's quick drying properties force you to mix small quantities and work extremely fast.  Tough if you need a particular color dynamic mix from 2 or 3 paint tubes.  A 'happy accident' is usually just around the corner.

It's always an adventure.

Seattle Central Library

Alone Together

Second outing with the Seattle Urban Sketcher's League.  I chose to sketch two folks, both equally immersed yet worlds apart technologically.

A small group of artists meets a few times a month, meets at a location, disperses for an hour or so, and comes back together to critique each other's work.  

When sketching scenes at the SCL, one cannot avoid the diamonds.  

It's always an adventure...

Lunch on the Deck

Lunch on the Deck

This started out as a light/dark study of chairs in the bright sunlight.  It's from a photograph I took.  I liked the random spacing of objects and the shadows.  Last minute I added companions starting a lunch in the sun.

My goal was to do all with just a palette knife, but used a liner brush for some shadow and chair detail.

It's always an adventure...

Section Corner

Section Corner

As usual I got carried away with color intensity.  Didn't mean to be so strong on the red but its growing on me.  This is the first of 9 paintings I'm going to show this summer on "The Prairie" at Parklane Gallery.

Its from a satellite image from space.  Supposed to read both as abstract and as a planet scape of reality, which can be abstract - all in the way you view it.

Yep, that's a tractor...

It's always an adventure...

Seattle Reflections

Seattle Reflections

More study paintings from my photos of the Seattle waterfront this last summer.  This is a mix of acrylic and water-base oil, mostly oil.  I used a palette knife on about 80% of the work.

It's always an adventure...

Reflected

Reflected

I completed this one in the midst of working on a larger 16 x 20 work on water reflections.  This is a 12 x 12 painting from a series of photo studies I took this past summer at the Seattle waterfront.  I'm learning how to paint reflected images on water, kinda teaching myself by observing and trial/error.    Lots more of these to come.  They're fun.

It's always an adventure...