Evening Oak

Found this one, old lonely oak tree all by itself up on a hill. I was heading back to the car and the sun was setting so I debated with myself (and won this time!) about stopping to do a quick study. I've been fascinated (OK, a little obsessed) with oak trees lately but still don’t feel like I have an understanding of what they’re all about. Sounds like a good excuse to get out and paint more of them!

 
8x10 oil on board

One thing that I’m still learning (one of so many!) is that skies are not always blue. In fact, sometimes you can leave the blue paint alone. Fun!

Sierra Sunset

While attending Elin Pendleton’s color workshop I completed a little study based of her method of expressing a colorful sunset. At the time I was pleased enough with it but I was also awash in Elin’s theories so I didn’t give this much additional thought.

 
12x16  oil on board

After I returned home my wife decided that it was her favorite from the workshop but since it was only a 6x8 it was kinda small. So..... I decided to try scaling It up to a larger version.

The original was on a small (6x8) canvas panel. The larger version is on a 12x16 cradled board.

 
Original 6x8

Rush Creek

Here’s another palette knife effort. This is along the shore of Rush Creek in the June Lakes area of the California Eastern Sierras.

 
9x12  oil on board

Joshua Tree Rocks

I love painting with palette knives. It's an "art" in itself and I need to come back to this technique often - a difficult skill!

 
8x10  oil on linen

One of the trickiest parts is controlling the edges. By it’s very nature every knife stroke wants to be pretty sharp so I need to go back and deliberately soften edges.

I was going to go back and “knife” the sky also but I never did. I think I'll leave it as-is. Hmmmm.

Elin Pendleton - Day 3

(Be sure to read the intro here)

DAY 3
On the final day of Elin’s “Color Bootcamp" we talked about late evening light and sunsets. Elin also explained some of the exceptions to the color rules. One of these involved the handling of painting people, in particular the skin tones. She followed this with a wonderful demo that pulled it all together.

Another treat was a discussion and demo about painting clouds. Such a seemingly simple thing that’s much more difficult than it appears.

6x8  oil on canvas

Finally, Elin took us through her process of handling sunset paintings. Simple, to the point and it works!

6x8  oil on linen

This is the last day but I could go on for another week! I know I’ve already learned more in 3 days than I have in the longest time.

For any level of experience, I highly recommend that you attend one of Elin’s workshops. She’s a fantastic teacher and an inspiration. Now, if I can just remember half of what I learned over the weekend......

Too see Elin Pendleton's paintings - click here.

Elin Pendleton - Day 2

(Be sure to read the intro here)

DAY 2
More color theory! Today we talked about dealing with noon (midday) light and even moonlight. Elin filled us in on how to color our shadows and key the highlights so that you can feel the light at noon.

 
8x10  oil on board

It was another long day of painting and great info but wait! We were all back after dinner for some movies. Too much fun!

Elin Pendleton - Day 1

When I first acquired the “Painting Disease” one of the first artist web sites I found that really captured my attention contained the work Elin Pendleton. Elin is a nationally known artist who lives in Southern California. That first visit to her web site left me thinking, “If I could paint like this – I’d be one happy old (OK, middle aged) man” I’ve followed her work ever since.

I knew right away that I wanted to attend one of Elin’s workshops but alas, they were always full or scattered around the country. When she scheduled a local class, I was all over it! So, here I am at the first day of her “Color Bootcamp”.

Much of Elin’s teaching revolves around a very practical and effective color system that she has developed. Once it makes sense – it really makes sense. It’s a lot to digest in a short amount of time. That’s why she calls it “Bootcamp”.

DAY 1
After some basic principles and setup info, Elin started right in explaining how her color theory works. I won’t go into details here but anyone interested can find out more here.

Elin started by discussing the handling of early morning light, did a wonderful demo and then launched us right into our own painting.

Elin is not only a great teacher but also a gracious host. After being offered a nice lunch, we resumed the discussions. I’m learning a ton. More tomorrow!

Wind and Sea Point

A while back I came across a number of paintings done mostly or entirely with palette knives. I really like the look of this so I decided to give it a try.

 
8x10  oil on linen

This is a view of the tip of the point next to Wind and Sea beach in La Jolla, California. If you could see off to the right you would find some of the many homes built along these cliffs. I decided to ignore that area because I had a feeling that I’d have my hands full with these knives.

Balboa Park Walkway

I was out last Sunday on a photo walk at Balboa park here in San Diego. The Park was crowded (always is on the weekends) so I was looking for some quiet, out-of-the-way spots to set up my tripod. This was one of those places.

 
9x12  oil on canvas

The day was getting on and the sun was going low when I took the original photo. I was attracted to the warm light and the shadows.

After sorting through the shots for the day I pulled this one aside because I thought It would be fun to try it as a painting. Many of my more interesting moments arise from such innocent ideas!

Although this is the way I found this scene, I keep feeling that it really needs a window or a hanging plant or something in the large, open space in the center wall. I’ll have to mull this over and maybe try putting something in there.

Barrett Lake Inlet

As a photographer, I have a seemingly endless source of images from the places I love. So by that definition, I have gobs of photos from the Sierras in California.

   
8x10  oil on linen

This is from a photo that I took on a day hike up to Barrett lake which is hidden above the town of Mammoth Lakes. I’ve caught many small cutthroat trout from this shoreline.