Things starting to open up....

Now starts the usual exhibition season and finally places are willing to open and show work and have "calls for entries" for both virtual shows and actual real shows.

This is a big deal for artists, so we were glad to get out there and do some work for upcoming shows. First up: the Wildling Museum and Trails Council juried show. I had 3 paintings accepted into this, which is fantastic. We hit many of the places that were listed for the 'Art from the Trail' show - it was great to revisit old trails and discover new places.

Carpinteria bluffs, oil on panel, 6"x12" SOLD

Burton Mesa, Lompoc, 10"x20" oil on panel

Barron Ranch, oil on panel, 11"x14"

Barron Ranch, oil on panel, 6"x8"

Sweetwater inlet, oil on panel, 11"x14"

Los Carneros, oil on panel 8"x10"

Los Carneros bird box, oil on panel 6"x8"

Friday Flowers

 This has been a particularly special activity - 4 of us painting in 4 corners of a patio, 6 feet apart with masks (until we all were vaccinated!). It was a time to visit socially as well - catch up on gossip, talk about our work, exchange recipes, whatever....  and paint flowers. The roses are back for Spring, though we had some wonderful substitutes over Winter.

Azaleas, 8"x10" oil on panel

Camellia, 6"x8" oil on panel

Iris, 6"x8" oil on panel

Yellow and orange, 6"x8" oil on panel

just the bougainvillea, 8"x8" oil on panel

first rose, oil on panel, 6"x8"

White roses, oil on panel, 6"x8"

This one was painted in the garden - first Freesias of spring, didn't want to pick them

Freesia, oil on panel, 9"x12"

Architecture challenge

 Painting at the Music Academy of the West has been fun - the beautiful buildings and grounds have so much to look at and it feels like being in a European town.

It's a beautiful estate with the challenge of architectural elements.

morning sunlight, Music Academy, 8"x10" oil on panel

Edge of a fountain,Music Academy, 6"x8" oil on panel

Late afternoon shadows,Music Academy, 8"x10" oil on panel

And from a friends house that has the same feel:

Dorene's patio, 6"x8" oil on panel

Marpril experiments

 The months are still blending together sadly, though good news is: I have had both my Covid vaccination shots! Feels good to be doing something positive toward hopefully eradicating or at least putting a dent in the pandemic that has gripped us for too long.

Meantime - painting is source of solace, of comradeship, challenge and relief.

Last months of painting have a mishmash of projects and side trips as well as the usual Monday plein air and Friday flower painting.

Experimenting with composition: This seemed to busy with a big 'X' at the bottom that might keep you from looking further up in the painting. So I had a friend mess with it on Procreate and I made the following changes below. I think it could work either way, but worth working it over to see.

first version

Devereux Slough, 12"x16" oil on panel

second version

This one had a tree right in the middle that didn't seem to belong there (even though it was there!) It just cut the space and wasn't here nor there.

first version

Carpinteria Bluffs, 6"x12" oil on panel

second version

Much better, I think. Less spatial confusion

Experimenting with value - I painted this using a black and white photo of the color image, trying to match the values as closely as I could. I was also trying to simplify the values to basically 3 and almost got there. Interesting and challenging problem.

color study

Gate at Burton Mesa, 10"x20" oil on panel

translated into black and white values.