Two Night Onions

I'm in the middle of working on a huge commission, so postings will be somewhat erratic for a couple of more weeks. Here is another onion painting I did awhile ago. Painted at night with artificial light. It lends a whole different tone and feel to the painting.

If you would like to bid on this painting, please click here.

Jo Jo's & Milk for Santa

I'm going to try to tear myself away from onions, however briefly, and do a few holiday themed paintings. Here is the first. Jo Jo's are an Oreo type cookie sold at Trader Joe's markets. During the holidays they cover the cookie in dark chocolate and then sprinkle with crushed peppermint candy. What self respecting Santa wouldn't want a couple of these?!

If you would like to bid on this painting, please click here.

Two Pomegranates

Tis the season for these gems...

To bid on this painting, please click here.

Also, an extra bonus this week only, if you click here, you can read an interview that Daily Paintworks conducted with me yesterday.

Like a Pearl

Here is another onion, side lit this time just with daylight, which really shows off the pearly sheen that makes onions so much fun to paint.

If you would like to bid on this painting, please click here.

Ghost Squash

I found a few more small squashes to paint, or maybe they are gourds...not sure which is which. Anyway, I really liked the white and green colors of this one and how in the light it just glows.

If you would like to bid on this painting, please click here.

Three Red Toms

Gahhh!! Finally the election is over and we can all get on with the important stuff we may or may not have been neglecting this/these past week/s.

Here are some nice tomatoes that I should probably have posted in the summer and not in November...except in Southern California it STILL IS SUMMER!! Until Friday that is, when, we are told, a good cold blast from the north will dip down our way to remind us that Autumn is actually already here and Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

Anyway...here are the tomatoes.

If you would like to bid on this painting, please click here.

Three Brown Onions

Yet more onions...



If you would like to bid on this painting, please click here.

Mini Pumpkin

Just in time for Halloween here is a cute little pumpkin. I picked this one because of the twisty stem and the unusual, (to me) light pink accents. If you would like to bid on this painting, please click here.

Cinderella Pumpkin

I thought I better get this in before the pumpkin season is over. I love the shape of this pumpkin and the variegated colors too. I call this shape a Cinderella pumpkin, but I don't know why. Anyway, here's my entry for Halloween this year.
If you want to bid on this painting please click here.

Majestic Afternoon in Canyon de Chelly

Here is the latest painting from our Canyon de Chelly trip. The wind started up so ferociously about an hour after I started, that this one had to be finished at home. It is the same area that the famous "White House" ruin is located. It's just behind me down a path relative to this view.

Sunset Glow

Here are a couple more of the paintings I did while we were in Canyon de Chelly. A friend gently reminded me that I didn't really elaborate on how it was that we were able to go on this horseback riding trip in the first place. So, briefly, a fellow member of the painting group I belong to had connections with a Navajo family with whom she had previously arranged several trips. I asked her if she could plan another and that's how we came to be able to go. There are many tour groups one can arrange with to go into the canyon. Some do day trips by jeep, others allow you to stay overnight. The one requirement is that you must enter the canyon with a certified Navajo guide, and you can only stay in the canyon on land that a family owns, or on land the owner has given permission to use for camping.
Both of these paintings were painted within a few steps of our campsite. Our campsite is not in the river bed, but up on a bit of land, maybe 6 feet or more in elevation above the sandy river bottom. We were there in the driest part of the year. At other times a lot of water would be flowing through these scenes, and our guides told us, that some times of the year, the water table rises so high into the river bottom that it's unnavigable. Our campground is fenced to keep our horses in and the wild horses out. Even to step out from the campground property to paint in the river bed, a matter of only 25-50 yards, required us to be accompanied by a guide. These rules are strictly enforced by the national park service who oversees the running of this national park even though it is the property of the Navajo.
So, here are my two sunset views out of our front door, so to speak

Orange Glow 6 x 8 inches

Heading out of the Canyon, 8 x 10 inches

Riding Out of the Shadows - Canyon de Chelly

Here is one of the larger pieces I started in Canyon de Chelly and finished up here at home. I painted this our first full day in the Canyon. We had scouted the place the previous day on our first afternoon in, after setting up our tents and having a bit of a rest after the 90 minute ride into the canyon. This place was about 20 minutes or so from camp and while a few of us painters stayed to paint, the rest of the group rode out to explore further, get some more riding in, and do some photography. After a couple of hours we broke for lunch. I wanted to try another one, but the wind came up and there was just too much blowing sand, although Brian, one of the other painters was a more stalwart soul than I, and I think he was able to finish a second!

