Art-A-Fair Sneak Peak PHL 67 First Rain

"PHL 67 First Rain"
oil on panel, 2015
5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78cm)

It's nearly here!
As the curtain is about to be raised at Art-A-Fair I will be leaving San Pedro and rolling into Laguna Beach with a load of cargo... my paintings! ; )

Art-A-Fair opens in one week, opening night is Friday June 26th.
Here's a little sneak peak of one of my paintings in the show.

I do love to paint weather and despite another year of almost zero rain here in So Cal I show the 67 from my Pacific Harbor Line series with a rain cloud behind it rolling across the same street as this one here, but coming from the other direction.

If you follow my blog you know there has also been a drought of postings due to all the work it took to ready for this show (and other projects) Well, the drought is over so stay tuned as I will be posting more now that the show is beginning... 303

My Art-A-Fair Website Page

You can now visit my Art-A-Fair page on the website by clicking the link at the top of the right column at any time. It is exciting to see it all coming together. My booth is B20 and I will be near the friend who recommended I apply, oil painter Amanda Fish.
Also be sure to visit Art-A-Fair on Pinterest, Twitter and facebook.

Stay tuned for more updates as the show nears.

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.

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

Series-Locomotive-PHL 64 Two Tree's

"PHL 64-Two Tree's"

oil on panel, 2013

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

This is number 3 of the series.

The Pacific Harbor Line is the switching railroad company that operates in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach California.

This series is a lot of fun but I am also approaching it as an opportunity to experiment in various ways.

To give it some exuberance I went with brighter colors in what would otherwise be somber grays, blacks and tans of concrete, asphalt and fencing. Even the black locomotive reflects blue.
Here, the 64 rolls solo heading back towards the port of LA to work.(3)236

I am still terribly frustrated with the way images are uploading. I just can't get decent image quality.

If anyone knows why please let me know. Thank you

**I have updated this post with a 'fixed' photo. This is how it should have looked in the first place.

New Locomotive Series Coming Soon

PHL Sketch
ballpoint pen, 2013
4" x 5.5" (10.16cm x 13.97cm)
NFS

I mentioned a while back I was working on both new work and commissions. This is the reason for all the sketch posts as of late.

One of the commissions, of the Vincent Thomas Bridge, is near done and I will post it here soon.

Of the new work one is a series on locomotives and I will begin posting those within the next month.

In anticipation of that I did this quick sketch from memory to test my recall, to see how well I know the locomotive without reference. Oops, I forgot the number on the side of the cab within the diagonal stripes... could not do much about that since ballpoint pen is permanent.

Despite its whimsical cartoon approach you still have to know its proportions and most of the structure and details to get it right and I did OK here. I know because I tried this exercise before I had done many trains and fell flat on my face. It's all about practice.227

Stifling Air

"PHL 67 at 47 Underpass"
watercolor on illus. board, 2012
5" x 8" (12.7cm x 20.32cm)
For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE

My Pacific Harbor Line Series:
The Pacific Harbor Line, the workhorse of the LA Harbor. These black/white engines are part of the low emission line of locomotives for the move towards a greener port. Black and Shiny as tar with striking graphics, they don’t blend in, they stand out. Not graceful looking, they look like they mean business. The back end diagonals point down, the front point up to distinguish front from rear when seen head on. Its side panel graphics angling forward. So a nod of beautiful work to the designers of these burly beasts of burden.

The PHL 67 about to pass under the 47 bridge approach, which in this case is the Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge, too long for the title. The 47 includes two bridges, the other is the Vincent Thomas Bridge.

Representing a hot, humid, sticky day I painted in a warm overtone, yes, an overtone, not undertone as in oil painting. My palette tends to lean to the cool side and this was going that way too so as I approached the finish I consciously began overlaying warm washes and mixing warm versions of each color. Previously the sky was blue, the foreground concrete a cool gray, the bridge a cool green... and I was starting to get bored. I spared the locomotive and the underside of the bridge, leaving them a cool black and uniting them in a single dark value shape.

This is part of experimenting and in watercolor usually leads to muddied up paintings if not done thoughtfully and carefully. However this is one of my 'non-traditional' watercolors, which means the surface and technique are non-traditional giving me a lot of freedom to work the medium in unusual (for watercolor) ways. The paint sits on the surface initially and can be pushed and moved around, lifted out back to lighter values, shaped, carved, sculpted etc. Changes, even major changes, can be made at almost any stage of the painting. That is a fun way to work and is much more akin to oil painting.

It was crucial to saving this one. On a traditional watercolor paper I would not have been able to paint out the overall cool cast and would have scrapped the work. On paper the pigment stains or absorbs into the surface and unless you go darker you are stuck with it. In addition it is almost impossible to change the warm/cool cast.

