Oceanside Pier

"Oceanside Pier"
oil on panel, 2012
3.5" x 5" (8.89cm x 12.7cm)
.... private collection...

I love days like these along the coast. Warm drifting fog, deep shadows, silvery spot lights spilling randomly across the ocean and landscape. They are vaguely haunting. That was enough for this painting.

I should point out this is not the best picture of this painting. In order to get enough light in the foreground shadow I lost some of the subtlety of the lights.175

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Shrinking Violet

"Top Gun House (Dirt Pile) Study"
oil on panel, 2012
3.5" x 5" (8.89cm x 12.7cm)
For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE


Here is a second study for my Top Gun House series, the first here.
I'm still kicking it around in my head so I'll probably do several before deciding on one for a larger version, searching for the right image that best tells the story.

The house, from the movie Top Gun is shown behind a fresh dirt pile on the otherwise empty block being redeveloped.
Since it is being moved to another location and will be refurbished itself the challenge for me was to present it not as a house to be razed but instead against its current surroundings, the site in a state of flux.
The house seemed to be a shrinking violet and appeared smaller when seen on the huge lot all by itself.

Juxtaposing it against the foreground pile gives more importance to the redevelopment of the site. The landmark slowly disappearing from its original location and being pushed out by redevelopment.174

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Boulder in Burnscape

"Burnscape #3"
watercolor, graphite on paper, 2007
9" x 12" (22.86cm x 30.84cm)

Here is an early watercolor from my Burnscape series.
I liked this view for the boulder and rock ledge in the foreground.
The white ash was put in more opaquely since there was no way to retrieve the white of the paper or effectively spare it out and build the forms of the hillside properly.
I do not mind this however. The ash sits on top and really pops out or forward, giving the scene greater depth, helps define the topography of the hill and gives it a cool blueish color against the warms of the hillside.

I could have tried a masking fluid but had none at the time and wanted to dive right into painting. In fact I never really use masking fluid anyway.
As other artists know, sometimes you need to strike while the iron is hot, jump right in when you have a sudden inspiration, no planning, just throw down paint and see what results from it.
Not all work out this way but when they do it can be satisfying.

I was happy with this one because I managed to achieve a certain richness of tone and color relatively effortlessly.
I did not have to fight the usual watercolor battles ending up with an overworked painting.173


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Former Glory

"Top Gun House (Fence) Study"
oil on panel, 2012
4" x 5" (10.16cm x 12.7cm)
For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE

A study for my Top Gun House series.

The house, from the movie Top Gun, has fallen into a state of disrepair the last few years but is planned to be moved and refurbished.

On that note I carefully chose this view showing the unpainted backside. It speaks of the house and its formal glory days as well as the redevelopment of the site.

I like it for the small amount of the blue paint, the relative lack of ornamentation that the front boasts, the cleanly scraped lot and the rail of the fence visually cutting through the house. But not enough to dissect or cross out the landmark completely. Just enough to indicate the new is replacing the old and that the house will survive.172

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