From The Lobenberg Vault

This was an assignment I gave to my oil and acrylic painting students at Sacramento City College a few years ago. This is a good example of NOT painting every damn thing that you are looking at. Hey, none of us really look too closely at much. All you need are a few visual cues (or paint marks) and what you put down on the canvas is still going to come across as say a cup of Starbuck's coffee or a pack of Nutra-Sweet. Get lazy people! Spend less time painting and more time napping in the warm sun.

One last time . . . I promise!

This morning I went at my Coca Cola painting again!

"The Pause That Refreshes" Redux and Redux

The nice thing about acrylic painting is that you can play with your piece and unlike oil, you don't need to wait a week for the paint to dry. The top painting was completed yesterday. The second image represents playtime this morning. The last image represents where I stopped early this evening. Time for supper.

The Pause That Refreshes

The bottle of water, crushed beer can, and Coca Cola bottle on the white table top were painted a number of years ago, but like all artists, my painting style gets tweaked periodically. The bottle of Coke on the red table top was painted a few days ago.

Eucalyptus Road and Aspen Lane

These are two 11 inch by 14 inch watercolor paintings I recently did for my watercolor class at The School of Light and Color in Fair Oaks Village, California.  'Eucalyptus Road  ' has a soft early morning- like atmosphere while "Aspen Lane" has a more hard edge, crisp feel. So why this difference?

I used masking liquid to protect the tree trunks on the aspen as I was freely painting in the warm, Fall foliage. No masking was used on the eucalyptus trees, and I had to work carefully around the tree trunks. I also did my best to soften the edges of the foliage so that it blended in slightly with the sky. I think this helped to create a more diffused and softer early morning feel.

Two Bridges Just "Built" In Watercolor

These were painted on 140lb. Arches cold press watercolor paper. One is the San Francisco Bay Bridge as it heads into the Yerba Buena tunnel. Last year I found a marvelous reference photo to paint this from on the internet. The other watercolor is of the Freeport Bridge south of Sacramento, CA in the delta farming area. I painted from a reference photo that I took about 2 years ago. It is a cantilever bridge and that huge cement block on the top id the counter balance.

An oldie from the Lobenberg vault

When I watercolor and apply paint to paper I "miss" a lot of spots. These "missed" spots where the white of the watercolor paper show through are called "holidays". When seamen, during the days of sail, missed taring parts of the sailing lines, the captain would send them back up even on the Sabath to coat those missed areas, hence the name "holiday". Ever heard; "I haven't got a clue?" It is really; "I haven't got a clew".

Clews are holes in the bottom corners of the various sails. Lines go through them to furl and unfurl said sails. If you haven't got a clew, you are in deep dew dew! I think the holidays in a watercolor painting give the image a beautiful sparkle and energy (click on this image to enlarge and see my holidays scattered about). Some blockheads out in the art world derisively call these missed spots "popcorn". Well, I know for sure that there is an extra special place reserved in Hell for such people, and they are indeed clewless!!!! Have a good day.