Mid-show Night at the Muck

"Scrubber"

"Steel Bundles"

"Colored Tanks"

“Scrubber”
"Steel Bundles"
"Colored Tanks"
watercolor on paper, 2016
6” x 8” (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Here are my other 3 paintings I have in the NWS Plein Air Exhibition and sale at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center. Today, Thursday March 3rd from 7:30 - 9:00 pm the Muckenthaler is hosting a mid-show gallery tour.
Several artists including myself will be there doing demo's and/or talking about our work. It will be a perfect night to attend if you can make it.

These 3 are the most orderly of my six. Part of that reason is the view I choose and the way I presented them, straight on and compositionally horizontal. Industrial subjects often are chaotic but even when so I can usually find the view that is less chaotic.
When the subject is busy as in "Colored Tanks ", with so much going on in the painted surfaces the straight on view as well as simplification helps make a better painting.

My other 3 in the show are made up of more angles and diagonals compositionally, which I usually favor, but they are simpler to begin with so they needed the perspective views to keep them more interesting.

“Scrubber”
We see these attached to every industrial building. Seen in endless configurations these kinds of machinery are called scrubbers. They clean or scrub the air inside the warehouses, factories and industrial plants. Very similar to my power pole series there is a lot going on with them. With their boxy structures, angles, valves, pipes, wires and ducts it’s their forms that attract me. Sometimes oddly proportioned, gangly in appearance, rusted, worn and weathered they can take on an anthropomorphic character and are irresistible to me so I must paint them.

"Steel Bundles"
Bundles of steel girders, wood haphazardly stacked on top and overlooked by most. I find these kinds of repeating forms a great subject to paint, especially when the stacks are not perfectly arranged. In the simplest form they represent the industrious and hard working as well as both organization and chaos.

“Colored Tanks”

Industrial subjects have more color than most realize. The colorful palette of hues can range from the more earthy to the bright and highly saturated. Then they take on the rich patina of the time worn and sun faded. This one had the two sides of its gates painted at different times and in two different reds. The blues tanks too were faded, its paint water stained in various degrees. I waited for a full sunny day to paint these to accentuate the lively palette.434,435,436

My Work at The Muck

"Storage Yard Sun"

"Railroad Crossing"

"Powder Magazine"

"Storage Yard Sun"
For Sale at DailyPaintWorks, click here

"Railroad Crossing"

"Powder Magazine"
For Sale at DailyPaintWorks, click here
all watercolor on paper, 2016
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Here's three of the six paintings I have hanging at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center.
All were painted for the NWS plein air show, an exhibition and sale. The bottom two I painted just prior to the show opening.

Most often I am already familiar with the site and at different times of day. I walk the location, choose a view and proceed to do small, quick but careful studies of complicated subjects, capturing both my perceptions and an honest depiction of any information I see as important. These studies, done in a near journalistic fashion, allow me to get familiar with the subject and later serve to inform my studio work. Through later editing I am able to present my thoughts and views on the subject.

"Storage Yard Sun"
Another of my Storage Yard Series, an all encompassing term for the many industrial sites that I paint that don’t fit any category like refineries or warehouses. This particular day the sun was bright and was bouncing reflected light into the shadows giving the scene an animated quality. I set out to capture that before the light could change and even played it up a bit to give it some life.

"Railroad Crossing"
I often paint railroad locomotives, bridges etc but I also find a certain fascination with the common everyday railroad tracks, crossings and signals. I liked this particular view for the tracks splitting in two directions and had this site in the back of my mind for some time. I knew I wanted to paint it either in the early morning or afternoon to take advantage of the shadows to provide darks for the composition, finally deciding on the afternoon.

"Powder Magazine"
Easily overlooked, what looks like an unassuming little stone and brick building is actually a Civil War era powder magazine built in 1862 for Camp Drum in Wilmington CA. It’s odd to see in the middle of a residential neighborhood down near the LA Harbor since we don’t associate the Civil War with the west coast.
I have driven past it for years and finally needed to get it down in paint. With this study, as well as some others, I plan to develop it into a larger studio painting.431,432,433

NWS Show at The Muckenthaler Cultural Center

The NWS Invitational Plein Air Painting Exhibition opens tonight in Fullerton California.
I have six watercolors hanging in the upcoming exhibition and sale.

With special thanks to Penny Hill of National Watercolor Society and Matthew Leslie of the Muckenthaler Cultural Center for curating and putting the show together.

I am among some great NWS artists for this show so I know it will be top notch talent and I am  anxious to see it myself.
Mine were painted on location, plein air, primarily in and around my home town and The Port of LA.

They are quick studies done on location, much like a journalistic approach, and allow me to get familiar with the subject and often inform my studio work.

