6x6 Machinery

"Machinery 2"
oil on panel, 2012

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

Here are two of my seven paintings I submitted to the recent 6x6 show that weren't accepted. I had four in the show.

I bring this up because I did all seven as a group with an overall theme of light. Not a new idea, artists have been doing it for centuries, but in each of the seven I really made a point to capture different qualities of light. I worked on the group simultaneously, working up each without really finishing any one until I was about 75% done.  Other than these two, the seven (actually ten) were not officially a series together so the simarlarities end there. No attempt was made to using the same palette, design etc. So they do not look like a series other than a common theme of light.

I like machinery and sometimes its function preempts design. Its look or design born out of its function instead of a design based on aesthetics.
In this one, a really bright day, the sun bouncing off the ground or any light surface is blinding, without sun glasses you end up squinting all day. The colors are true to the site, industry subjects like this often lack color beyond silvers, rusty and metal grays, the small blue color note of sky serves as reminder of that.

I loved the composition of this the moment I saw it... the variety of shapes and their arrangement. It's that variety I see in industrial subjects, their size and texture differences, the scale of them that I respond to initially, that's what first gets my attention... here there are the ellipse', cylinders, flat and angled planes, linear pipes and wire conduit... all neatly arranged within the picture plane. After that I look for what it says to me, what is present beyond the artistic and design observations. That is part of seeing. Seeing really is observing and asking yourself questions and it's not always obvious.

I saw industrial might or brawn, this is industry flexing its muscle but on a small scale, a microcosm of industry. All the rust and dust seemed to add to its tough physique instead of conveying degradation. It is a weight lifter sweating in a gym or a cowboy roping doggies on a ranch.

I love the work of precisionist artists, like Charles Sheeler, and while that influence crept into the treatment of this painting I still remained faithful to my own artistic vision. I don't want my work to look like it belongs to a particular school of painting. Instead I am constantly striving to allow these influences without simply rehashing them.

"Machinery 1"    SOLD

oil on panel, 2012

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

This painting is in direct opposition to Machinery 2 as far as its anthropomorphic character. The configuration of these two is not as muscular. That was my impression so as an artist it is my job to communicate that idea. In Machinery 1 I chose a broader view while in Machinery 2 a zoomed-in one. Those compositional choices helped support each impression.

It is also part of the old retired Sunkist packing plant in Orange County California, so it is no longer operational.

It is rich winter light when the sun is low, closer to the horizon, in the afternoon, softer light diffused by the glass, a rich cool shadow with warmer edges. It is not the showy light of Machinery 2. It is the end of an era. It is the final flicker of a candles flame.200,201

See previous four posts for the other 6x6's

6x6 Show Opening Night

It was another great showing at the 6x6 Show Randy Higbee Gallery this past weekend.

I was quite happy my painting "11th St. Rain" sold on the opening night.
The turnout was huge, a lot of people showed up and it was a very festive atmosphere.

I always enjoy meeting new people and especially seeing all my artist friends.
We usually end up going to a restaurant afterwards and have a good time talking art and getting caught up on what we all have been doing.
Among the group this year were artist Susan Hogan Girard and artist Wendy Wirth, both of whom had their work hanging in the show.

If I can get any pics from the show I'll post them here.

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.

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

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.

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

Portrait of an Oil Plant

“Oil Plant # 9 (Broken Pipe)"
oil on panel, 2011
6” x 6” (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

This is the third of my paintings in the  6" Squared Exhibition and Sale at the Randy Higbee Gallery , Saturday December 3rd through Thursday December 22nd.
The opening was packed as usual with lots of little painted gems. The real joy of a show like this is the wide variety styles and artistic approaches among the 500 or so artworks, including some fabulous watercolors and pastels. Impossible to pick a favorite. In addition to the art, meeting the collectors and other artists is always a highlight of the evening.

When I have a visceral reaction to something I sometimes have to pause, really look and figure out what it is I’m seeing. It is not always obvious. I initially responded to this view of the storage tanks for its clean, neat and tidy nature. Not too cluttered, no scattered remnants of the broken plant other than the broken pipe, which was my own invention.
What I eventually saw in this view was an industrial version of an old face, wrinkles and all... a portrait of the oil plant ... solemn, dignified. It reminded me of a man with most of his years behind him, who had a well lived life, worked hard, but is still vital, still fastidious and loaded with silent stories.153


Click on image for larger view

Industrial Purgatory

“Old Dredge”
oil on panel, 2011
6” x 6” (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

Here is second of my 3 paintings in the  6" Squared Exhibition and Sale at the Randy Higbee Gallery tonight, Saturday December 3rd, and hangs through December 22nd.

An old relic, left in the cold shallow waters, listing to the right, about to face another winter storm, half heartedly covered by the yellow tarp.

Hung up by the dock and unable to sail it’s stuck between two worlds in a state of purgatory. It’s no longer needed but not pulled ashore. It can’t sink anymore but is contained by jetties in the protected harbor so no storm will be able to put it out of its misery by dragging it to the bottom where at least marine life would have it as a home, an artificial reef.

Too outdated for work but neither is it salvaged to be put back into service in some new form. It is forgotten in plain sight.152


Click on image for larger view

Herculean Muscle

“47 Bridge (Three Tanks)”    SOLD
oil on panel, 2011
6” x 6” (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

Here is one of my 3 paintings that is in the  6" Squared Exhibition and Sale at the Randy Higbee Gallery this Saturday December 3rd.

The 47 Bridge, its design born more out of its practical need than aesthetics. The middle spans raise up to allow boats and ships to pass in the channel underneath, the reason for its boxy towers. The two near towers for auto and truck traffic, the two far ones for the railroad.

