Beach Bike, oil , 6" x 6", starting bid $65

This was painted in response to Dreama Tolle Perry's challenge on DailyPaintWorks for us to paint our own brand of "Relaxation Station". The concept was mind numbing probably because I don't spend time relaxing, because life is too interesting and I'm on a constant adventure. But I thought of the beach where work is far away and no computers beg engagement. But then again, I'm not a beach person because within half an hour I'm really bored and itching for something to do. But a bike offers a relaxing alternative.  The view of the ocean and the sounds and smell of crashing waves can be experienced from my bicycle. With the added freedom of exploring and getting slightly lost or swinging by Starbucks for an iced latte.

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Blue Sky Drive

Blue Sky Drive - 6 x 6"- Oil- Opening bid $65

Here it is. What the people of Southern California have to put up with day after day. Blue skies, day in, day out.

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Actually I've had quite a good start to this daily painting thing. I am more than slightly addicted. I've posted a couple of dozen small daily paintings and I have to control the urge to check the stats and see if they are gathering interest. My biggest quandary is, should I paint only one subject matter? Or at least concentrate on mainly one thing? Perhaps I should reevaluate that in another month.

Artist's tip:
When 'plein air' or landscape painting, do the lay-in of the big shapes in one shade of a neutral color. ( I used ultramarine mixed with a terre vert type green.) Your painting will have a unified quality to it. Over the initial lay-in you can then add various colors and you'll find the original lay-in color influencing what lies on top.

Studio Time

Studio Time 6 x 6 inches.

Dancers are so beautiful to paint for sure. But the underlying reason to paint this scene that got me excited was the light and shadow relationship. I LOVE the way polished floors have these beautiful reflections of both light and shadow.

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Tip for artists: I discovered at a workshop that I took the value of 'value studies'. By making a postage stamp size sketch using grey and black markers I found it added clarity to the subject by simplifying the shapes. It also make me 'see' the masses in a more obvious way.

Uptown Umbrella

Uptown Umbrella

Don't you love the rain? There's something about rain that visually filters the scene into something quite paintable. Think about that for a minute.. As artists, as we paint we are trying to unify the scene somehow, make it come together with maybe a color, or by lighting. We squint to aid this visual editing process and then, along comes the rain. This is great! It's an instant unifying filter. Not to mention, the reflections. Of course when battling the elements it's not easy to stay inspired when there's a cold stream of water running down your collar. Thank goodness for cameras.

Muse on Gold 7 x 5

Breadmaker 10 x 8

This marks my 19th day on DailyPaintWorks. It's quite a lot of work - apart from just painting. But I'm sticking to it and will keep at it for a couple of months at least and see where it takes me. My DailyPaintWorks site is a virtual gallery and you can check it out anytime. Her are another 2 paintings I recently added to the auctions. Both done with live models followed up with minimal touch ups in the studio later.

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School's Out

I take photos when I stop at traffic lights. It's random. Often all I see is the road ahead and red tail lights going off into the distance. Sometimes I stop and people are crossing, I never know who will be there, what they look like of if the lighting will be any good. But that's part of the challenge. Follow my blog for more of these "Random Pedestrian" paintings.

SOLD!

The Boulevard

My reference for '​The Boulevard' was shot by jumping into the street in between sections of traffic. Looking West into late afternoon light is really inspiring. The first trick was to stay safe. The 2nd trick was to remember that the darks (too dark in camera) should get washed out when back-lit. Don't know if I caught that, but I'm happy with my effort.

Sold at auction

Shortcut on 12th

The trouble with shooting street scenes is that the images are usually bad and the composition weak. I found if I zoomed in one one small area I would find what interested me in the first place. I shoot a lot of urban scenes, but always when waiting at a light, I suppose that's what gives me all the brake lights to the right of the image. I will definitely be exploring this more.

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Daft Daffodils

"Daft Daffodils" herald springtime. So I suppose it's a little early for their season but I love them all the same. I painted this a while ago and forgot about it. Just found it in a stack of little painting. "So that's where you've got to - daft daffodils."

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Gritty City

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 I painted this to capture the atmosphere of city bustle. I wasn't interested in the details other than the little bits of light that glimmer around people on the move and reflections of cars and lights in traffic. 

Artists' tidbits:
When painting this kind of scene from photos, as this one was, it's best to use a really low res image. Or use photoshop to throw it out of focus or merely resize it. Details are the enemy of impressionistic painting, or at least too many details can kill the atmosphere. This painting was painted for a challenge from DailyPaintWorks. My DPW gallery is here

Waiting on Table 10

I love to watch waiters in action, but sometimes the moments in between can be quite intriguing. Here, our waiter is wondering if the guests at table 10 are going to be much longer and hoping the tip is generous. 
Painted using a limited palette and it was done from life - in the studio. There was a time when I would actually go to restaurants and hire waiters and waitresses to pose. What was I thinking??? Needless to say it didn't go well, modeling is a job too, and we are not all cut out for it. After a few waitress problems I invested in a white apron. From then on, I costumed models to pose, and that was a lot more successful.

Bid on this painting (6" x 6" oil on archival board)

Kit's Kitty

I'm not a cat person. We are all allergic to cats in my house so we don't own one. But aren't they so pretty? I called this 'Kit's Kitty" because I painted it and cats make a sweet subject to paint.

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Lucy's Sky

Click to Bid in my auction (6" x 6" oil on board)

"Lucy's  Sky" was painted as a challenge from my Daily Painters group which was to paint the sky and nothing else. My inspiration was color and the colors found in the clouds. Reminded me about eating ice cream, was as much fun to paint and no brain freeze.

Rainy Day Blues

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If it's going to rain, I like a really good downpour. It's really inspiring to an artist to see a wet street with brilliant reflections of lights, viewed to the sounds of splashing? However, it's probably best viewed from the comfort of a warm dry studio with good cup of tea for one thing.

(painting is 6 x 6 inches, oil on archival board)

Paper Dolls

Click to Bid in the Auction (6 x 6 inches, oil on canvas panel)

​I liked the idea of scissors but wanted to connect it to a subject of interest. After a lot of dark thoughts (not getting enough sleep these days) I thought of my nieces and the fun we had making paper dolls.

Afternoon Dream

Click to bid (6 x 6 inches Oil on board)

"Afternoon Dream" reminds me of napping so soundly that you fall into the deepest slumber. Nothing can wake you and you drift off into another dreamworld. Why is it then you can't remember what you were dreaming about?
This image is a bit off. I'll upload a better one tomorrow.