Virga Gallery Opening

We had a good turnout at the opening at Virga Gallery in Laguna Beach. I had to wait until the end of the night to take pictures so the walls could be seen.
Although it has not been long since Art-A-Fair closed it was great seeing some of my fellow artists again!

Laguna Beach Art Gallery Show

It's short notice I know!
But here's an announcement for a group show I am part of in Laguna Beach. It was put together rather quickly. We just finished up at Art-A-Fair only a couple weeks ago and here we go.
Sometimes you just go with it.
A group of us artists from Art-A-Fair plus two others are participating in a show at Virga Gallery hosted by Virga Siauciunaite, one of the artists from the festival.
The show will hang for the next month so if you can make you won't be disappointed.

Small Works Show - Matrix 3

"Power Plant Interior 3"
oil on panel, 2014
5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78cm)

This painting will be in the Annual Holiday Small Works Group Show at Segil Fine Arts Gallery in Monrovia California.
Opening night is Saturday December 6th 2014 from 5:00-7:00pm.

The Gallery will be changing its ownership and name for 2015 to Saga Fine Art Gallery.

From my Power Plant Interior Series.
It is one of the most fascinating buildings. Several stories high with the interior nearly wide open and a matrix of pipes, valves and walkways, steel and concrete, vast and deep.
Built between 1954 and 1967 it is well-worn and distressed with peeling paint and is a dinosaur in technological terms.

The light filtering through the translucent windows is a cool pale yellow, the walls and pipes are painted in ochres and creams and turn to earthy oranges in the deeper recesses of the cavernous plant.293

The others in this series:
"Power Plant Interior #1"
"Power Plant Interior #2"
"Power Plant Interior-Study #1"

Update
Here are my paintings of the exterior of the same plant:
"Resting Tractor (w / Retired Power Plant)"
"Retired Power Plant"

Labor Day Workhorse

"PHL 72 Limelight"

oil on panel, 2013

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

The Pacific Harbor Line Locomotive's toil away endlessly.

They make the Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbors function.

Without them the harbors would be one big massive clog, nothing would move in or out.

It is another from my latest locomotive series.

I'm not only using this series to experiment and put down paint in different ways but also looking to make each painting unique in some way, never losing sight of capturing the Southern California light I see everyday all year long.

This was one of those glory moments. I was down in the LA Harbor area and spotted this PHL locomotive towing its prize.

I chased it down, caught it just as it switched tracks, raced back around the corner to get a better position and was just in time to catch it backing up as it passed the lime colored fence. The low-angle afternoon light illuminated the lime green fence, literally and figuratively like a limelight, and since (shiny) black is so reflective... well, you can see.

To further enhance that moment and more importantly my impression of it, I painted the light of a thinly veiled marine layer into the painting for a beautiful atmospheric effect. Gentle, soft, low-slung bright light making long shadows.

I rarely paint a locomotive without having a point of view. No, no, no.

I always see first, the painting in all its totality, then one of a locomotive in its environment. It would be short-sited and do no justice to these mules of the harbor to do a mere depiction of it.

They are the true stars of the harbor. Not the huge bloated 'fat cat' cargo ships waiting to be unloaded, not the pretty white cruise ships with all their 'lace and doilies'.

So their moment in the limelight is well deserved.

Summer Fog

"17th St. Fog"
oil on panel, 2014
7.25" x 9.25" (18.415cm x 23.495cm)

Here is my painting that will be featured at 
Segil Fine Art Gallery in Monrovia California for the "Home, Sweet Home" Show 
(Note: As of this posting the show dates listed here on my blog are correct and have not been updated on their website). 

Opening reception is Saturday, July 26th, from 5:00 - 7:00 pm.
The show opens to the public on Saturday, July 19th.

This is a gothic farmhouse style home in my neighborhood and I have had my eye on it for a while now. This show's theme was the perfect excuse to finally get around to painting it.
But rather than do a straightforward blue sky painting I decided to add the incoming coastal fog. This is a common sight along the coast in the summer and looks like this on those bright sunny days when the marine layer is stirring about.

It rolls in, partially burning off, lingers around and does a good job of suppressing the blazing summer heat, especially when there is no real breeze to help keep it cool.287

Series - Locomotive, PHL 72 Limelight

"PHL 72 Limelight"
oil on panel, 2013
5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78cm)

This painting will be featured at Segil Fine Art Gallery in Monrovia California for the Eleventh Annual Holiday Small Works Show.

Opening night is Saturday, December 7th, 2013, from 5-7:00 PM

It is another from my latest locomotive series.

I'm not only using this series to experiment and put down paint in different ways but also looking to make each painting unique in some way, never losing sight of capturing the Southern California light I see everyday all year long.

This was one of those glory moments. I was down in the LA Harbor area and spotted this PHL locomotive towing its prize.