I also had some shape design problems in the foreground, the bottom half of the composition, that needed to be worked out. What we see in our minds eye, before we start, does not always pan out. This puts the work in artwork. It's the challenge of problem solving. And I wouldn't want it any other way. I redesigned the shapes into more angular ones and 'troughed' them towards the center. This loosely echoed the upper half triangle arrangement and put the attention back on the locomotive.

As I said in the beginning, I was getting bored with the painting and boredom is a sure sign you need make some serious changes. That was when I decided it needed something else. Not other added elements or objects but something else. Other than fixing the foreground shapes I still wanted something additional to focus on.

Choosing a weather phenomenon or condition seemed like a good solution. But one that is invisible and is felt or sensed so rain, fog or stormy weather was out. I decided to challenge myself and try to depict the temperature or more specifically the air, hot sticky air. The kind that you can't escape, that offers no relief... the dreaded humidity!
When it is cold you at least stand a chance to get warm somehow. When it is hot there are ways to keep cool but humidity you can't do much about. You can't see it but its everywhere. You feel it, it's stifling and permeates everything.
Finishing with a warm overtone seemed to accomplish that.209

Others in this non-traditional approach can be seen here, here and here as well as all the recent "Past Work" posts

Pacific Harbor Line at 6x6 Show

"PHL 64"
oil on panel, 2012
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)


My third painting featured in the up-coming 6 Inch Squared show at the Randy Higbee Gallery. See two previous posts below for more.
You can also see and purchase them online here before the show opens on December 8th 2012.

Although many train artists might shy away from overlapping the train with objects I don't see it as a painting of a locomotive with stuff thrown around it as a second thought, but instead a painting in all its totality first, then one of a locomotive.

A sunny day with the marine layer hugging the ground and thin wispy clouds yielding soft undefined shadows.
I pushed the limits of this kind of light from the front to the back of the locomotive, highlighting the front then severely dropping the back into (soft) shadow.

That gave it some extra depth and enabled me to nearly bump the front of the locomotive up against the edge of the picture plane and break the compositional rule of 'avoiding tangents'. Using the bright sun and atmospheric effect for value control also puts the emphasis on the back end of the engine.

One final touch was throwing a reflected light on the far side of the back of the engine.198

Click on image to larger view

NWS Award

SOLD  National Watercolor Society

I am pleased to announce that my painting "PHL Sulfur Pile" won an award, "Kanuga Watermedia Workshops Award", this past weekend during the opening at the National Watercolor Society 92nd Annual Exhibition here in San Pedro California.

The painting will also be part of the traveling show, touring the country for 12 months following the exhibition.
I was also accepted for NWS Signature status after submitting 3 additional paintings for review.
The show will hang September 29th - December 2 2012. Check previous post (below) for gallery hours and map.

Previous post on this painting here.
Previous posts on this show here and here.

NWS website link
NWS facebook link

Click on image for larger view

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.

Spot-Lighted

"PHL Sulfur Pile"    SOLD
watercolor on illus board, 2012
18" x 27" (45.72cm 68.58x cm)
National Watercolor Society

Here is my painting recently juried into the National Watercolor Society's 2012 Annual Exhibition here in San Pedro.

This painting was a challenge for many reasons... I had an idea of what I wanted but the design of all the elements meant I was faced with all sorts of decisions.

Since it is about the role of the Pacific Harbor Line in the Los Angeles Harbor all these decisions would be guided by this idea, especially how the little black locomotives usually operate alone.

Also, this technique of watercolor is more about achieving the same visual look or depth and richness of an oil painting as opposed to the more traditional approach of transparent (only) watercolor. But at this size larger areas were particularly tough. There were a lot of shapes, values and colors to manage and I did not want it to get too busy and spotty, which is a by-product of this technique on this surface. Although smaller, two others in this technique on illustration board, are here and here.

I used reference for the technical information but the design, palette or color scheme, value pattern etc are my own invention.

One of my design decisions was throwing spot lights down to exaggerate the effects of a cloudy stormy day with sunlight breaking through. This allowed me control the values and specifically, the shapes of the values, molding the design to suit my goals and to edit out what was not needed from a panoramic view.

That also gave it a dark, moody, unearthly look and a psychological impact but with a quality of light and pops of color that keep it from being too oppressive, a characteristic present in much of the mid century California Watercolor Style and the work of...  Art Riley, Hardie Gramatky, Millard Sheets, Emil Kosa Jr., Jack Laycox,Frederic Whitaker, Watson Cross Jr., Crandall Norton, Mary Blair,  Joseph De Mers among others, which I have been looking at recently.
Realism does not always have to be naturalistic...sometimes another quality better supports an idea than a more naturalistic depiction does.

