Scare Bear

This was in a show at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek. The theme of the show was work that was a little offbeat or weird, so I used dramatic lighting and made creepy, beady eyes. I usually paint on canvas but I like the way wood panels look when they are cradled, meaning mounted on a wood frame. The wooden sides have an elegant, simple look when the piece is hanging. But I forgot what a challenge wood can be to paint on. Wood is a very old traditional painting support. Some Renaissance masters used wood panels and it works very well with oils. With acrylic, it's difficult as the paint gets sticky and thick very quickly and doesn't go on smoothly. I got so frustrated that I fantasized about how satisfying it would be to light the painting on fire, but I persisted and it turned out decently. Size is 20" by 16". 

Dee

A commission that was given as a gift. I have never met this dog and worked from photos that weren't ideal but it was a good challenge and I'm happy with the results and more importantly, so was the client. Painting the toy was a lot of fun and I'm not sure why. Perhaps because it was such a goofy-looking object and I was doing a realistic depiction of it. Acrylic on canvas, 12" x 9".

Rosie4

Rosie, aka Rosita Conchita Morita, was my niece's beloved chihuahua that graced the planet for about 13 years. I did   a number of paintings of her. This one is 8x10, acrylic on canvas. It took a few tries but I finally got the feeling of her spirit in this one.

Kudzu

Finally finished another book. As seems to be usual for these book paintings, this one had a surprise variable--the cover seemed to be coated, maybe with the mounting varnish or glue, but it was slippery so paint did not stick very well. The solution was to let every coat dry thoroughly, so that made for glacial speed progress. This is the first one of this series that didn't have a critter on it but I enjoyed just painting an object and the design challenge that the leaf shape presented. It's always fun to figure out how to fill a space with a good balance of negative and positive shapes. Also, making a simple object visually interesting. I chose to employ dramatic lighting instead of my usual modus operandi which would have been to do a botanical-type leaf study.

My friend Mary Brent that I did this for, is a writer and Kudzu Rising is the title of her as yet unpublished novel so I thought she would enjoy springing this on someone as if it had been published. A lot of painstaking work goes into each part of these painted books, but the final product is always rewarding.

Marv's Book

More book cover art! I'm having a great time doing these…a whole lot of work, but a very rewarding product when it's finished. I used a book that had a smooth cardboard cover for this painting and didn't really like working on it until about halfway through. It's not nearly as forgiving as canvas and really shows up the lines from my carbon transfer paper but once some paint is down, it's a nice surface to work on. But it has no texture whatsoever. Canvas takes washes much better and allows for a less precise technique but fuzzes out details. The smooth surface is superb for small details. So basically I just have to adapt to whatever surface I'm using. Doing type is becoming a real eye-crosser. I used to really be into it but now I'm not really liking doing something that requires so much control. There's many steps of back and forth adjusting--an edge of a letter might be too short so I add some length and make the corner too high so then I have to come back to cut then corner down and cut off too much so I have to add more again to clean up the corner. That kinda stuff makes me grind me teeth. But it's done and I know Marv will be pleased. After I began painting this book cover I was looking for books for my next projects and came across a marriage manual for newly engaged couples. It had a section on--the birds and the bees! Funny that any young adults wouldn't know that stuff already, but there it was. I just wish I could have used that book for this piece--it would have really been a hoot to give that to Marv.

Buddy's Book

I met an artist that paints on books and I thought, "How cool is that?". So I did an exploratory piece that was pretty fun. Then a writer friend had a birthday coming up so I had the idea of doing a portrait of her dog on a book. Great idea, lot of work. Way more than I would have imagined. Just finding the right cover surface to work on is more involved than I would have imagined. Modern cardboard surfaces are too cheap and start pilling as soon as they get wet. Some books are partially cloth wrapped and some have too much type embossing. Only older books that are canvas wrapped really work well and finding ones that don't have a lot of embossing is difficult. Then there was some experimenting to figure out how to do type on the spine. In short, this was a real voyage of discovery. But the end product is worth it. And thanks to Dollar Tree for selling hardcover books so my failed experiments weren't expensive!

