Silver Lake #2

Black Friday....

This is an attempt at adding black paint to my palette. I added some Ebony Black to create some interesting greens and try making grays that can be colored a little easier. The deal is to use it sparingly and not let it dominate anywhere. Adding a little to white to get a warm gray and then coloring it with some blue and Alizarin gave me the wonderful mauves and blue-grays in the background of this painting.



11x14  oil on linen

This is a bit of a departure for me. Different colors. For the most part, I’m happy with that part of it. More experimentation needed!  

Barrett Lake

Up to this point, I’ve been using mostly flat brushes. Someone recently gave me a handful of filberts to try. This is done with these brushes.

 
8x10  oil on canvas

Newest member of the family

Took delivery of a new Soltek easel last night. I’ve been looking for a plein air easel that is easier and faster to set up as well as more self-contained.

I’ve been using an Open Box M and really like it however, it takes a while to get it all set up and between the tripod, brushes, paint tubes and all, it ends up being a lot of separate pieces to carry around. The Soltek should allow me to carry everything except the turp can and panels in one package.

So far, it looks pretty cool. Bigger, but not really considering that the tripod is part of the unit. And it’s definitely going to be pretty heavy by the time I get all of the “stuff” inside it. I’ll probably continue to use the OBM for when I need to go some distances. 

UPDATE (01/31/08) - After agonizing over the choice of using paint from the tubes on the palette or using pill boxes, I tried the paints right on the little palette. Not bad.

I really like this setup. It was actually more comfortable to use than my studio easel. I need to start looking for a better studio easel.

In the mean time, the real test for the Soltek will be how it plays out in the field. I’m not going to keep the paint in it so the weight should stay reasonable. It’s pretty big, though, so I don’t know how hard it’s going to be to carry around. Time will tell...

UPDATE (02/11/08) - Back from a weekend out painting with the Soltek. Nice. I like this a lot. It’s much more comfortable to paint from because the palette level is much lower than the Open Box M.  It’s still going to be a bit big to carry any real distance but should be fine for most situations. The long term proof will be how well it holds up. A future update...

Rancho Bernardo

Painting today with Patrick Korch in an open space area not too far from his home. He has always been a great help and has the patience of a saint with me.

 
8x10  oil on linen

Even though it’s January, It was surprisingly warm on this day. The sky was very hazy, almost like a smoggy summer day.

South La Jolla Shoreline

This is one more in a recent series of local ocean studies. I know that you don’t want to get into a rut but I also think that there’s a benefit to sticking with something long enough to figure out some techniques that work. This may be the last for a while - or maybe not. We’ll see....

 
11x14  oil on canvas

I tried to stick with the larger brushes for a longer time and hold off on the small stuff until the end. This is reflected in the broader, simpler design of the trees and bushes.