But its very utilitarian design gives it a herculean look, one of muscle. It is not a design to be admired for its grace or beauty. There are no sweeping curves of suspension cables or steel arches, no ornamentation. It belongs to no school of design other than its industrial purpose. So it stands disproportionately tall for the channel it crosses.

An obvious approach to support it’s brawniness would be a worms eye view but that would say nothing of its relative place in the bigger picture of the harbor mechanisms.
The high vantage point I’ve done here doesn’t minimize its stature but instead allows it to dwarf the surrounding area, both the background and the foreground tanks sitting low in the composition.151

Click on image for larger view

6 Inch Squared Show

Here is the announcement for the square format show and sale at the Randy Higbee Gallery.
Artists from all over the country are participating with all the paintings done in the 6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm) format.
The opening night and artists reception is December 3rd.
The show will hang until the 22nd.

Desert Bridge at 6 x 6

"BNSF 7318  Bridge"   SOLD
oil on panel, 2011
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

The BNSF 7318 at the top of the El Cajon pass on a cold, foggy day on one of many small desert bridges that hop over culverts and access roads.

The square format was a challenge to keep the locomotive substantial due to it's horizontal shape without resorting to an end view. Placing it high in the composition atop the bridge helped achieve that. The painting is now about both the train and bridge; the train due to it's brightness against the subdued desert palette, the bridge due to it's central position within the composition.

The zig zag line of hill, concrete, and vegetation on the right feeding into the road and leading the eye back up to the bridge and locomotive.114

Click on image for larger view

6" Squared Show Video

A video has been posted on the Randy Higbee Gallery Blog of the recent 6" Squared Exhibition and Sale.
This wasn't even the busiest part of the night. At some points you could hardly get through the crowd.
I managed to make a couple of unknowing appearances.
A fun night night meeting other artists, collectors and talking art. I even bought another artists' work and was fortunate enough to be able to hear her thoughts behind the painting... something you don't always get... and oh what a story! When I saw the painting I knew it was mine... some things you just know.

Oil Plant at 6 x 6

"Oil Plant #7"
oil on panel, 2011
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)
For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE


From my Oil plant series, it was an oil pumping station. I'm told it collected oil from local wells then pumped it, via underground pipes, to various oil refineries around the South Bay. It looked like it was built in the 1930's, although that's an educated guess. I wish I knew more about it.

Th oil plants dead and lifeless state emphasized by the climbing vegetation. The pipes or valves also seem to be sprouting from the bottom, adding to their anthropomorphic manner along with the two lights atop the the wooden structure that appear to be looking down.113

Click on image for larger view

6" Squared Show Pics

Random show pic

Random show pic

Random show pic

Random show pic

Fellow artist Vicki, myself, gallery staff member Terry

Gallery photographer Jessica and I think....   Don King

Gallery staff member Terry and her son in front of my paintings

Here are some pics sent to me from the Saturday night 6" Squared Artists Reception. Thank you Erich.

It was an exciting and enjoyable night.

Click on images for larger view

6" Squared Show Packed

This reception at this past weekends' 6 x 6 show was quite packed.
I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to many artists and collectors.
There was lots of great art hanging, including some of my favorite artists.

The show itself will hang through May 6th so it's not too late to get down there and see for yourself.

Waiting for some pics from the show taken by their photographers, when I get them I'll post them here so stay tuned...

BNSF at 6 x 6

"BNSF 6631 Rain"   SOLD
oil on panel, 2011
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

My fourth painting juried into the 6" Squared Show at the Randy Higbee Gallery. The 3 others here and here and here. If you are in the area it's worth checking out. The show promises to have lots of great art on display and for sale.

The BNSF 6631 near the top of the El Cajon Pass headed to the high desert in Southern California pulling a short string of passenger cars instead of the usual freight cars and cargo containers. Seen here punching out of the mist and into a clearing.
With it's lighter than usual load this train was moving pretty fast and despite it's climb up the steep long grade it rolled around the corner and was gone in a flash, traveling with a sense of urgency.112

Click on image for larger view

Refinery at 6 x 6

"Refinery #1"   SOLD
oil on panel, 2011
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

Here is the third painting in the 6" Squared exhibition and sale April 16th at the Randy Higbee Gallery in Costa Mesa California. Two other's here and here.

One of the many reasons I love industrial subjects is the palette of colors usually found. The blues, greens, grays, earthy and rusty browns, ochres, creams, whites and black. This struck me for the taupe of the refinery and the clean crisp white steam set against the stormy gray blue sky.

Refineries are very complicated to paint but fascinating to study. Although made from simple forms they are incredibly complex in their construction, a seemingly endless configuration of pipes, tanks, towers, catwalks, poles, lights... miles of steel, aluminum, asphalt and concrete. Formally arranged, hard edged and grid like contrasted by the softer organic forms of steam and clouds.111

Click on image for larger view

Vincent Thomas Bridge at 6 x 6

"Vincent Thomas Bridge #2"   SOLD
oil on panel, 2011
6" x 6" (15.24cm x 15.24cm)

Here is a second painting that will be in the 6" squared exhibition and sale at the Randy Higbee gallery April 16th. For more info see my previous post below.

From my Vincent Thomas Bridge series.

Here’s a view of the bridge from below the roadway looking west toward the towers, the far tower barely visible behind the scaffolding being erected on the near one. It takes about six months just to wrap a tower for painting, first in scaffolding from the ground up, then wrapped in a white tarp to contain the work. The maintenance of the bridge is a constant job, never finished. This series will show not only the grandeur of the bridge itself but also serve as a tribute to those who maintain and keep it beautiful.110

Click on image for larger view