"Ready to Work" 8"x 10"

The overcast weather was giving me fits during this painting and it resulted in a different palette of colors than my usual work. The light was constantly in a flux. I don't think this one scanned in very good. It looks better in real life.

Dads Old Truck Revisited

"Dad's Old Truck" revisited 9" x 12"

I wasn't happy with this painting when I posted it a few weeks ago, so I picked it up and went at it again. I added a glaze with Ultramarine Blue and Liquin to most of the shadow areas and applied a thicker and cleaner highlight to the front fender. I don't normally paint on my plein air work after it's dry, but I think this improved it and I'm happier with the final product.

Get Off My Lawn!

"The Tree Swing" 12" x 16"

I have wanted to paint this house for some time and I found my chance when I saw the owners out front doing some yard work. I walked up to the lady of the house and she seemed delighted that I wanted to paint on her land. So I set up my easel right off the sidewalk on the corner of their property and got to painting. I selected a 12" x 16" canvas which is larger than my typical size so right then I knew I was in for some work. About twenty minutes in the man of the house sees me and makes a bee line towards me looking very confused and not very happy that I was in his yard. I explained who I was and that I had asked permission from his wife because he was on a riding lawn mower at the time. After what seemed like much hesitation he told me I could continue. For the next two hours I was stared at and given the evil eye. My wife came out to check on me and quickly noticed the way I was being looked at. The man wanted no part of me being on his land or cared about looking at what I was doing. Then he walked over and told me I was done because he wanted to mow the grass I was standing on even though he had just done it when I walked up. Very confusing. The lady of the house had asked me to show it to her when I finished but I felt like I needed to leave. The painting was officially done.

Weird day, but hopefully worth it.

Evening Sky

"Evening Sky" Unfinished 9" x 12"

I don't normally show unfinished work because most of it is finished on site. I tried a different approach with this one by using softer brushes and Liquin as my medium. I was able to paint in most of the colors and then decided to let it dry. I'm thinking that building up the colors in layers of glazes will give it a softer glow. It was difficult not to slap on that fat, juicy thick paint I normally go for. I will post it again when I return to it.

Dad's Old Truck

"Dad's Old Truck" 9" x 12"

Recently I was out painting with several other painters. Three of us started painting the same identical scene. ( See previous post ) I was excited because I really respect the other two artists that were around me and I figured it was going to be a good learning experience to compare my painting to both of theirs. After I had finished I started to walk over to view the other painters at work. To my amusement one of the other painters started to hurriedly pack his painting away from sight. With a smile on my face, I asked him if I could see it and he quickly refused. After everyone stopped down for some lunch, I asked if he was going to let anyone see his painting and I received the same answer as before. This guy is a world class portrait painter and his studio work is jaw dropping to me. He has admitted that he is relatively new to plein air painting, but I seriously doubt his painting was anything to be embarrassed about. This showed me how tough plein air painting is, even for an expert level painter.

Maybe I’m not the only guy in the world that is guarded about his work.

I heard another very successful painter state that only one out of ten plein air paintings he does is worth displaying in a gallery. I also was able to visit his studio and see literally thousands of plein air paintings he has boxed and laying around. I learned that not every painting you do will be successful, let alone a masterpiece. Lately I find myself making less negative comments towards my own work and gaining more confidence.
Being hard on myself has always plagued me. I know posting my work online is helping me to open up. Art can be very personal.

Maybe I won’t be so hard on myself the next time my painting is not turning out.

It’s Great to Have Friends!

"Spreading Out" 9" x 12"

If you don’t belong to an art group or you don’t have painting partners, I strongly recommend it. Followers of my Blog can see that I haven’t been able to post as regular as I started. My full time job has really demanded a lot from me the past few months and it still hasn’t let up. I know this is not a totally bad thing in today’s economy, but it really puts a damper on my painting time. Some of my recent chances to paint have been spoiled by this famous random Texas weather. Not sure if there is a harder place to paint outside. This is where having painting partners provides a lift. My friends keep me in the loop and let me know what’s going on in the local plein air scene. Those friendships enable me to join in their outings and even sap some of their enthusiasm when I’m down. Recently I joined around thirty other artists on a great one day paint outing in Granbury Texas. We were unleashed on a 300 acre private ranch. Even though my paint skills were a little rusty, I had a great time! How can you not love painting in a group? Every person truly wanted to be there and you can tell they all treasure their time together.

I appreciate my friends Doug and Cecilia for including me in their “Reindeer games”!