Zoe

A portrait of my ex-neighbors' fierce little dog. Zoe is a biter but just before I moved away we became pals, or at least I wasn't bitten when I petted her. I've moved to a very hot area so my paint dries extremely fast. It's almost like working with watercolor. I have to know what I intend and do it decisively or the paint starts setting up and becomes unworkable. But with acrylic at least I can do some painting over as long as it doesn't get too thick. So considering the new variables in my working procedures, I am happy with the results and hopefully Zoe won't feed on me out the next time I see her.

Blue Cup

This was created as an entry for this year's Marin County Fair. They have a dizzying number of categories and this one was for work no larger than 6"x6" so strangely enough, its dimensions are 6"x6". I've done another smaller work using this same cup so I had that painting beside me as I worked. It's interesting to have a related work done 3 or 4 years ago to see how my process has either changed or remained the same. For the most part, I think I've gotten better, maybe a little looser, which is something for which I have been striving. This also retains a little more of the qualities of a drawing.

I won the miniature category a couple years ago so I'm looking forward to seeing how I do this year. Interestingly, one of the judges is someone I went to art school with. It was so long ago I doubt that he'd remember me or my work since we weren't close and I don't think they see artist entry form.

Rosita Conchita, aka Little Pooper

A gift for my niece's birthday--a portrait of her nutty chihuahua Rosita, post cancer surgery and minus two teeth. This piece is tiny--4"x4" and painted on a wood panel so the size and surface were a challenge. Wood is relatively non-porous so whatever you do sits on the surface as opposed to canvas or paper that will absorb paint in a little. It's more difficult to use my usual wash blending techniques as a wash will dry with a hard edge, so I needed to do more dry brushing than usual. There isn't much room for detail in something this size with the exception of the eyes, which are relatively ginormous. I was using my other niece's excellent photo so there was great reference to work from and I got a little lost in all the eye detail. Can't imagine doing this head much bigger. I'd get sucked into those eyes and never make it back out!

Bingo

Just finished this painting. The obvious challenge of painting Bingo was all the curly hair. A short-haired animal is easier because the anatomical shapes are readily seen and light and darkness define the contours. But a lot of hair disguises the body shape and throws light all over the place. Eyes are always an important detail and his eyes blend into the shadows and hair color so I had to create a very light photo reference to work from and there still wasn't much detail, so I had to emphasize what I could see.

As always, each painting is another step in the lifelong learning curve of being a painter. There's always points where I start wishing there was sat nav for artists to find their way through a painting. My method of dealing with getting lost is to take a break and do something totally different and come back to it or look at it in a mirror or upside down. Sometimes taking a picture of it helps, just anything to see it differently. Despite some moments of freaking out I'm pretty chuffed with how Bingo turned out.

Abby

A commission for friend Cathleen's new family addition. Painting anything black seems like a challenge. But if there is enough light hitting the object there is plenty of information to use for details and to create form. It's also fun to use different blacks and greys although mixing them on the palette is tricky as the paint might look too dark or too light until you add it to the canvas and in context with what else is there, it is very different. The red bandana helps add some interest and color contrast. 8"x10", acrylic on canvas.

Cindy

A memorial commission for cousins J&D's dog Cindy. She was a wonderful pet and FLUFFY!!! I'm quite chuffed at how well this one came out although her heavy coat kept throwing off my sense of scale. Usually it's not a challenge to figure out where things go but with so much of her anatomical structure hidden I was struggling a bit. Oftentimes there is a point in a painting when you know something isn't working, can't quite figure out what to do about it, and think it's time to paint out and re-start. This is a good time to take a break, go for a walk or ride, and think about something else. So that's what happened and after my break I came back and saw what to do. I painted out part of what I had done and re-adjusted the drawing. Then the rest came together painlessly. 16" x 20", acrylic on canvas.

Mesmerized

Despite being a serious Luddite I enjoy creating digital images too. This was done in Illustrator, which I liken to dragging around a piece of string. Fine tuning with the point handles is a real challenge for me and I have come close to throwing my keyboard or mouse. Yeah, I don't use a Wacom. They make me queasy for some weird reason.

The downstairs neighbors have two cats and there are three next door so I get a lot of opportunities to see them in action, or inaction as it were. They like to hang out on my porch and sit there staring--meditating? Contemplating the downfall of the two-leggeds? Remembering the numerical sequence of pi? Anyway,  that's what inspired this image.