I chased it down, caught it just as it switched tracks, raced back around the corner to get a better position and was just in time to catch it backing up as it passed the lime colored fence. The low-angle afternoon light illuminated the lime green fence, literally and figuratively like a limelight, and since (shiny) black is so reflective... well, you can see.

To further enhance that moment and more importantly my impression of it, I painted the light of a thinly veiled marine layer into the painting for a beautiful atmospheric effect. Gentle, soft, low-slung bright light making long shadows.

I rarely paint a locomotive without having a point of view. No, no, no.
I always see first, the painting in all its totality, then one of a locomotive in its environment. It would be short-sited and do no justice to these mules of the harbor to do a mere depiction of it.

They are the true stars of the harbor. Not the huge bloated 'fat cat' cargo ships waiting to be unloaded, not the pretty white cruise ships with all their 'lace and doilies'.
So their moment in the limelight is well deserved.253

New Series to Launch on DAILY PAINTWORKS!

Currently, I have paintings dated prior to 2013 available for all tastes and budgets on my DAILY PAINTWORKS  gallery and am happy to report that coming soon, I will be launching my new Locomotive Series which will be available on DAILY PAINTWORKS.

I always get positive feedback from my clients for my locomotive series and it is considered one of my signature series: everybody has memories of trains!

In addition to that I have so many ideas percolating in my head that I will also be rolling out some as mini-series.

All of my new series will be available in more standard formats, sizes and design considerations with a collectable aesthetic in mind. 

Night Rain at 6x6 Show

"18th St. Rain Nocturne"    SOLD
oil on panel, 2012

6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

My fourth painting accepted into the 6 Inch Squared Show at the Randy Higbee Gallery in Costa Mesa California.
Another rain painting in the show here.

A simple enough idea, more challenging to paint than I thought.
Warm light on a cold night. Yellow green from the house, orange from the sodium street lights meant the two had to be interspersed in some places.
In reality the light is actually blueish white but made for a cold uninviting image. This is when artistic decisions must be made.
I initially had more yellow from the house light but the painting lacked depth so I added green as the light spread out from its source, even further under the shine of rainy conditions. I finished it off by adding some color accents of blue in the sky and red of the taillights.199

Another "18th St. Rain" here, a view slightly up the same street.
Click rain 'RAIN' LABEL to see others.

Industrial Landscape at 6x6 Show

"Industrial Landscape"
oil on panel, 2012

6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm) SOLD


The second of my four paintings accepted into the 6 Inch Squared show at Randy Higbee Gallery

Since most landscapes are composed of strong horizontals, square formats are a challenge.

So this is loaded with the verticals of poles and the angles of steam, tree line and road, to compositionally offset the horizontal band across the middle and make for a stronger stacked composition within the square format.

This is one of those views typical of industrial vista's in and around the harbor. I compressed the refinery into the middle ground, but allowed the foreground and background to breath.

The drifting steam coming from the refinery, the softer shadows, and perhaps the light too, all help to relieve the densely packed industrial forest of the middle ground.197

Click on image for larger view

Rain at 6x6 Show

"11th St. Rain"    SOLD
oil on panel, 2012
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)
Randy Higbee Gallery

Here is one of my four paintings accepted into the 6 Inch Squared show at Randy Higbee Gallery.

If you are like me you never tire of rain and weather images. I love shiny glistening streets under these conditions. The landscape under a canopy of clouds with the golden sun breaking through.
I've always thought of rainy days as slow days. Here I've painted the late afternoon with a lone figure returning home from work in no particular hurry.196

Click 'Rain' or 'Weather' LABELS to see others.

Note: I updated the image here with one that is more color correct.
Click on image for larger view

6 Inch Squared

I am happy to announce 4 of my 7 paintings entered into the 6 Inch Squared show at the Randy Higbee Gallery were accepted.

I'll start posting them soon.

NWS Show pics

Here are some pics from the NWS show this past weekend.

NWS 92nd Annual Exhibition

Here is the formal announcement for the National Watercolor Society 2012 Annual Exhibition.
I am thrilled to have been among those accepted since entries usually range over a thousand.
There are some really great artists in the show including some whose work I have followed for years.

Here is my painting "PHL Sulfur Pile" that will be part of the exhibition, and a previous post about this  NWS Show.

I am also happy to announce this same painting will be included in the traveling show which will tour the USA over the next 12 months following the exhibition.

And for more good news, I was accepted for NWS Signature status after submitting 3 additional paintings for review.

Link to NWS website and NWS facebook.

Marsh, Tanks, Power Plant

"Marsh, Tanks, Power Plant"    SOLD
oil on panel, 2011
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

Part of our modern urban landscapes, the mix of industry and adjacent natural areas. Not always good but hard to ignore. This view poses the dense, choked out man made structures against open natural areas. Encroaching sometimes, but always a fascinating juxtaposition.