I did do a small study our first evening, the one previous to this one here, and I'll post that one next. In the meantime, here is my first larger piece, which I have already been lucky enough to have sold, thanks to one of my patrons who is also a designer! I am so thrilled.

Left Mitten

After painting the previous early morning view, we drove a ways further along the dusty rutted road and I found this second view of the famous Left Mitten. The colors never ceased to amaze me; even close to noon the reds appeared too saturated to be real, as were the beautiful pinks and violets of the distant buttes. After this we went back to camp for lunch and a rest before heading out for the late afternoon painting, which was not a keeper unfortunately. Can't win them all.
If you would like to bid on this painting, please click here.

Early Morning, Monument Valley

After our 2 days camping at the Mather Campgrounds in the Grand Canyon, we headed up to Utah to stay at the Gouldings campground at Monument Valley, (a trading post dating back to the 1920's) . I loved the Grand Canyon, with its vast vistas and incredible sense of flying above those impossible depths, but I never really lost the sense that I was still surrounded, (if only at my back), by all the trappings of civilization...cars, busses, crowds, noise, restaurants, all of it.

Driving into the Navajo Monument Valley though, you can sense, often if you go really early or stay until the last minute, (which is tricky...in theory you can get locked in, tho there is a lesser known exit), that you are in an untouched place. The silence is so profound, and there are other vast vistas, but they are almost entirely 360 degree vistas. Of course as the day wears on, more and more vehicles come bumping along the really terrible roads. My little KIA could barely make 10 mph,  because of the huge potholes or boulders or giant ruts in the dirt roads that circle the valley. But even that was a little refreshing, after the programmed touring at the Grand Canyon.

One highlight of our stay there, was the tradition at Gouldings to screen the movie, "Stagecoach", with John Wayne, Claire Trevor, and many more wonderful actors. The still-to-this day unbelievably exciting race across the plains, was filmed there with no special effects. Incredible, incredible riding and filming! If you've never seen it, it's worth it just for that segment alone.

Anyway, our first morning there we managed to enter the scenic loop right at 8 am, and I was able to do two little paintings before we left around noon when the heat and the haze made it less wonderful to be there.

So, here is the first one. If you would like to bid on this painting, please click here.

Bright Angel Trail Overlook

Here is the finished painting of the one I started our first afternoon at the Grand Canyon.
I started around 3 in the afternoon. Whenever I've seen paintings of the canyon I had assumed they were painted from special, hard to find spots, available only to those hardworking artists willing to hike out to that perfect spot. I was so surprised to recognize view after view from paintings I have been looking at right there in front of me, just over the railing! This is the only one I was able to do, because next morning we did the mule ride out to the Abyss Overlook and were too exhausted afterward to do much but check out touristy things. We did manage to see a Plein Air Exhibition at the Kolb Gallery which is in the historic Kolb house at Grand Canyon Village. Very inspiring and humbling!
So here is my offering:

If you would like to bid on this painting, please click here.

Night Onion

It's a bit counter intuitive that something I paint during the day, using just natural light, turns out a pretty dark painting; but if I paint something at night needing to use artificial light, it's a very bright painting. I love playing around with the different color temperature of the light source too. This painting is lit with a very warm incandescent bulb, so all the colors are washed in orangey yellow. I've got a few more coming like this, just playing with the light, though there will be a bit of a break coming until the end of the month.
If you want to bid on this painting please click here.

Brown Onion #4

Here is another brown onion. I can't resist the satiny finish.
To bid on this painting please click here.

Anaheim Chiles

Here is a painting of another garden gift: Anaheim Chilies. Perfect for Chile Rellenoes, but I was lazy and sauteed them up in an omelette. Sooo good!

If you would like to bid on this painting please click here.

Plum Duet

I think this will be the last time for  awhile for the Plums. Time to move on, and expect more light. Coming soon. Until then, here's the last of the plums for a bit.

If you would like to bid on this painting please click here.

Green Beans from Friends

We recently received some homegrown vegetables from one of our friends. So, of course, I had to paint them before we ate them. The first gift was of some green beans, which I have to say, bear no resemblance in taste with those one gets at the store. These were wonderful! A revelation! Oh, to have a bit of earth to grow some vegetables as amazing as these. Not sure pots on a patio quite do it. Thank you Debbie & Vince! If you would like to bid on this painting please click here.

