Beach Bike

My "Relaxation Station." I'm not one for sunbathing. Within half and hour at the beach, I'm done, bored, need to do something. However, spending a day on a bicycle by the shore is definitely my kind of day.

To purchase this piece: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/450778

Stars over Loch

For this piece, I was inspired by another of the challenges on dailypaintworks.com. The thought of the stars at night would be really hard to do, I think as I'm a bit of a realist - meaning I can't get past black sky, white stars. So again I go for the just after sunset and the moonrise. Add water and the village lights - and is that pub down there?

To bid on this piece: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/449865

Bright and Frosty

I love this image because it reminds me of the beauty of winter. The stillness of a walk in new snow, everything is white except for a flash of red in the branches, and there sits this little fellow.

To bid on this painting: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/449859

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.

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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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.

Click to bid in auction

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

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)

Evening Stars

Click to Bid (6 x 6 inched Oil on board)

My first daily painting is posted here.

I followed the weekly challenge on DailyPaintWorks, and found one about painting a starry night. I don't paint like Van Gogh, but found inspiration in the early evening and the first stars out.