Book cover

Some friends are putting together an anthology of writings that were created for a series of workshops that are based on Sullivan's Island South Carolina. My friends that put together the events call themselves Southern Sampler Artist's Colony and this is the cover for their soon-to-be-published book, "A Southern Sampler". I still can't believe this was the fifth iteration as the others all failed in some way. But at least I'm pleased with the results, as are the clients. Acrylic on canvas, 14"x11".

Emilie

I decided to do portraits of the kids that were killed in Newtown, CT and send them to their parents. I haven't done a lot of portraits but I figured I'm an experienced painter so I should be able to handle this. Because I use acrylic that needs about 10-15 minutes to dry I started four by doing drawings and then adding washes. This went pretty well until I started seeing places where the resemblance was off. I spent a lot of time correcting the drawings, then when I got a better likeness I added more washes to build up general shadow areas and then started adding color. Then I started having trouble. I'd fix a color issue only to notice a resemblance problem so I'd fix that but now the colors weren't working. Needless to say I'm in over my head but determined to carry on and hoping to get looser although I have difficulty adjusting details and staying loose. Emilie Parker is the first one I have finished. Her eulogy said that she loved to draw and would make cards for people so I felt a kinship with her. We probably would have had fun drawing together and it made me think about making art with kids.

Zenboyz

And now for something completely different! I was dragged kicking and screaming into the digital world and recall with teeth-gritting fondness the difficulty I had learning graphics software. But on the rare occasion that I create a digital image, I really enjoy it. This was done with Illustrator CS6 and is entirely vector. I still prefer the direct tactile interface of a brush or pen but there are definitely some advantages to digital, like moving things around and changing colors.

A while back I attempted to create a sportswear company with my cousin. Things never worked out with the company but we were going to call it Zenboyz. I recently had an opportunity to use the name for a design identity contest and this was my entry. I wanted to create an image that would allude to Eastern philosophy but in a way that was playful and didn't take itself too seriously. The target is a reference to a zen exercise that employs archery as a training device.

Pookie

A local organization called Muttville places older homeless dogs. They contacted me asking if I would donate a portrait for their fundraising auction so this was done for the winning bidder. I had a great time rendering Pookie's wild bits of hair. 14x11, acrylic on canvas.

Lux

Been taking an interest in Latin words and phrases. I started realizing how prevalent Latin is in our culture--legal terms, the root of common words and natural science terminology, and of course, on our money. And then there's the fun to be had by making up Latin-sounding phrases, like flatulus maximus, a condition related to lactose intolerance. I had an idea for this piece about light and dark and contrast. So I looked up some Latin phrases and found this one, lux ex tenebris, which means light from dark. This is 24" x 24", acrylic on canvas with the words at the top and the dove drawing being done in pen and ink and glued on as separate pieces of paper. Thanks to my artist niece Lindsay for the canvas! This will be in a juried competition show at the ACCI Gallery in Berkeley that opens July 13.

Yespa

A painting of my friend Ed's Vespa scooter I've been working on for about a year, off and on. Kept thinking I wanted it to be more than just a pretty picture. I've done some things in the past that incorporated collage and type, perhaps from my graphic design days. I did paste-up a few lifetimes ago and remembered liking how my desktop looked when all the elements were there but not assembled yet. You could get the same message just looking at the pieces, but it was an enjoyable exercise to put them together mentally. I suppose the intellectual art term for this would be deconstructivist. So, I went back to my piece and added some collage elements. The scooter painting satisfies the part of my thinking that likes rendering stuff, and the collage adds a quirkiness that makes it less predictable realism. The last part was adding the word "Vespa". I didn't like how it looked so I started sanding it off and was struggling with it a bit so I stopped. I looked at the texture from the sanding and realized I liked the way it looked and all of a sudden it wasn't the problem I thought it was. The word was still legible, so I decided to leave it that way. One of those rare occasions where I let something spontaneous happen instead of being determined to get to where I would have normally gone--completely sanding off the word, repainting the area, and redoing the type in a different way.

Molly

A portrait of my cousin's cat. Was quite pleased that she felt that I had captured the cat's character, something I always hope for but is sometimes elusive. Typically I like odd things the average person wouldn't even notice, like the dark spot on her back against the dark background. Acrylic on canvas, 11x14.