Sierra Pasture Snow and Stream

This is a half sheet watercolor on 140lb cold press with just a touch of colored conte crayon. This will be the image for my annual Holiday watercolor workshop towards the end of Nov.

9 foot by 12 foot Sacaramento Kings biggie banner progressive photos

From grid and charcoal drawing to almost finished. Speaking of transferring a small gridded out drawing to a larger grided out drawing and painting, that is exactly what Michaelangelo and his crew did on the Sistine Chapel project. Cool!

Working on a biggie for the Sacramento Kings

The Sacramento King's attendance record last year was less than stellar (worst in the league :( ). This new NBA season, they are therefor doing more outreach programs. One of them is very cool, indeed. They are paying artists to paint billboard art that will be seen on the major commuting arteries around town. We're talking 12 feet by 45 feet! Most all are up now with some having been painted by graffiti artists. The Kings organization built large "easels" and had primed substrates at the arena for the artist's to work on. I came in on the tail end of the program to paint a 6 foot by 12 foot banner that will go up in the arena's parking lot early November. I had just enough room on the floor to paint in the comfort of my studio. I stand on a large piece of job file furniture to view the banner. I paint, listened to my sports music CDs titled "Jock Jams", and sometimes imbibe a few beers to get into the sport spirit. The only thing missing are arean hot dogs and nacho plates. Oh, and the Sacramento Kings Royal Court Dancers are not there to cheer me on... art is a lonely business. You can see my thumbnail sketch, NBA photo reference, and "palette" in the photo here. The Kings provided the gessoed vinyl banner to paint on. I'll have more photos in future posts. GO KINGS!

I have NEVER thrown away my tubes of empty watercolor paints.

Why?, you ask. Because what could be fina in the state of Carolina than a tall glass vase of spent watercolor tubes?! I really, really want to thank everyone to date who responded to my plea for help in the previous post. I think all of you had good suggestions, even some of the more humorous ones. Dollars to donuts, I just may incorporate one or two. They are food for thought. Meanwhile, I have decided to let my painting be for awhile. I'll bide my time, the passage of which may be just what the doctor ordered before I make any decisions. Again, a BIG FAT THANK YOU to all!

Downtown Dead End?

The corner of a bank building in downtown Sacramento. Acrylic on stretched canvas, 12"X46", and going nowheresville?, a real downer?, and a dead end? It's not finished.I need to refine some elements such as the windows, and I want to add some brush stroke texture in the shadow side of the building... but... short of adding a dead pedestrian lying in the street, I'm finding it difficult to make this painting interesting :( Signed, In desperate need of advice. aka: woe is me.

Man Paints Dog

This last Sunday was the first day of the First Annual Sacramento Plein Air Festival. This is the very first plein air event I've been in. I was out Sunday painting en plein air on a lazy street of a tiny delta farm town named Courtland (famous for it's annual Pear Fair in the middle of July when the average temperature at that time is a 100! They still draw a good crowd!!). It was somewhat breezy so I painted in the shelter of the back of my gas guzzling Toyota Forerunner. No problem parking any old where on the street of a tiny farm town...quiet, no traffic, few people except for the street dog taking it easy in front of an old empty Roman Classic-style bank building that hasn't seen life in decades. It was a fine day communing with dog and bank.

Art Geography 1A

Here we are at my Studio L painting side by side as I teach Rita (a talented high school senior) a few lessons on how to paint a portrait from a reference photo. We have several geological-like strata of art over which we toiled. The first layer is a triptych that is a commission I am currently working on (see one of my previous posts). Propped on top of a blank canvas on top of the commission piece is an initial drawing of a barn by a pond (see one of my previous posts), and propped on top of that is the finished painting. "Barn by Pond" (nice title, huh?) is a current acrylic workshop that I am conducting at a local art materials store. Also take careful note that Rita uses her jeans to clean her brushes whilst I use a rag. Both methods are acceptable within the painting establishment. If you wish to call me to say hello, please note my phone number on the grey supply locker (click on the photo to enlarge). The Studio L phone bank is waiting for your call.