I liked the idea of the locomotive in the background with the middle ground having the visually larger double-stack intermodal rail cars. The locomotive is visually prominent by placing it against the bright yellow sulfur pile for stark contrast, no need to have a spotlight on it. And even though small with-in the composition it is still the star and easily recognizable showing only hints of its characteristic diagonal white stripes without further modeling of form.

So I spot-lighted the rail cars and silhouetted the black locomotive against bright yellow for high contrast in color and value. Drawing attention to both but making the locomotive a little bit more significant. It speaks of the role and dominion of the Pacific Harbor Line in the harbor.

Below is a value comp I did beforehand (top) and thought I had it worked out but halfway through the painting I realized some of the values were not working. So I stopped and did 2 more smaller ones based on the first to work it out. These midstream snags sometimes happen when the painting is large scale. Going from thumbnails to full size without an intermediate sized value and maybe a color comp doesn't always go as planned and would have been a good idea.

The problem was primarily with the middle ground, the area just beyond the string of containers and below the sulfur. The middle range values were not working, making for a confusing array in an unimportant area.
I first tried a lighter value setting up an elliptical shape of light and although I liked the idea it still was not right. I did not like the light bringing too much attention to the lower left corner.
The final thumb (lower right) resolved these problems. Dropping everything down in value, including the upper right light-valued refinery tanks, and eliminating unimportant areas.
This simplified the value distribution and strengthened the design.

The immediate foreground is where I fought most of my battles, even having done the thumbnails. It was more an issue of paint handling, edges and degree of finish rather than value. I finally decided it should be treated more like the other corners and remain loose and organic.

Previously it garnered too much attention, competed too much with the rest of the painting and incidentally was defeating the spot lighting idea, which I somehow missed until it's change. Happily the compositional zig-zag line remained.184

Click on images to enlarge
Click 'WATERCOLOR' label below to see other watercolors

Update: I fixed the above links which go to CALIFORNIAWATERCOLOR.com (since they have a new site) showing the mid-century artists who have inspired me lately.

National Watercolor Society Show Announcement

I happy to announce that my watercolor "PHL Sulfur Pile" was juried into the National Watercolor Society's 2012 Annual Exhibition here in San Pedro.
This one was done in one of my two watercolor techniques I work in.
I will post the painting here soon.

The opening is Saturday September 29th and the show hangs until Sunday December 2.
Link to NWS website and NWS facebook for information and hours.

National Watercolor Society headquarters
915 South Pacific Avenue
San Pedro
Ca, 90731

PHL - Weeds

"Pacific Harbor Line - Weeds"    SOLD
oil on panel, 2011
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)


Pacific Harbor Line Series:
The Pacific Harbor Line, the workhorse of the LA Harbor. These black/white one's are part of the low emission line of locomotives for the move towards a greener port. Black and Shiny as tar with striking graphics, they don’t blend in, they stand out. Not graceful looking, they look like they mean business. The back end diagonals point down, the front point up to distinguish front from rear when seen head on. Its side panel graphics angling forward. So a nod of beautiful work to the designers of these burly beasts of burden.

This locomotive is pulling a string of empty intermodal rail cars.171

Click on image for larger view

Harbor Line - Bridge Shadow

"Pacific Harbor Line 20 (Bridge Shadow)"    SOLD
oil on panel, 2011
5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78cm)

The Pacific Harbor Line, the workhorse of the LA  Harbor. This newer one is part of the low emission line of locomotives for the move towards a greener port. Black and shiny as tar with striking graphics, they don't blend in, they stand out. Not graceful looking, they look like they mean business. The back end diagonals point down, the front point up to distinguish front from rear when seen head on. Its side panel graphics angling forward. So a nod of beautiful work to the designers of these burly beasts of burden.

My Pacific Harbor Line series. This one, the #20, is a remote control locomotive and is often parked here near the base of the Vincent Thomas Bridge.
Here it sits in the afternoon at the shadow of the Vincent Thomas Bridge as the marine layer begins to settle in over the port.136

Click on image for larger view

Crossroads

"Harbor Line #50 Crossing"   SOLD
oil on panel, 2010
5"x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78cm)

The older #50 from my "Pacific Harbor Line " series. Shown here at a crossroads. Though outdated by technology and being replaced by the newer low emission models, it's still operating.

Placed in the center of the composition, a potentially boring design, but made to work by the dark tree at left and the line of power poles.
The other reason is to place it at the center of a subtle compositional X, formed by tracks, road and cloud shapes, marking it's eventual work stoppage, the sweeping lines of the wires leading the way.

