Portafino

This painting of building at the water's edge along the coast of Portafino, Italy. The colorful buildings of this location are quit inspirational, I spent a long time painting this. It was as if I did not want to leave this place. I feel this painting lacks some spontaneity, it is pretty enough but maybe a little overworked.

48" x 48" oil on canvas

MJC show

Here I am posting images of a show I had at Modesto Junior College a few years back. I have been thinking of this show as I worked on hanging my current show. This weekends show seemed much more difficult to hang. MJC's gallery a large white room with high ceilings allowed a lot of leeway. I could layout the room on graph paper and bring only paintings that I knew would fit. The smaller space of this current show took a little more finesse to get the flow right.

The above image shows six of my favorite paintings. These two foot square paintings, each a flower of a different color. I captured the 6 colors of the color wheel, 3 primary and 3 secondary colors. I call this series "Fleur Spectrum". Many years ago when I lived in Southern California I was a partner in a company that did decorative painting and faux finishes call Faux Spectrum. The library table is a byproduct of that enterprise. The sculpture is carved alabaster, it has four different faces on it's surface. The wall on the right had a large rectangle painted a dusty gray violet with close to a hundred small figure paintings attached to it. Hanging those small panels was truly a act of trust. I ended up filling every inch of the area with only four paintings left over.

This wall of 12 inch square paintings is one of the first times I was able to display these painting. I started painting one foot squares a while earlier knowing how I wanted to see them displayed. Four years later I'm still filling walls with grids of square paintings. This weeks show the paintings are 8" squares, 44 of them. The figure is a clay piece I did while I lived in San Francisco. The four foot square painting farther down the wall is a sight I actually witnessed. I was driving from San Francisco to Stanford to visit the museum there. I saw a circular shape in the field then noticed figures within the ring. I could not make out the origins of the people, but under the circumstances I could only assume they were aliens.

Magnolia

This painting of a blooming tulip magnolia tree is one that did not make it into my current show. I had planed to make it part of a set, I still may. While hanging my show I realised there was not room to display the pair, so I used that excuse not to execute the second painting. I like this painting by it's self and with out the pressure of a deadline it may be a while. There are a few other images I want to work on that the show forced me to set aside.

I planted a tulip magnolia in my yard two years ago. I wanted a shade tree to shelter my house from the summer's afternoon sun. The tree bloomed for the first time this year. I got 4 flowers. I want to bring them to my easel and try to capture the essences of there chaotic petals. My tree grew only 6 inches in 2 years. I fear there will be a long wait before I can remove a branch from it.

Show preview

Had a lot of trouble posting images this week. I've been to consumed with my upcoming show to spend time trying to overcome the problem.

This image is is a preview of what I have hanging in the space. I had to rethink my idea of focusing on floral images. The space required me to think about the scale of the paintings. The scale of the smaller room did not allow viewing space to appraise a larger image directly. The smaller paintings, 44 on the one wall, are more likely to draw someone into the room. I am showing some quirky still lives as well as the more organically inspired paintings. 

more hydrangea

Here are more hydrangea paintings. 

14" x 7" oil on board

36" x 36" oil on canvas

Hydrangea

Hydrangea comes in many forms, and painting it is often a challenge. The shape of the bloom, typically a mass of tightly grouped florets. I struggle with these, I want to show each petal and yet I know that such detail can take away from the overall impression. 

9" x 6" oil on board•

8"x 8" oil on board

20" x 24 oil on canvas

cosmos

A profusion of cosmos, like flowers dancing in a field. 

36" x 36" oil on canvas

Pride of Medeira

Yesterday's post with the blue of the rosemary reminded me of these paintings  of Pride of Merdeira. When I lived in Pennsylvania we did not have blue flowers. Here in California, there are often blue plant life that takes me by surprise. It was is like being in Oz, seeing something so unusual as a blue tree. I still remember screaming to stop the car, I had to get out and touch it. It was a full grown blue tree of wild lilac, Ceanothus. These paintings, of a the large blue spikes growing along route 1 somewhere between San Francisco and the Russian River. These paintings are from the same location, one facing north one south. These large paintings were painted over ten years ago while I lived in San Francisco.

both: 60" x 48" oil on canvas

rosemary

This is the pair of paintings I have been working on this week. They are similar to the work I posted march 4th; Red Quince. Yes, my fingers are stained with the wet paint, blue not red, but that isn't the reverent parallels. Again, I am working with the idea of a denser image on the bottom with the top painting concerned more with the space around the subject. I moved away from positing the top's subject against a blue sky. This time the top image more of a landscape above a more abstracted image. Again this is the first time I have the paintings positioned as I would have them hang. To bad I need to scroll this page to view them. Maybe after this is posted I will see them together. 

24" x 24" over 18" x 24" oil on canvas

Paint Day

Today was Paint Day, I almost missed it. I needed a reminder call. I painted among the almond blossoms today. The weather was perfect to be outdoors painting. I liked the rows of grass between the trees, green stripes where the fallen petals hide and the strips of exposed dirt freckled with the snow of fallen petals. The orderly ground stripes and the systematic rows of tree trunks against the chaos of the blooming branches make painting in an orchard a fun challenge. 

ground cover

It took me about an hour to up load these images. I wish I knew why sometimes it works and other times it won't.

These two paintings of the ground cover growing in Antibes, France. I believe the purple flowers are a geranium. It has been a while since I was in the south of France. These paintings are from a few years back, almost a decade maybe. I came across a photo where they were hanging in the background and it made me want to share them here. As I get ready to start a new painting, rosemary with it's blue blooms, I can see the similarities to what i have done with these. 

both:   24" x 24" oil on canvas

Ranunculus

This painting was done as a commission. Their home already had some of my floral paintings. There was an antique frame 300o miles away. They sent me fabric samples–the colors of the room it would hang with. and this is what came of it, salmon pinks and oranges, terracotta and muted spring greens. I found ranunculus in the appropriate colors and  joined them with some snapdragons. This painting with flowers very direct and prominent was to hanging a teenagers girls bedroom. I wanted the proportions of the flowers to be bold and direct maintaining a contemporary feel to balance the ornate frame.

14" x 24" oil on canvas

Show information

Here is the invitation for the show. I saw the space last week and it is a great space for a show.

red quince

Here is a preview of my quince paintings. Fresh off the easel, my fingers stained from moving them to take the photos. This posting is the first time I've been able to see them in the positioning I had in mine. Like the Cosmos painting having the denser image over the airier. 

I plan to show this painting in a show later this month.  

24" x 24"  &  18" x 24"  oil on canvas

quince on the easel

I'm currently working on a painting of quince blossoms against a blue sky. It is the upper part of a pair of paintings. The painting hanging on the wall, in the upper right of this photograph is the bottom. Similar to the cosmos in the previous post. I am interested in the relationship of  the duel perspective of a subject.

cosmos high & low

With this painting of cosmos I divided the canvas using the bottom section to show the flowers as if you were close and looking down. The denseness of the bottom section is in contrast with airiness of the top where the flowers are against the sky. The idea of the contrasting views of a subject has been one I have worked with for a while. My new series explores this more.

48" x 30" oil on canvas