Painting Party Vineyard

"Painting Party Vineyard"

Image size 9" x 12"

Acrylic

This painting was finished on Friday, but I forgot to post it yesterday.  I've been really busy with several projects and my brain just couldn't handle one more thing I guess.

On Friday, I led a painting party for a friend.  About 10 people painted.  I wanted a scene that would be easy to do, but not look simplistic.  I've never led a painting party before so I was pretty nervous.  I painted along with everyone so they could copy what I was doing.  Only a few people did that.  Some people painted something totally different and others copied the example that I had brought but painted much more quickly than I did.  It was really fun to see everyone's creativity and I think they all turned out really well.  I wish I had pictures of them.

Nature's Power

"Nature's Power"

Image Size 24" x 36"

Encaustic

Back to waves again!  They are just so much fun to paint and I can't stop!  This time I wanted to have the wave crashing on the sand instead of just curling.  I'm really happy with the colors on this one.

San Juan Bougainvillea

"San Juan Bougainvillea"

Image size 6" x 8"

Water Miscible Oil

I went to the San Juan Capistrano mission this week to do a plein air painting.  I've only tried painting outside a handful of times and it has always seemed to be more trouble than it's worth.  I like having all the comforts of home when I paint, but it's time to try something new. 

For some reason, I've signed up for a plein air competition that is held in a local beach city each year so I'm forcing myself to paint outside.  It's a week of painting with a contest at the end of the week.  I doubt that I will enter anything that I paint, but I thought it would be fun to try. There will be artists all around the town painting so there should be a nice energy.  I think that once I get used to painting outside, I will really enjoy it.  

The mission has so many places that would be beautiful to paint, but I saw this bougainvillea at the end of a broken archway and decided that would be my subject.  I painted for a couple of hours before I left, but for me, that's a long time to paint without taking a break.  I have a very short attention span....

Reflections Study

"Reflection Study"

Image size 8" x 10"

Acrylic/Oil

This is a very rough first attempt painting reflections in water.  I'm not at all happy with it, but will continue to experiment because I want to try this in an encaustic painting.  

Buellton

"Buellton"

Image size 6" x 6"

Oil

It's been a while since I've done a palette knife painting.  I really enjoy this technique and the textural look of the finished painting, but have been preoccupied with encaustic paintings. 

I'm planning to paint 'en plein aire' in June for a local contest so I thought I should start practicing with oils since I will be using them and can use some practice.  It's stressful enough painting outside (since I never do that) so being comfortable with my medium will help.

Buellton is a small town in Santa Barbara county and there are several nearby wineries that are fun to visit.  I love the look of the rolling hills with dotted greenery behind vineyards.

Iris on Yupo

"Iris On Yupo"

Image size 11" x 14"

Watercolor

This probably looks like one of my older paintings and it should.  I started this probably 8 years ago and never finished it.  I've been cleaning out my studio (again) and when I found this painting, I decided I needed to finish it.  I think this is the only painting that I have done on Yupo (a plastic, non-absorbent paper) because I find it to be a very hard surface to paint on.  The results can be interesting, but I have trouble with lint getting onto the surface and in the paint.  After I finished painting this, I spritzed it with a light mist of water which gave it an interesting texture.

Energized

"Energized"

Image size 15" x 22"

Acrylic

This was a fun exercise in acrylic.  I used a variety of thicknesses of the paint along with different applications to achieve this effect.

Gray Day

"Gray Day"

Image size 24" x 36"

Encaustic

I love the beach on an overcast day.  There is something very soothing about the lack of color and a misty sky.  This is my second painting using tones of gray in a wave painting.  This photo shows much more contrast than I see in the actual painting, but in looking at this, I might put a few layers of clear medium to diffuse the colors more.

Dawn

"Dawn"

Image size 12" x 12"

Encaustic

I was trying for an ethereal feeling in this painting.  I love these muted, soft colors even though I usually am attracted to bright colors.  These are very soothing and I like that.

Chile

"Chile"

Image size 36" x 43"

Encaustic

I finally finished the large encaustic that I've been working on for over a month.  This is the most difficult encaustic that I've painted so far.  I had trouble keeping the distinct edges of the railings each time I fused a layer of wax.  The wax on either side of the railings would also become molten and move, destroying my edges.  I did a lot of cursing on this one, that's for sure, but I'm happy with the finished painting.

This was a commission painted from my client's photo.  He was recently on a trip to Chile and snapped the reference photo on his iphone.  I love the photo and was really excited to try to capture the feeling of light hitting that back area on the path.  The right lower corner of this painting is darker than it appears in this photo because there is light coming in through a window on that side.  Since encaustic paintings are shiny it is really hard to get an accurate photo of them.