I did this painting earlier in August but I am fascinated with the color complements I didn't do it justice with the range of color in the first attempt so i did it over today. I love the yellow against the blue and also against the violet. It is a simple composition but very effective. I also did more detail in the foreground.

Heartless

Colorful Shopping in HarwichPort

Ask any kid in Harwich where to stop and shop and most will tell you the Kite Shop. Dr. Gravity's Kite Shop has been here a long time and just keeps getting bigger. That is, it spreads out more onto the main street. I love painting the place and usually do it from across the street. This is from imagination and what I remember seeing on my walk. The Cape has been very warm for the past week. The humidity is very high and we keep hearing that it will break with a storm. The storms veer off. Weather forecasting is very difficult out here. Fortunately, our cottage has central AC.

Cape Cod Fish Market

This scene was originally painted during my summer on Cape Cod. I was hanging onto some rocks down by the river balancing my gear. I loved the vantage point that I had but I did hurry and overwork the painting. Doing it this time in the studio was much easier. I eliminated some details and kept the colors simple with single strokes of paint. I like it.

Beach Parking

This is another variation on an alley to the beach in Sayulita, Mexico. I painted and sketched many of the routes to the beach and have used them for paintings. We stayed out of town and the beach extends quite a long way from town so there are plenty of paths to the beach. I think that the horse was for hire in this situation.

Canadian Rentals

A friend reports that he rents a house in an isolated location for fishing. They have the waters to themselves for fishing and catch plenty of fish. It is a great getaway with fresh fish for dinner each evening and plenty of good wine brought along for the week. I've never seen his pictures but would imagine a place in the great northwest would look something like this.

Main Street HarwichPort

This painting was done from memory and I put the VW bus on the street because I like them.  The Main Street of HarwichPort is an active place during the summer.  The Kite Shoppe has everything a kid on vacation could want.  I have been dragged there many times by my grandkids.  On Wed nights during the summer the place is a mob scene with something called 'Music in the Port".  Even though it is a main traffic artery, very little gets through with 4 bands playing and all of the vendors selling their wares.  The population of this town goes from a year round 8000 to 56,000 during July and August.  That is when I am there and loving it.

Space for Rent

Can you imagine living behind a giant billboard?  The Urban Landscape Artists painted this morning in Oak Park.  This neighborhood was one of the finest in Sacramento but fell on hard times.  The homes are lovely and many have been repaired.  Most are two story houses.  Because of flooding, the living space was on the second level.  Business sites are many along Broadway, but there are plenty of vacancies and closed down buildings.  There has been a huge effort to resuscitate this section of Sacramento. 

I chose this corner for my painting because of the vacant billboard space for rent.  It is symptomatic of the area.  I like the cast shadow of the billboard on the side of the house.  The chain link fence is all too common along Broadway and may indicate removed structures.  I was particularly fascinated by the cast shadows from the morning sun.  I took a photo of the site for comparison. 

Big Storm Brewing

Painting of San Juan Island with a storm on the horizon.  This was a class exercise to paint a picture with a sky anything but blue.  Wouldn't want to be out in one of those sailboats. 

San Francisco Bay

Here is a switch from my Italian travels.  This landscape is seen while in bed, looking over my toes at San Francisco Bay.  It is a one point perspective so that the closer objects are seen from above and the distant ones tend to be more righted.  Kind of fun to paint this and it was a very quick painting, since I left the water in the Bay unpainted.

Te Brewster General Store

Oops, another VW bus painting.  I started doing VW bus paintings many years ago when my daughter requested one.  She was a student where there were lots of them still going and had fond memories.  Sketches were easy then because there were plenty around. I put them in paintings at that time, but just remembered them recently, when I sold a painting of Mendocino with a VW bus. Three people wanted the same painting.  All of them said it was the bus.  Driving those buses was work and the ride was enough to induce the 'shaken baby syndrome'. 
The Brewster General Store is an icon for the town of Brewster on Cape Cod.  It is draped in patriotic bunting and there are always kids with ice cream.  It is a favorite family stop.

Barbados Home

One last watercolor sketch that was done in Barbados.  I was struck by the extremes of neighbors.  This house is on a choice lot across from the beach.  Next door could be a McMansion and the explanation is that homes belonging to the original slave families were moved to various locations away from the sugar cane fields where they were originally.  These chattel houses are of wood with a door and windows on the front.  Many have undergone major alterations while many are in terrible disrepair.  It is difficult to establish title for them so they remain propped on cinder blocks. 
The house I painted above is not a chattel house because of the concrete sides but it is very old.  It has held up during hurricanes and the weather from the sea it faces.  I wished that I could have painted more but was busy seeing the island.  The weather was hot and the people very friendly.

