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

HB Power Plant Backside

"HB Power Plant Backside"
watercolor on paper, 2013
6" x 9" (15.24cm x 22.86cm)
For sale at DAILY PAINTWORKS
Direct link to painting here

The Huntington Beach Power Plant may be getting torn down soon so I present it from its backside and in the background, the marine layer moving in to engulf it, a device I have used before to indicate an eventual disappearance from the landscape. We get so used to some landmarks around us they become a fixture in our lives and we will notice them more when they are gone one day.261

*The color of this pic is a little off, a bit too pink, but when it leaves my photo editing app it looks right.

Little Seascape

"Seascape - Cliffs"
oil on panel, 2013
5" x 3.5" (12.7cm x 8.89cm)
Framed
For sale at DAILY PAINTWORKS
Direct link to painting here

Aaah, the marine layer, coastal fog, it is what makes for dramatic light and color.
It is near the perimeter of coastal fog that the deep rich colors live, before they die under its gray canopy. The landscape begins to fall into shadow but there is still enough sunlight to rouse color saturation.254

Urban Haze

"Storage Yard Haze"    SOLD
oil on panel, 2013
5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78cm)

I see a lot of scenes like this living near the ocean. Bright days tucked under the marine layer.

Colors intensify but are not too glaring, not like a bright clear day. All the moisture in the atmosphere affects colors in a different way, they seem to bleed softly into the air.
Even harsh environments are gently cushioned under this canopy of moist air, not quite blocked and grayed out as on foggy days. The marine layer lets the sun through just enough to let us pause and relook at what we would normally dismiss.

That's what I see and why I choose the often maligned urban setting. It would be too obvious, and easy, to take an already pretty landscape and make it prettier.240

REALLY Private Collection

One of my paintings was recently added to someone's private collection, although in an unauthorized manner.
They offered themselve's a huge discount you might say, surreptitiously collecting the work from the venue it was being offered.

I should say this puts my work in good company. Other more famous artists' work have been acquired in the same manner, and all you have to do is a web search and you'll know what I mean.

I can only take this as a compliment of course since no one would bother if it had no value to them.
I would actually like to hear from the uh... 'really private collector'... so feel free to leave a comment, I would enjoy your thoughts on the piece, what attracted you to it, why did you have to have it?
Any thoughts you might have...

Thanks

Original post here.

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

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

One Man Show - HB Power Plant

"HB Power Plant - Dusk"    SOLD
oil on panel, 2011
12" x 16" (30.48cm x 40.64cm)

Here is the painting from the postcard announcement for my show at the Randy Higbee Gallery next Saturday, October 1st 2011. See previous posts for more info.

Two elements of our coastal landscapes and a common motif in my work. The mix of industry and nature. Not beautiful to some but in scenes like these I see themes that go beyond the mere industrial or nature images alone. Themes in the tradition of Homer and Hopper.

Man and Nature side by side. Industry has to be placed somewhere so it's impossible to ignore. Since we like to live in beautiful areas we end up with power plants like this one becoming part of the landscape.

Here the setting sun and the marine layer provide a dramatic backdrop to both the power plant and the wetlands of Huntington Beach.128

Click on image for larger view

Left Behind

"Oil Plant #3"   SOLD
oil on panel, 2010
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

From my Oil Plant Series. While the plant is fascinating enough to simply present as is, I still find myself searching for a bit more... wanting the image to have meaning beyond the surface. This painting is about the idea of what's left behind, what was. So goodbye blue sky.

The plant sits in the sun. Two contrails, traces of jets passed, sweep overhead. The facility, a vestige of it's former self. Both are about to be lost to the marine layer which reaches up from behind to engulf the aging structure. The salt air urging rust once more. It also replays the theme of man vs nature, no matter what we do nature is always stronger.73
Click on image for larger view

Update-Previous Post

*I've posted a photo of the framed art "Study for 'Villa Riviera Wrapped for Restoration' " under the post heading ' Inky Black ' in the May archives.

Inky Black

*Update- I was able to get a photo of the art framed. Although I prefer to have the framing done by a professional framer, occasionally I have to do it myself. A simple black frame, handwritten caption underneath.

"Study for 'Villa Riviera Wrapped for Restoration' "

oil on panel, 2009

5" x 3.5" (12.7cm x 7.62cm)

private collection

This study I did after the previously posted painting, which for better or worse, I excitedly dove into head first, no preliminary work. As I said in previous post this subject will be addressed in a series of images and different mediums. I'll post them over time. Here, a small oil where I experimented with a slightly more tonal approach, inkier blacks, and a warmer backround.12

Click on image for larger view

Gothic and Ominous

"Villa Riviera Wrapped for Restoration"

oil on panel, 2009

24" x 18" (60.96cm x 45.72cm)

As the title reveals, this building won't be retired any time soon. It sits near the seashore and overlooks the southern end of the Long Beach Grand Prix Circuit. If what I've heard is true, it was formally a Hotel frequented by movie stars like John Wayne and is currently an apartment building.

So, while some of our physical history gets scraped clean to make room for the new, and some of it is left to be slowly digested by time, by our own doing or lack of I should add, some of it is allowed to remain and in fact, be pushed forward.

My view is looking south toward the Pacific Ocean just before high noon with the morning marine layer reluctantly retreating. The building uncovered stands like a monarch with it's crown-like copper top roof. But wrapped in scaffolding and it's cape-like black tarp it took on a completely different persona, gothic and ominous. This is what really caught my attention after having driven past it for years. I knew I would finally have to address it in a series of images, covered and perhaps now, uncovered.11

Click on image for larger view