Bound & Wrapped

Dear Subscribers,

Today's image is a little different as you can see. I wish I could paint it, it would be a great self-portrait. I'm posting this to let you know I'll be out of commission Daily Painting-wise for a week, maybe longer. I can't tell yet. I had Arthroscopic Surgery yesterday to clean up my raggedy meniscus, and I'm still pretty unsteady. So, look for me in about 10 days hopefully.

Back Bay Bluff 7am - 9am SOLD

I was up at dawn and managed to get down to the Back Bay for my latest painting. You may have noticed that I have 3 now with the time of day in the title. My goal is to get 6 of them covering from 7am - 8pm. So, not halfway yet, but a good start. It was overcast of course, as it is most mornings here on the coast in So. Cal. in the summer. I had hoped that it would begin to clear by 9am for the second painting I had planned, but the cloud cover was too thick and showed no signs, ( I checked the satellite just to make sure), of breaking soon enough for me to wait. As it happens it didn't clear up down there until almost 11 am, which  would have been way longer to wait than I was prepared for. I'm willing to make some sacrifices to my art, but that long a wait with no, ahem, amenities, convinced me to try again another day. So, here is a typical, overcast Back Bay morning in June.

Cherries Four

Summer fruit. I better get it done now because if I keep putting it off there won't be any more summer fruit left. So, cherries. What a wonderful subject to paint! So shiny, and deep dark wine red, red, red. And then there's those sprite little stems.

Back Bay Bluff 4pm - 6pm (refined)

Here is the little Back Bay Painting I posted on Saturday after I finished it up, adding some more color into the shadows, cleaning up the sky, and filling out the farther cliff.

Back Bay Bluff 4pm - 6pm

Here is the small painting I did first on Wednesday, before the larger evening one. A quick sketch that I'll probably clean up a little bit before I declare it finished.

Last Light at the Back Bay

On Wednesday I was at the Back Bay again to try and do some more paintings for our show in July. I met a friend for a small painting of the same cliff I always paint; I might post that one tomorrow. But after he left at about 6 pm, I headed around Back Bay Drive to the same spot I painted "Early Morning Fog Bank" from. I had this idea that I wanted to paint the same exact scene but about 12 hours later, so I'd have a morning painting and an evening painting of the same scene. This is what I came up with. It stayed remarkably light. I was there until just before the sun set at around 8 pm.

"Engineer's" Gloves

Thank you to all my friends and subscribers for your kind words and congratulations about my painting in our "Islands" Show.

Here is one of those items, like the key a few weeks ago, that I have wanted to paint for a long time. They look sort of like what I think of as "Engineer's Gloves", as in locomotive engineers. We use them when we get firewood from the stack we have up on our deck and for loading the wood into the fireplace. I love how floppy they look, but yet almost like a real hand is still in them. I did this Wednesday night, but couldn't photograph until today, Thursday. Back to the Back Bay late this afternoon.

"Islands" Show at Gallery-SOCALPAPA-Opening Night

I am so excited to announce that my painting "Morning Walk on the Grand Canal" was awarded 1st Place in our "Islands Show", and it was also voted "Artist Choice Award" by my fellow artists. It's a bit overwhelming, but also such a profound pleasure to be given these honors.
Here's a couple of photos:

Heirloom Tomatoes

Returning to the studio for now for another still life. Next week I'll be  outside again at the Back Bay hoping to get a collection of paintings to show at the weekend sale. But for now, Heirloom Tomatoes, so odd, but so sweet.

"Islands" Show at Gallery-SOCALPAPA

These 2 images, which I posted earlier have been juried into the SOCALPAPA "Islands" Show at our gallery at the Fun Zone in Newport Beach. The show itself will open on Wed. June 9, at 1pm. The opening reception is Saturday, June12, from 4 - 6 pm. I will be sitting the Gallery on Thursday & Friday from 1pm to 5, as well as being there on Saturday evening, so come on down, if you are in the area and see our beautiful show. If you come before Saturday you will still be able to see the prize winning paintings before they fly off the walls at the reception. Hopefully.
I have posted the Gallery Announcement below.
I look forward to seeing you there.

Back Bay Eucalyptus

I was back at Newport Back Bay on Thursday afternoon and evening, painting a favorite stand of eucalyptus trees on University Ave. on the other side of the street from the YMCA.

This view is from the first path leaving the parking lot of the Muth Nature Center. At sunset the colors of the trees and bark glow with deep orangey greens and reds, while the  sages, buckwheats, mustards and who knows how many more kinds of chaparel type plants just light up the foreground. Another painting to save for our exhibit in July to benefit the Back Bay.