Friday, March 30, 2012

Crumpled Paper Airplane


10" x 8" Oil on Linen.

This is a painting for the Crumpled Paper Challenge at DailyPaintworks. It was a fun study to make it read correctly from across the room, while keeping it loosely executed. Crash and Burn?

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Eggbeater Drill


12" x 12" Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas.

Grandpa's old "eggbeater" drill is still running very smooth. This is my take on the You Know the Drill Challenge at DailyPaintworks. I set the tool in the composition with a cool to warm background in the upper portion of the square. 

Friday, March 23, 2012

Old Faithful #2

Approx 7" x 5" Oil on Linen.

My painting of Old Faithful can make me stop and look after 2 years. I liked how the pink underpainting gave the sky some liveliness. So I decided to revisit it today and let a little more undertone show through. I still like the effect. It is a little unusual to come back and execute a smaller study after the big painting, but maybe this is just another in a series. 

Here is a peek at what it actually looks like on my easel. 


Note that I plan to cut and mount this at 7" x 5" so not much of the pink border will show.

From across the room I really like how the image pops with the surrounding color, so I am thinking about going further and visiting it again with am extreme vignette.


Thursday, March 22, 2012

Spring Snow


10" x 8" Oil on Linen.

Our second full day of Spring came with another blanket of snow. It soon melted off of the trees, but for the morning they sported an appealing flocking against a shocking blue sky. This is the top of one of the towering specimens behind our house.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Cycling Photogs


11" x 14" Oil on Linen.
In a Private collection.

Leon Z allowed me to paint from his photo reference. He said, "This shot just says something..........I'm not sure what, it just speaks to me!" I agree.

 I really liked the contrast between Jono and Beth as they wait for the approaching racers at the US Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado. I thought at first this was Liz  since she is always wearing some pink. Beth Schneider confirms it is her in the comments. She is about 4 ' 10" and Jono is well over 6ft. 

Monday, March 19, 2012

Mt Index Through the Clouds


14" x 11" Oil on Linen.

Mt Index was playing hide and seek while wearing a brand new coat of snow on Sunday. Of course, the view was changing minute by minute, but it produced a dramatic effect as it went in and out of the clouds. Mt Index is my favorite and it's on the way in and out of Seattle.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Mountains Leader


11" x 14" Oil on Linen.

Here is a closer composition of the Polka Dot Jersey. The lost edges and exaggeration are pushed a little farther. I wanted this one to more closely match the Green Jersey painting.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Polka Dot Jersey


11" x 14" Oil on Linen.

The Polka Dot Jersey in the Tour de France and several other stage races is worn by the leader in the climber's classification. I expect that we might see Andy Schleck  in that jersey as the attacks to take time out of Cadel Evans. It might look like this.

Friday, March 09, 2012

Cavendish Winning


10" x 8" Oil and Linen.

I think we will be seeing the rainbow jersey in this pose a lot this year. Mark is not succumbing to any World Champion Jersey curse. Mark won the sprinter friendly World Championship Road Race last year, so this year he gets to has to wear the rainbow stripes in road races. He might be wearing a classification jersey (like the Tour de France Green Jersey.)

For this painting, I used photo reference from 2010 (that I have permission to use) and dressed him in the rainbow stripes. 

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Tea with Cream and Sugar


14" x 11" Oil on Linen.

I still like this china pattern after many years. I wanted to keep this painting loose with the silver cream an sugar set pushed back in the composition. I am still working on the lost edges here, but I like the "shine" effect on the cup.

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Two Gala Apples


8" x 6" Oil on linen.

A little still life setup concentrating on lost edges, shadows, and the wonderful color of these Gala's.

Friday, March 02, 2012

Grand Prismatic Spring


14" x 11" Oil on Linen.

Grand Prismatic Sprint is amazing when you see those National Geographic aerial shots, but in person it is even more stunning. The colors are an amazing rainbow made by different bacteria living at the various temperatures out from the center of the spring. My most memorable view was this one from the hill to the south east (as I remember) that has an unofficial trail. Along the top of this painting you see the grey boardwalk that gives visitors a closer look at the spring.

I am considering whether this or some other composition would make a good larger painting.