Nostalgic maybe, but not sentimental. A reason I like industrial subjects. They represent hard work, without regret, then step aside for the next generation.91

Click on image for larger view

Harbor Line #70 study

"Harbor Line #70 - study #1"
graphite on paper, 2010
8" x 10" (20.32cm x 25.4cm)


My Pacific Harbor Line series. The #70 shown here in the sunlight running parallel to a bridge, the same bridge in my painting "Rails, Bridge, Refinery" from the post 'Clarity'.85

Click on image for larger view

*Update
My Pacific Harbor Line series. I love these black locomotives with their striking graphics. The #70 shown here running parallel to a railway bridge. This gave me a top heavy composition, perfect for the weighty industrial subject. But to prevent it from becoming too crushing I surrounded the locomotive in a softer focused, airy cushion of light.

Low Growling Murmur

*with compositional overlay

"Harbor Line #72 (47 Bridge)"
oil on panel, 2010
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)
NFS

In a low growling murmur, the #72 slowly crawls through the harbor on an almost imperceptible uphill grade, pulling a string of rail cars loaded with cargo containers, the 47 bridge as it's backdrop. Late in the afternoon, the sun from the left puts the sides in shadow... jet black. One of those days where the atmosphere is heavy and hazy but bright.

This location is wide open, a staging area for huge piles of dirt, asphalt and concrete used throughout the harbor for all the various construction and renovation projects.

The slight upward tilt as well as the heavy section of bridge bearing down convey the weight of the long train being pulled, even if unseen. Well fit to this task, the sturdy black locomotive dominates the horizontal composition.

Anatomy of a painting... structurally the image is made up of horizontal bands (rectangles), triangles and the forward leaning angles of the stripes. All serve the subject. As indicated in the *overlay above, the triangles point in the direction of the action, moving the train forward and through the composition from left to right. The stripes too seem to push the train forward, a thought the designers must have had in mind.

The horizontal bands of the foreground left simple but punctuated with tufts of grass and dashes of paint to set up implied lines also moving left to right. The blunt shape of the locomotive echoed by the same shapes of the trucks, it's smaller commerce cousins, in the background approaching the bridge.75
Click on images for larger view

Melancholy

"Harbor Line #50 (Catalina Pacific Concrete)"  SOLD

oil on panel, 2010

3½" x 5" (8.89cm x 12.7cm)

Two posts ago I featured one of the newer locomotives that works the LA Harbor. Here I painted one of the older ones, being replaced as it has become outdated, but currently still running the tracks.

You can see the primary difference between the two generations... this one has solid red ends which don't identify front from rear like the dramatic angled stripes of it's successor. It's also longer, the new being shorter, stouter and probably more powerful even as a low emission model. I'm sure a matter of technological efficiency.

However, it's length gives it the grace of a limousine, elongated without looking gangly. But still powerful looking with it's boxy square front end. Always the workhorse, just a different breed.

It's seen here against part of the old shut down Catalina Pacific Concrete plant from my post 'The Dying Day', a hint of melancholy as it moves away from the sun and into the plants shadow for eventual retirement.

It is well used. No longer shiny, missing vents at the rear, scratches like well earned scars from years of service. But surprisingly, it did not look run down, it seemed to have a lot of life left in it, if not outmoded for greener technology.66

Click on image for larger view

Beast of Burden

"Harbor Line #61 (Dusk w/ Engineer)"    SOLD

oil on panel, 2010

6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Back to a favorite subject, the locomotive. This one part of the Pacific Harbor Line, the workhorses of the LA Harbor. They give the Union Pacific, BNSF and others a rest as they move and stage the trains throughout the harbor, receiving and preparing them for departure. I'm sure they perform all kinds of other tasks as well.

Here is a newer one, part of the low emission line of locomotives for the move towards a greener port. Black and shiny as tar with striking graphics, they don't blend in, they stand out. Not graceful looking, they look like they mean business. The back end diagonals point down, the front point up to distinguish front from rear when seen head on. It's side panel graphics angling forward. So a nod of beautiful work to the designers of these burly beasts of burden.

I caught the #61 heading into the port at dusk, one of the engineer's pausing to reflect their day perhaps... or maybe just beginning their night shift, who knows.

Contrast. It's the dark bluish blacks against the yellow twilight sky that so perfectly spoke of the subject and it's 24 hr calling. As the day ends the locomotive is still going strong, never tired, a reflected light illuminating it's shadow side. The marine layer creeping in to settle over the port.

Finally, I eliminated all the extraneous foreground and background clutter in favor of a rather banal setting, putting further emphasis on the 'horse' itself.64

Click on image for larger view