Red Mountain Ghost Town revisited

"Red Mountain Ghost Town"

About a year ago I was lucky enough to take a Rusty Jones painting workshop. The first day, we stayed inside and painted from photographs Rusty brought with him. It should be no surprise that I went straight for an old paint flaking white house surrounded by trees. After first painting a value study, I proceeded to paint what turned out to be a pretty nice little painting. Rusty told me the photo was taken in Colorado while he himself was watching a demo by William Kalwick Jr. On my recent vacation to Colorado, I almost jumped out of my car when I spotted the real house from this painting. I wasn't searching for it, but just turned a corner and it was there. You would have thought I was seeing the ocean for the first time from my reaction. It was weird to see one of my painting subjects for the first time after painting it.

Now I have several photos of my own to work from.

( What you can't see is the hundreds of mosquitos swarming me )

How to enjoy a rainy day

"100 Degrees in the Shade" 9 x 12

"Forgotten Train Tracks" 8 x 10

"Secret Garden" 9 x 12


"In Bloom" 9 x 12

I received a call inviting me to go paint at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens today so I jumped at the chance and took off. Before I arrived it started raining cats and dogs. After it stopped raining I squeezed out a painting in less than an hour in order to join my painter friends for a lunch at the Kimball Art Museum. What a great day this turned into. We hung around talking art for hours and then headed back to sit in the garden of one of their homes for more of the same. I tried to squeeze out another painting as we talked, but it started raining again. Today wasn’t going to be about my next masterpiece. Today was about hanging out with a great group of people that I’m proud to call my friends. Even with all the bad weather, steamy heat and my mediocre work, its days like this that make plein air painting worth all the effort.

I finally picked up my paintings from the Waxahachie Plein Air event. I promised to post them when I did so here they are.

Twice the Fun

"Above the Tree Tops" 5" x 7"

"Close to Heaven" 5" x 7"

Here are a couple more paintings from my recent trip to Colorado. These are much smaller than most of my paintings. I tried this smaller size out for two reasons. First, I knew I would be painting fast so I wouldn't be forcing my family to sit around while I worked. Second, because of the ease of finding a frame.

Colorado plein air was a fun challenge. I have experience painting outdoors with fast moving shadows changing my view, but I found out in Colorado entire mountains change value and color temperature within moments. Clouds pass overhead and cover very large areas. It was hard not to chase the ever changing views, but "wow" was the beauty worth the attempt.

These small paintings and the thousand or so photos I took will keep me inspired for some time.

My Colorado Vacation

"Overlooking Ouray" 9 x 12

Wow, is all I can say about my vacation in Ouray, Colorado. My family and I had a great time. I took hundreds of pictures and soaked in so much beauty. I plan on pouring over the photos and turn many of them into paintings. I know it will be a challenge to capture the large scale & beauty of the mountains. That is something I know I wouldn't have had any chance of doing if I hadn't been there and took them myself.

The above painting was done roadside, looking down on the town of Ouray. The weather was a wonderful 72 degrees. I heard Texas was around 104 at the same time, so I wasn't missing it very much right then. I would like to say that I had people from all over the world pulling over just to watch me work, but I'm sure at least a few of them only stopped to take in the view.
I will post more of my plein air attempts and share some of my photos in the following days.

95% Plein Air Painter

"Sonjia's Red Bowl" 8 x 10

This is my first post in a while. A family problem and the Texas hot weather combined to keep my recent painting outings sparse. I am presently about a 95% plein air painter. Very few of my attempts come from studio or indoor work. That is something I know I have to change about myself. I have become comfortable painting outside and now I need to learn to be comfortable inside which is probably the exact opposite from most painters. I decided a few nights ago to set up a still life and get some painting in. The funny thing about the way I work is I paint inside the exact way I paint outside. I have done work as large as 2’ x 3’ but still finished in about three hours time. I need to learn to slow down and not sling the paint. I don't like painting on dry work.

Next week I am going to Ouray, Colorado for a combined family vacation and paint out event with the OPS. I have never painted in the mountains before so I am very excited!
I promise to post many photos and hopefully many paintings.

Two new Challenges

Here are a couple images from recent outings. The first one is a little 6 x 8 painting of some trees. I tried something different with this one. Instead of my usual wash in, I started by painting the whole background very dark and building up to the light. I lifted my main trees out of the background with a little turp and a stiff brush. It actually took form very fast, coming in at about thirty minutes and it definitely gave the final piece a different feel.

The second painting is a restored 1880's farm house. This painting gave me a challenge in that the home is a very unusual chalky green color. This house is owned by the city of Grapevine and they took donations to help restore this home and the surrounding property. I heard everyone was kind of down when they found out what color this had to be to restore it back to it's original form. Not sure if I actually pulled it off.