Gosh, another Wrightsville Beach Bridge.

                                          Ouch........

At the Royal Mews. On a half sheet of cold press Arches.

Sunflowers using my new squirrel hair brush.  I used the Isabey Squirrel Quill Mop brush. On a half sheet of cold press Arches.

What to do with the background of a cityscape?  The statue of Oliver Cromwell was dark almost black, so that is what I used.  Washes and a blurred background has Cromwell as the center of interest.

Another attempt of water lilles.  Loose seems to work best for me.  

Hurst Garden

I'm not happy with my greens or with the lack of dimension.

Tower in London

At the Tower in London.  I wanted to bleed the color and not be so hard edge.

A street scene in Paris after a week with Mel Stabin.

Beach house

The best piece of the four paintings I did in Mel Stabin's workshop.  Mel offered advise on the palm trees but did not paint anything.  The advise was using various brush strokes to create the leaf "look".

Monterey CA

A composite scene from Monterey, CA.  I had an epiphany with this painting.  It has to do with the wonderful markings on the rocks.  There are grays, blacks and whites.  The whites are around the top and drip down.  And usually under sea gulls!

A new direction with the water lilies.  More water and blurred edges.

Fence near grandmother Gerry's place of rest

The first piece done in Mel Stabin's workshop.  

Wrightsville Beach

A beach scene from Wrightsville Beach.  I tried to model this from the California style from the 1930 -40s.  Simple and suggestive but still powerful.

Night Owls two

A second attempt of this scene.

Lilies two

Another attempt of those water Lilies.  Working with making the darks more interesting.

Manzara

Working with the figure and using yellow.

Jenny Lee in London

A restaurant in London.  This image was tried several times and this is the second version..

Jenny Lee's

The window of a Chinese restaurant.

Victoria Station

Another attempt at Victoria Station, London.  Working the darks and using the flags adds to the interest.

Stage for Wicked

We are just back from vacation, summer camps and volleyball fun.  At least the fun was for my 12 y/o. We had a chance to go back to London and this time it was for a week.  With the gloom of a possible lay off for me we decided to take the gamble.  We went to see "Billy Elliot" and "Wicked" while we were in London.  I shot a few photos before the show "Wicked" began and this is somewhat what the stage looked like.  No pictures can be taken during the show but I thought even before the show it was an interesting view.  I did pay attention to my values and I wanted a dark around the yellow of the curtain.

Alley in London

Alley in London.

Head at Grapevine

A scene from the old jail in Grapevine, TX.  The pattern of the bars with the flatness of the shape up top creates some interest.

Wrightsville Beach Bridge

A favorite subject matter, the Wrightsville Beach bridge.  This is near Wilmington, NC and the bridge is green, as least the metal part which draws. 

Flower

Did three pieces over the weekend for the upcoming SWS show.  I did not pick this piece to enter afterall.  Flowers are more difficult than you think!

Exploring in the Boat

Using an old B&W photo is fun inspiration.  I kept the figure in a B&W mode with just a slight hint of color in the remaining picture.  I also kept the grid system to make a flat unified feeling.

Paris Cafe

Another Paris cafe -

Victoria Station London

Approaching the subject matter a little differently with a darker shadow type of world.  This type of image was a little difficult to capture.

Wrightsville Beach Bridge

The Wrightsville Beach bridge -

Magnola Gardens

A view of Magnola Gardens in Charleston, SC.  I did focus on the darks and this piece was a little darker than usual.

Warf at Monteray CA

I need to adjust values since this isn't a bad photo.  The painting is a little light.  I did get two new lamps which I'll soon begin to us.

SF Chinatown redo

It does look different than my prior efforts but I only believe it is marginally successfully.  It is different than the last smaller one done a few months ago and I am somewhat happier with the design of the cars.  A looseness of application is welcomed too.

Paris Restaurant

A restaurant I noticed because of the sign.  Trying to loosen up and used a "Kingman" like style for the figures.  Note the artist's page Dong Kingman.  I do like the dark areas and I am pleased overall with the piece.

Beach at LB

Another viewing of Laguna Beach.  This does show a little difficulty with values.  It probably would have been a stronger piece with stronger darks.  My photo bulbs may be burning out or there may be a white balance issue.   

Workshop

I had a workshop with Keiko Tanabe this March.  She was wonderful, above is a few examples she did  during the three day workshop.

Take a look at her web page.
http://ktanabefineart.com/

Calabash Shrimpboat

Another painting of the shrimp boat scene at Wrightsville Beach.  I took a photo of this many years ago and t'm trying to see it a different way. 

Dear 18th Annual TEXAS NATIONAL 2012 Entrant

Good news - see below:

Dear 18th Annual TEXAS NATIONAL 2012 Entrant:



Congratulations! Juror, Dave Hickey has selected your art work(s) (LISTED ABOVE) to be in the 18th Annual TEXAS NATIONAL 2012 Exhibition and Competition. The exhibition is Saturday April 14 – May 26, 2012 at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House, 329 East Main Street, Nacogdoches, TX. Over 1,660 works of art were submitted to the competition from artists in approximately 46 states and 109 artworks were selected for the exhibition. We will send notice of your acceptance to a newspaper in your region.


This show is at Stephen F. Austin State University whih is about a four drive from DFW.  I will be shipping the piece there.  I was accepted in 2006 but not in 2007.  This was the first time I entered since 2007.

The peice is the same one which was in the juried show at TCU.

April 1, 2012 It appears a lot of people worry about their art work arriving safely.  I forgot my some of my packing foam and asked via email to let me know if it arrived OK.  I heard nothing but an email did go out to everyone saying that only those would be notified if there work was damaged.

WB Bridge

A bridge scene at Wrightsville Beach.  A difficult one for me.  The value was to light and I kept trying to darken it.  This I believe made the color not as rich, maybe a little muddy. 

LB scene

Another scene at Laguna Beach.

Luguna Beach

Another image of the Laguna Beach hotel.

WB from Hotel

An image from several stories up at the beach.  A perspective and design challenge. 

Night Driving

An enjoyable piece which could have been a little darker.  I did apply the yellow last vs. working light to dark.

Me and Katie

How very difficult it is to try to capture a likeness and a feeling.  I would want me younger and my daughter cuter but this is what I have.  I just have to chalk it up to practice:)  

Skull on wooden mount

A little bit western this time.  I've done cow skulls many times and I had one which an art teacher had given me.  This image was actually seen near home, I am in the West ya'll.

Windsor Castle

I first tried this in the workshop with Leslie Frontz and I wanted to try it again.  I need to in general pay more attention to value but here I am not to disappointed.