Ladies Day

Had fun dressing up some cows and trying to give them some character. This was done in acrylic on 16x20 canvas.

Happy New Year

It is the Chinese new year of the sheep or goat. Since I was around sheep for a long time while living in New Zealand, I feel quite close to them. I found a picture of these two just standing there on the green grass and used it as my subject for this acrylic painting. Sheep are very timid animals, never wanting to be alone. They are always moving inside the group. Our border collie, Brett, would race out and herd them for my inspection and I was so impressed at how efficient Brett was in putting them in the pen. He would race back and forth, keeping them together as they approached the entrance. Brett really didn't need me to direct. This is a 16x20 painting on stretched canvas. Maybe I'll put it up on the bedroom wall to help me count sheep when I can't get to sleep.

Old City of Cartegena

I did this acrylic painting from my sketches and photos from Cartegena, Colombia. We had a wonderful trip there and explored the old city for a week. The city was walled in after many ships bombarded it and stole all of its treasures in the early days of the Spanish explorers. It is now being restored and we had the opportunity to see it with one of the architects who has done much of the historical research and work. The streets are very narrow with balconies and flowers. The buildings are colorful and this church looked like the frosting on a wedding cake. It was extremely ornate and colorful. I did a wash of acrylic paint over the buildings on the left so the the church would stand alone as a center of interest. Like my teacher used to say, 'you can have only one bride'.

Ice Cream Man

A major attraction at our beach is the arrival of the truck with the ice cream man. There is a rapid migration up from the beach with the little ones leading the way. I think that he schedules an appearance twice a day. This is from memory and done in acrylic.

Little League Reliever

There is no relief for parents or grandparents with your grandson on the mound. This was a picture I took several years ago of him pitching and he was pretty good. Now, he has gone on to more serious baseball endeavors and hoping to play in college. He is good but no longer a pitcher. I painted this with acrylic paint and finished it with a high gloss. Seeing it brings up some wonderful memories.

Remember, It's Only a Game

I snapped this photo of my grandson and his mom walking to the parking lot after a hard loss at soccer. It was the final day of summer camp when the championships are decided. Needless to say, he didn't win after making it to the finals. Just one of those growth experiences of childhood. I painted this in acrylic using rather thick paint and then spraying with a gloss finish.

Pleasant Valley Road

Painted this scene in watercolor and now I am doing it in acrylic. It is a rural country road in Winters, CA. It is fun to watch the bike riders cruise down this valley. I did this plein air in watercolor and then tried it in acrylic. This painting has a completely different feel to it in comparison to the original watercolor version.

Our Neighborhood

Acrylic painting is difficult for a watercolorist who likes to blend colors on the paper. There is much more glazing with acrylics. I need more practice with the media. The jury is still out. I have tried en plein air painting with acrylics and have been completely frustrated because they dry too fast, even with retardant. It is warm where I paint and maybe with the fall coolness I will have more success. The painting is a copy from a photo that I switched around. It was a very quick study.

Home Run #1

My grandson, Theo, has become quite the baseball player. This acrylic painting is from a photo on his first Little League baseball team. I think it was called the farm team. He came up and hit the ball over everyone's head and had his first home run. What a thrill for all of us.

The 'Hood'

Got back to my acrylic paints this morning.  After being away for two weeks and doing little painting and sketching it felt good to do a quick acrylic painting.  The dicipline of daily painting is important to move on.  I have not tried a painting a day, but can see the benefit, particularly, if you do the same subject for a week.
It is summer here in terms of tree foliage and warm temperatures.  This should get me out to doing more plein air work.

Tarique

This acrylic painting was done a number of times switching colors.  I first did the portrait with a smooth blending of color and then did it a second time by putting in patches of mixed color.  I liked the latter so put it on my blog.  The blending technique gives a more photo-like appearance.

I doubt that I will ever become a portrait artist but it is challenging to do something different.

Got Any Bites?

This is an acrylic painting (18X24) done form my sketches this week.  I have noted before, my attraction to San Francisco Bay especially, at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge.  I had this in mind for a painting when there, but is got so windy that I only did a sketch.  I think that wind is the most difficult condition to deal with when painting.

Medium Rare

I painted this as a class project.  I found an 8 oz. glass Coke bottle to go along with the half eaten hamburger.  This was the size for soda bottles when I was a kid.  The painting is a large acrylic (18 X 24) done on canvas.  It is pop art and was fun to do.  It was this painting that I abstracted in an earlier blog posting.  Having fun with the acrylic paint.

Kayak

A kayak moving down the river in the spring is a cool refreshing picture.  This was painted on a 16X20 stretched canvas using acrylics.  As I become more experienced with acrylic painting there is a luminosity I can see.  It is rare to get this much punch with watercolor.

I did have a disaster with plein air painting of a farm scene.  It was very warm day with a strong breeze.  My acrylics quickly dried despite spraying with water and using a wet palate.  I am not giving up on them quite yet, and will try using a retardant when doing plein air since it gets so warm around here.

Great Pizza

My favorite pizza comes from George's.  It is located on Main St, HarwichPort.  I tried painting several things on this 8X11 canvas board and each time jessoed over the painting.  I did not sand down the bumps that came from pallet knife applications of paint.  I gave up on my early paintings and painted this scene from memory and previous paintings.  My ventures into acrylic are becoming less frustrating and this is an advantage; you can use the same canvas over and over.  I think this has a total of 4 paintings.

Rocks

I ventured from my favorite watercolor painting to trying some acrylics.  It is a big adjustment for me but because they dry so fast, there is a way to complete the painting in one sitting.  This is a large painting (20X16) but I thought that I would leave it at stages and work on it as I saw fit.  This is not something that I do with watercolor.