Bequia Beach

Just arrived home from a wonderful holiday in Bequia and Barbados.  Bequia is a small island in the Grenadines.  You access it by boat or small plane from Barbados.  I met up with friends and we rented a house high on a hill overlooking the bay.  There are winds, sudden torrential rains and warm sunny days.  The boats that come in to anchor are magnificent.  We were on a beach drinking rum punch and beer and painting.  Lots of talking with occasional dips into the ocean but I did finish this as you see it. 
I don't believe Bequia has changed a lot over the years.  It is expensive and you need a jeep to get up the hills.  It is very hot and humid and one side has winds.  Great place to hang out during the winter.

Fog Over San Francisco

I'm fascinated with the fog and how to capture it with my watercolor painting. The fog gathers on the California Pacific coast and builds up so that it pours over the hills of Marin, over and under the Golden Gate Bridge and finally into the city. There are areas on the Bay known as 'banana belts' where the fog only reaches as a last resort. The sun continues to shine and the sail boats are out. Tiburon California is a 'banana belt' and sailing continues as the fog moves across the Bay.
I tried to put such a scene together in this painting with the boats and houses in the foreground in sunlight and the fog just starting to roll over the headlands of Marin.

Brrr

Got home from a week with friends in warm Palm Desert and got a bug, virus or something. Shaking chills for a couple of days. Maybe it influenced my subject matter but this is a cold snowy scene. It is the kind of place I avoid because I hate being cold. Spent many winters in the cold northeast, so I've paid my dues and crave warm.
This painting is a total mind picture with the light staged 3/4 left. It reminds me of skiing in Colorado or Austria. I used to love those snow fields and broad trails but have not done it for awhile. When I think back now, I really liked getting out of my ski boots and getting warm; orgasmic.

Across Long Pond

There are many fresh water kettle ponds on Cape Cod. This is a typical house and scene from one of them. This painting was done while on the Cape and is rather imaginary. I sketched a house and then started painting and let it go with one thing leading to another.
My life has been hectic with lots of guests and a new baby. There is always a meal to prepare, some consoling of a crying baby and plenty of activity. Getting the little ones to their camps in the morning is fun. It is a special brand of magic that they bring.

Is There a Taxi?

Today could be the last of our rain here in Northern California. We do not have any flooding but it is a lot of rain for us. It keeps us plein air painters inside. Today's painting is a tribute to the rain. In reality, there are very few taxis where I live, but I know when it is raining in New York City, it is very hard to find one.
Wet surfaces make for great reflections. I kept the paper very wet hoping to add to the overall affect of a wet day. I do like those paintings of roadways with the red tail light of cars and the yellow light from lamp posts reflected on the wet pavement. I will have to find a window close to a road, so I can capture it in watercolor. This is a media which is great for painting cast reflections but not for the artist painting at a wet location.

The Rickety Porches of Locke, CA

Last weekend, I was painting on a sunny day in Locke, CA. The place has changed from the '80's when I painted these same buildings. The long stilts that hold up porches are repaired for some. But others still have doors opening with nothing but a big drop! In setting up to paint, you are very close since the street is narrow. This is my painting above.
I took it home and wondered what it might look like if I had a bird's eye view of the buildings. I hurried this off and made it more horizontal than before. Next, I did the worm's eye view of the structures and tried to give them more Oriental coloring. I liked this view the best.
Lastly, I wondered what Klee would have seen if painting these porches, so I tried to abstract them in his mode.
My watercolor painting style is expressionist, since the structures are recognizable. I think that abstract art is a further step and envy the abstract artist who can do it. In watercolor painting I try to think several steps ahead but abstraction is thinking an order ahead. Expressionism is creating conflict from reality and requires value, temperature and color changes. When someone asks for me to do a painting of their house, I am not sure that they will recognize it when I'm done. My right brain is getting heard from.

Yolo Farm Boneyard

I painted last spring on this farm in Yolo County, CA.  Since then, I have taken note of farm bone yards.  That is where all of the large metal structures are left to rust and deteriorate.  This is not bad.  I scraped some burnt sienna on the car to give it rust.  I think it is a 1940 Chrysler four door sedan.  The cows have plenty of grazing space.  It had recently rained so there was a mud track in the foreground.  I had fun with the clouds.  While my wash for the sky was still wet, I tilted my board and streamed some water down it.  I them gave it some bumps and there you have it.

Portofino Morning

I love to play with images of Portofino.  I did many sketches while there and the colors are in my head.  The shadows were great on this warm morning.  This was a quick sketch and painting done at home in my studio.  I did it late afternoon and kept going back to peek at it as I liked something about it that I couldn't put my finger on.  Oh well, here it is and it was fun.  The picture sort of painted itself once I was ready to let loose on it.