Santa Rosa California

I am working on a commissioned painting, which ended up needing to be done from a photo since the desired view is of California and not an easy plein air painter's drive from Bethesda. The challenges include working with photos that have little color in them and my need to understand the palette that best describes the light and color of Santa Rosa. I researched paintings at the Irvine Museum through an exhibit book "Palette of Light" as a starting point and I'm trying out colors I haven't used much before.

Here's the current state of the painting and the photos from which it has been created.

Light at Great Falls

I never made it to the waterfalls this morning -- the light coming through the trees stopped me before I even got to the path. The effect of a yellow sky and blue hills in the distance ... with a silhouette of fall trees!

Maine... in the Studio on a rainy day

I had started a painting in Maine this summer, liked the idea, but never got very far (was it the sunset or a bottle of wine that ended that painting session?). Today, with rain outside, I picked up my otherwise unusable start of a painting (below) and worked on it. I moved the horizon, altered the relative sizes of the boats, added the buoy in the front and touched color after color from one part of the painting to the next. The smaller painting is how it looked when I started.

Refinement of the farm painting

I had just 1/2 hour this morning to solve some of the issues with the shrubs, foreground, balance of color...

Birthday, Anniversary, Farm

Today is the 10th anniversary of my return to painting -- and it's also, not coincidentally, my birthday. 10 years ago, I decided to give myself a weekend painting workshop as a present. Today, the weather was beautiful and I enjoyed every minute of painting back at the farm in Poolesville.

It's Done!

Fast Moving Cars

Today's challenge was to "paint something you'd never paint." Well, fast moving cars fit that description, so I set up next to MacArthur Blvd. and this is the result.

Coming this week -- Tennis Racquets

The weather this week looks fine for painting, and I'm going to add some tennis racquets leaning against the wall in the mural. A little challenge -- since the mural "cuts off" at the bottom (the wall gets too rough to paint low down), I shouldn't be painting the full racquet head, just as I don't have dog feet.

The tennis addition will be made as a nod to the owners of the garage, who have fine and devoted tennis players in their family.

Maybe I'm 99% Done with the Mural

I'm thinking that once I get the second coat of paint on the sky behind the cat -- and make it match the rest of the sky, the mural will be just about done. I keep thinking that a simple butterfly right above the nose of Charlie the poodle would be a nice touch... but it will depend entirely on the weather.

Janis's Farm

This may have been the most beautiful fall morning, ever.