Pink Lady Wedge

Here is a second Pink Lady still life. Enjoy.
To bid on this painting, please click the Daily Painting link to the right.

Pink Ladies

Switching gears, food-wise anyway. It's not really apple season yet, in fact I don't know if there is such a thing anymore. We can buy apples all year round. I love all the varieties available, each looking a little different from the other, and tasting different too. Here are a some Pink Lady apples, one of my favorite kinds to eat, and now to paint. The pink tint on the skin seems unique.
To bid on this painting, please click the Daily Paintworks link to the right.

Three Plums Again

I had a wonderful few days visiting with my sister who was in town, and now it's back to  a new posting. Here are the plums again. I can't get enough of trying to capture that bluish frosty blush. Please click on the Daily Paintworks link to the right if you would like to bid on this painting.

Three Plums

Here is the next still life, another favorite subject: plums. I don't like eating them much, but luckily my husband likes them so they don't go to waste.
To purchase this painting, just click on the link to Daily Paintworks on the right.
Thanks

Late Summer Peaches II

So, finally back to some Still Lifes. Here is one of my favorite subjects, peaches. In fact I just realized it's pretty similar to one I did last year around this time. Anyway here are some fuzzy peaches:

Back Bay cont.

Here is the last of my Back Bay paintings. It's the first time I painted such a large piece to show at the week end sale, although I did do a mural for a previous event. This piece is 12 x 24 inches and I was lucky enough to sell it, and to an out of town buyer no less, so I was very flattered that they chose this painting.

Dawn's Early Light 12 x 24 inches SOLD

Back Bay continued...

I promised myself I wouldn't post again until I had painted a new still life to follow up. It's hard to switch gears. Anyway, now that I've got one waiting I can finish up with the rest of the Back Bay Show.

Here are two more paintings I did for the weekend sale.

"First Hour" 8 x 16 inches $700

"Flood Tide at Sunset" 12 x 16 inches  $795

Newport Back Bay 2012

Last post, I left off with Los Gatos at the end of June, which brings the calendar up to July and the show that just closed, our biennial art exhibit to benefit the Newport Back Bay. This is a beautiful estuary, one of the very few left in California, where many many species of birds live year round or for a few months as a stop over on their yearly migration. I've participated in this show since 2004 and it's one of the high points of the year. I love painting out there. The silence is so present to me that it blocks out the noise of the airplanes taking off every 5 minutes, if that makes any sense. Or, to say it in another way, it is so serene there that I don't notice any other noise. I painted several new paintings for this show almost all in the 3 weeks after I got home from Los Gatos. Although  two of them I did between painting in Carmel and heading back up to Los Gatos.

Here are the two I painted in early June and which I entered into the juried component of our show.

Looking for Breakfast
11 x 14 inches
SOLD
Awarded 2nd Place

Last Flight
11 x 14


This year, I found myself attracted to how the light at the beginning and the end of the day affects the colors of the cliffs. In the next post I'll post some more paintings.

Los Gatos continued

Oh boy, am I behind...so to bring the story up to the present. Los Gatos is such a beautiful town and in such a gorgeous area. Our 2nd day I think, we looked for architectural subjects and I found this lovely Victorian Home, of which there were dozens and dozens.

Also, I had no idea there were so many wineries there. The next couple of days we went exploring all the hills surrounding the town, and painted at 3 different wineries: Burrell School Vineyards; Mountain Winery which is really part of Saratoga Calif., next door to Los Gatos; and on our last day we painted at a wonderful winery that is also a horse stabling concern called the Cooper-Garrod Estate Vineyards. The following paintings were done in that order.

This painting is the one that sold and which was also my own favorite.
I hadn't planned on painting the horse, I just liked the composition of the barn and trees.
But then the owner of the horse brought it  back from riding and I quickly added him in.
I think it makes what was an OK composition into a special one.

Next post I'll catch up to this last weekend and our Bi-Annual Back Bay Show.

From Carmel to Los Gatos

Ok, now where was I? Wrapping up in Carmel, and then moving on 3 weeks later to Los Gatos.
Here is a photo of my two paintings on display in Carmel. I was lucky enough to sell the coastal view the first evening.

