Art-A-Fair Hopper Railcar Nocturne

"Hopper Railcar Nocturne"

oil on panel, 2015

5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78cm)

Here is another new painting currently hanging in my booth at Art-A-Fair
A simple image and composition of a lone railcar. I was looking for that stillness of night, that absolute dead calm, not even the slightest of breeze.310

Art-A-Fair Santa Ana River 6

"Santa Ana River 6"
oil on panel, 2015
16" x 9" (40.64cm x 22.86cm)

While researching an illustration for a magazine I visited an arroyo at the northern rural end of the Santa Ana River in San Bernardino California.

This has expanded my Santa Ana River series to include more classic natural views in addition to the southern urban versions where the river meets the ocean. This one from the middle of the river as it passes through a shadow.309

Art-A-Fair Tumbleweed Hill

"Tumbleweed Hill"

oil on panel, 2015

16" x 9" (40.64cm x 22.86cm)

Here's another currently hanging in my booth at Art-A-Fair.
This landscape is more prickly than the others, a reflection of much of Southern California's desert and savanna flora. Dry climate brush.

I was drawn to the textural qualities of this landscape, the bristled tumbleweed orbs and their march up the hill, the leftward thrust of the foreground vegetation and path and the raking light of late afternoon.308

Art-A-Fair Auction Night

Sunday night was Art-A-Fair's Auction to benefit Laguna College of Art and Design student scholarships so it was a big night with a lot of people buying and talking art.
The patrons were real art enthusists so conversations were more in depth and I, and my neighboring artists, had a real good opportunity to talk about our art with collectors.
Those conversations are important for the artist as well as the collectors and art lovers.
We get the chance to talk about our influences and backgrounds and of course specifics about individual pieces. Collectors have the opportunity to meet the artists and ask questions and hear the stories behind our art.
Those are the best nights.

Here's a pic of my booth from Sunday with new art hanging.

Art-A-Fair Above the Hazy Arroyo

"Above the Hazy Arroyo"

oil on panel, 2015

16" x 9" (40.64cm x 22.86cm)

New landscape(s), new format.
I have 3 new landscapes at Art-A-Fair right now and 2 others on the easel.
I am trying various palettes on these, from my usual palette to more earthy (like this one) to higher chroma and various combinations of those.

This atmospheric conditions provided a good excuse for high contrast between foreground and background, with the middle ground in between but closer in value to the background. Within the foreground and middle ground the value shifts are subtle and the color saturation turned up, especially in the foreground, for that deep rich tone. Fore and middle grounds having a mixture of warms and cools and set against the more neutral background so it's not so singular or flat in approach.

Thick air you can see.
Above the lush arroyo on a warm hazy October day.
A great view that opens up to the dry hills and distant mountains. The sun fighting through the haze to seep into and warm the landscape.307

Art-A-Fair Landscape (Tree Trunk)

"Landscape (Tree Trunk)"

oil on panel, 2015

7.5" x 10" (19.05cm x 25.4cm)

Here is another painting currently hanging in my booth at Art-A-Fair.

Lately I have been trying out a higher chroma palette (again). Over the years my palette has gone back and forth like most artists.

While researching an illustration for a magazine I visited an arroyo at the northern rural end of the Santa Ana River in San Bernardino California.

This landscape was at the outer edge of the arroyo just above the river.
What caught my eye was the lively configuration of the trees and the surrounding vegetation. Using a slightly more saturated palette than I usually do  added to its animated character.306

Art-A-Fair Storage Yard Nocturne (Stars)

"Storage Yard Nocturne (Stars)"    SOLD

oil on panel, 2015

5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78cm)

Happy 4th of July!

I have no paintings of fireworks so the next closest thing was this one with shooting stars. ; )

I like storage yards as a subject and have done several in this series including nocturnes. Although technically some may not be a yard used only for storage, they may be some business, I use it as an all encompassing term for these industrial sites, usually seen from the outside the fence.
I added the shooting stars to offset the stillness of the night.305

Art-A-Fair July 3rd

July 3rd in Laguna was rather eventful when a fire broke out up on Laguna Canyon Road.

Fortunately for all it was knocked down quickly before having a chance to spread thanks to an aggressive response from the Laguna Fire Department, Orange County Fire Authority and Cal Fire aircraft and hand crews.
Thank You!
The video shows one of Cal Fire's smaller fixed wing aircraft swooping over the fire dropping fire retardent. There were also two helicopters and another large fixed wing jet working the fire.

My video is a little shaky because it was shot hand held. The original is clearer than uploaded here, sorry! I don't know enough about how to do that. I tried the original but it was too large a file to load here.
Update: I reposted a better video above by uploading it first through YouTube.

No rain this year and all our dry brush and it could have been devastating, especially since this is the beginning of the festival season and there was a lot of people in the canyon.