This is similar in theme to my previous "HB Power Plant - Dusk". If we want to live in the scenic areas, like along the coast, we can't always choose what comes along with that, including the oil storage tanks since this is where the oil is found. At least until we figure out how to build lower profile supporting industry.

We can design and build homes to blend into the surrounding environment, we can restore natural habitats. So someday we'll build industry that is green(er), contained and less visible against these natural areas. It's all about a proper balance.159

Click on image for larger view

Winter Tree & Alien Landscape

"Winter Tree"

"Burnscape"

"Winter Tree"

Pelikan brilliant brown ink on paper, 2011
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)
private collection


"Burnscape #7 (Hills, Path)"
Pelikan brilliant brown ink, Pelikan blk india ink on paper
Monte Blanc blk ink (looks green), 2011
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)
For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE


A single tree in winter. Sometimes a simple object can be seen for its design and that is enough. I love the branches of the tree reaching up for the sky, the purest form of the tree seen only when leafless.

Setting the trunk against a dark background emphasized its graceful, delicate spiral.

This ink drawing/painting is from my Burnscape series. Living in Southern California and seeing so many wildfires it would be easy to focus on the destruction. My attraction for the burned landscape isn’t for its destruction... but instead how it modifies the landscape, turning it into a charcoal terrain... it is rebirth, the stripping away of old layers for a fresh start, the way Mother Nature intended.

It is how She manages her jurisdiction, by controlling dense undergrowth. We usually get in the way.
Man has traditionally prevented fires, the growth becoming so thick that when fire does occur it is devastating. Another topic on the Man vs Nature theme.

This was a result of walking thru a burned area. When areas that are dense with dry brush and chaparral finally burn, the landscape is stripped bare. Its former identity completely lost. Taking on the quality of an alien landscape.
The formally vegetation softened hills become a jagged harsh environment.155,156


Click on images for larger view

Burnscape Series - Black and White

Ashen Landscape

Singed Tree

"Burnscape #6 (Ashen Landscape)"
watercolor, Pelikan blk india ink on paper, 2011
6" x8" (15.34cm x 20.32cm)
For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE


"Burnscape #5 (Singed Tree)"
watercolor, Pelikan blk india ink on paper, 2011
6" x8" (15.34cm x 20.32cm)
For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE


Burnscape Series - Living in Southern California and seeing so many wildfires it would be easy to focus on the destruction. My attraction for the burned landscape isn't for its destruction... but instead how it modifies the landscape, turning it into a charcoal terrain... it is rebirth, the way Mother Nature intended.
It is how She manages her jurisdiction, by controlling dense undergrowth. We usually get in the way.
Man has traditionally prevented fires, the growth becoming so thick that when fire does occur it is devastating. Another topic on the Man vs Nature theme.


TOP: Certain vegetation produces white ash resembling snow. I sometimes refer to these as California fallscapes, winterscapes or snowscapes. Also revealed in the barren terrain are these odd lunar like holes (animal burrows) usually concealed under the growth.


BOTTOM: Grassy vegetation turns a charcoal black. Fire passes some trees when the grass is low to the ground, the heat turning some leaves brown but leaving other parts untouched and green. For composition and design reasons I focused on the pathways left by the fire trucks.143,144


Click on image for larger view

Burnscapes - Man vs Nature

"Burnscape #4 (Charred Pine Stand)"

"Burnscape #8 (Charred Cactus)"

"Burnscape #4 (Charred Pine Stand)"
watercolor on paper, 2011
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

"Burnscape #8 (Charred Cactus)"
watercolor, Pelikan india ink on paper, 2011
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)


Here are two recent watercolor/mixed media's from my Burnscape series. Both were at my solo show at the Randy Higbee Gallery. See previous posts.

Living in Southern California and seeing so many wildfires it would be easy to focus on the destruction. My attraction for the burned landscape isn't for its destruction... but instead how it modifies the landscape, turning it into a charcoal terrain... it is rebirth, the way Mother Nature intended.
It is how She manages her jurisdiction, by controlling dense undergrowth. We usually get in the way.
Man has traditionally prevented fires, the growth becoming so thick that when fire does occur it is devastating. Another topic on the Man vs Nature theme.

Top - #4 Trees are meant to survive fires where brush is low to the ground, the fire sweeping through too quickly (and frequently enough) to wipe them out. This pine stand didn't look like it would survive so to accentuate this I set its blackened silhouette against a background of unburned green.

Bottom - #8 As fire sweeps through dry brush, here... all that's left of a thicket, sometimes all that is left behind is high water content vegetation like cactus. What caught my attention was how the left side of the cactus clump seemed to have leaned away from the fire.137,138

Click on image for larger view