After the show and a brief visit with friends who live near Watsonville, I headed back south for 3 weeks and a bit of a rest, (though I did turn out a couple of paintings for the July Back Bay Show). The second week of June I headed back north, this time to Los Gatos. I had never been there before, and found it to be a lovely, charming town, with lots of history, perched just to the north east of the Santa Cruz mountains of which there are many many beautiful views from in town. I partnered up with a fellow artist and we managed to paint between 2 and 3 paintings a day for 4 straight days! Up at 5am, coffee at 6, paint all day, dinner at 7:30, in bed by 9. Amazing!
Here is the first painting I did. Every morning I bought coffee at "The Boulanger" Bakery. That first morning, after getting my coffee at 6, I decided to sit down on a bench just outside the bakery and paint this building which is a famous landmark of Los Gatos.
(by the way, Los Gatos is THE most sitter friendly town I've ever been to. There are benches EVERYWHERE!) Anyway, here is my painting from morning #1:

The last post I made brought me to day 3 of my stay in Carmel. After the previous gloomy gray days, I was hoping so much for some sun, and sure enough it dawned bright and clear. I had visited Point Lobos early on my scouting day when it was sunny and decided to return there to Whalers Cove. After a trip to the Carmel Valley Coffee Roaster, I was off to Point Lobos and was first in line at the gate, which opens at 8:00am.
Whalers Cove is the first right off the main road entrance. It's a narrow road that leads down to a small parking lot where you have a perfect view of the whole cove. There are lots of seals basking on the bit of sand beneath the rocks at the southeast end of the cove, and that's the view I chose to paint. I couldn't include the seals, because they just look like a lot of big slugs, and on a small canvas, it's just too hard to paint big slugs so they look like anything.
Here is the morning view I painted:

and here is the painting I did, tho the colors are a bit off compared to the actual painting:

After doing this morning painting, I ate the lunch I brought, and then turned 45 degrees to the west and painted this scene:

and here is the painting I did:

As soon as I finished, I had to race home,
frame my two best paintings, and get them down to the park in the center of town where the bidding would start at 6 pm.
So, again, no pressure. Haha.

Well I think this is the longest I've been MIA. My last post was a still life in April. That's about the time I started switching gears and got caught up with doing more landscape and plein air work, as well as going off on two adventures in May and again in June.
So, I think I'll try to back track and catch any of you who are still there up on what I've been doing for the past few months.
In May I headed up to Carmel to participate in their 19th annual Plein Air Art Festival. It's one of the first and most prestigious events of this kind and it was amazing to be juried in to this show. I arrived a day early to check out likely spots to paint. We were allowed one full day to paint, as well as the evening of the first day, and the morning and afternoon of the last. So, not a lot of time. No pressure.
The weather that first evening and the one full day was very gray and chilly. As you can maybe see from this photo a kindly tourist took while I tried to paint, I am VERY bundled up!

I wasn't very happy with this painting though, so this is all there is to see.



Next day dawned just as cold and foggy, so I knew I had to head out of Carmel to find the sun. I had a choice to head east or South toward Big Sur, so that's where I went.

To my great relief I found sun and beautiful vistas. Here is the view I painted:

Here is my painting on-site:







And here is the finished painting on display:

Next post, I'll fill you in on day 3 in Carmel.

If you are still there, thanks for your patience, and for subscribing.

Brown Onion #3

I love to paint onions it seems, so here is a third.
To bid on this painting, please click here.

Arrived in Red Rock

We left home in a steady soaking downpour to drive through showers and breezes all the way to Vegas. We are about 20 minutes north of the strip up against some beautiful desert mountains. Last night we went to the Bellagio to see a Monet exhibit at their art gallery. How wonderful to see these amazing paintings in relative solitude, compared to most museum venues. We each had the opportunity to stand alone, multiple times, before each painting, marveling at the thickness of the paint and his brilliant use of color. Just incredible.
Here are some photos


I took yesterday. The first one is the view from our room. The second one is from on the road. The clouds put on a real show.
Now I'm off to watch some painters paint!


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3 Landscapes

I'm posting 3 today because I'm going to be out of town for a  few days and wanted to show what I've been up to the last two weeks. On April 28, the Laguna Plein Air Painter's Association is having their 6th Annual "Less is More Show", which features small paintings. I entered the 3 paintings below. I won't know for a couple of more days which if any of them will be juried in; at least one for sure. The show will be up at the Randy Higbee Gallery in Costa Mesa from April 28 - May 12. 102 Kalmus, Costa Mesa CA.
714-546-2156.

Trabuco Overlook 8x10 $750

Late Morning at Big Bend 8x10 $750

El Moro Cove Shadows 9x12 $800

Wish me luck!
In the meantime, I hope to post at least a couple of times from out in the Red Rock Canyon, outside of Las Vegas.