New Work Cityscape at Laguna Art-A-Fair

"Old LA 1"    SOLD
oil on board, 2016
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

You can always find the mix of the old and the modern in the city.
It is endlessly fascinating, richly layered and textured from time.

I left out quite a bit from the actual location, which was far busier, like wires, clutter on the left sidewalk and a huge railroad crossing signal in the background. Instead I focused more on the vertical strip compressed between the power pole and building with all the intricacies of the fire escape, the hint of the yellow sign, the AC unit hanging from the side of the building, the stop light and pedestrian crossing light and especially the strip of sunlight piercing the buildings shadows. That was where all real visual action took place.

The freeway, multitude of yellow poles and fencing, signs, streetlight and utility poles, antennae and left side buildings have a similar intricacy and although laid out across two-thirds of the composition are dwarfed in scale by the entire right third of the painting.
I played down the whole left side slightly while the deep shadow, high contrast, harder razor-like edges gave the right side the punch it needed to describe the compression of time I was seeing crammed into such a small area of the scene.452

Duck duck at Laguna Art-A-Fair

"Duck Duck 1"
oil on panel, 2016
5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78cm)

Here is a new work for Laguna Art-A-Fair.
The worlds largest rubber duck and her duckling when it visited the Los Angeles Port in 2014.

If you know my work you might wonder, a rubber duck? Well yeah, if it's 61 feet tall, weighs 11 tons and sits in the Los Angeles Harbor. It's a no-brainer! And it's a nice complement to what may be The Worlds Largest Pumpkin, "Smilin' Jack", which I also painted.
Fun industrial.
Suitable for all ages.
I-N-D-U-S-T-R-I-A-L !
Have a newborn? Duck Duck is perfect for the new nursery!
Have a 5 year old? Smilin' Jack is it!

At that size She had a certain presence.  I wanted to have a little fun here so I painted in the yellow halo and kept the paint application crystal clear with high chroma and saturated color to give it that presence for the paintings diminutive 5"x7" size.451

Art-A-Fair Huntington Beach 1

"Huntington Beach 1"    SOLD
oil on panel, 2015
5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78cm)

Here is a painting currently in my booth at Art-A-Fair and another from my Urban Seascape series. Late afternoon in Huntington Beach, which is south of the previous two Seal Beach from the series. If you look closely it shares the same background of the LA/Long Beach Harbor as the others, the reason I refer to them as urban seascapes.

This was one of those extremely windy days when the sand and ocean mist fills the air and the heavy surf is a continuous unrelenting roar as the waves pound the shore one after another, too much for swimming. It is those conditions that make for a great opportunity to paint the coastal atmosphere which really is the intended subject.
The figures provide the interest in what would otherwise be a simple and too-horizontal composition without them. It's the figures which link the horizontal bands together , a design device I learned from studying the work of Winslow Homer, one of the supreme seascape artists.

As a footnote I will say this is not the best photo and is not showing the warm/cool subtleties or saturation of color. The nearest figure is wearing a cad red coat which is not showing up well and should read with a bit more saturation and the upper left corner should be a cool pure white.317

Art-A-Fair 18th St. Nocturne

"18th St. Nocturne"    SOLD

oil on panel, 2015

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

Here is another painting down at Art-A-Fair. I love the nocturne and that stillness of night.

We paint what we see. The view from my balcony, which I have painted several times. This one from early in the evening, lights still on in many of the homes. I love the linear quality of the lit power lines which break up the sky, make the composition more dynamic and gives the painting some energy.311

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 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 Arroyo Landscape

"Arroyo Landscape"
oil on panel, 2015
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Art-A-Fair is underway now with this being the first weekend. The grounds look spectacular thanks to the volunteer staff that put a lot of work into every detail. There are countless other jobs we don't see, like promotion and administrative, done by the volunteers that go back months, long before we exhibiting artists show up.
So thanks to all!

Here is one of my new paintings currently hanging on my wall.

While researching an illustration for a magazine I visited this arroyo at the northern rural end of the Santa Ana River in San Bernardino California. Down in the arroyo it is like being in another place.
In our otherwise dry savanna climate it feels like an oasis teaming with a variety of lush green trees, vegetation and wildlife year round.304

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

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"

Rusty Haze

"Oil Plant 11 (Rusty Haze)"
oil on panel, 2014
6" x 6" (15.25cm x 15.24)

Number 11 in my series of the Oil Plant, actually an oil pumping station from the 1930's or 40's I think.
(I've done more than 11, some were not titled within the numbers) Unfortunately it is gone now but my series will continue. It is a hazy memory.
I left out quite a bit of the pipes and such in the background, more than I usually do. I reached a point and it just felt right for this one. It was more about the thick atmosphere.
But then I take another look and think it may have been better with just a whisper of them here and there.
Who knows. It's probably better to move on to the next one.292

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.

Road w/ Pipeline

"Road w/ Pipeline"
oil on panel, 2014
6" x 9" (15.24cm x 22.86cm)
For Sale at DAILY PAINTWORKS, CLICK HERE
Direct link to painting here

Here's a landscape not far from home. It's an unstable area under constant land movement as it slowly slides into the Pacific Ocean. Because of this the pipeline must be above ground and the road requires year round maintenance. After a rain the road can get cracks and vertical drops of several inches overnight.

To make for a better midday painting and give the hillside a dark richness and I dropped in a soft shadow from passing overhead clouds. That also made for a better separation of foreground and background.288

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

Cuts Like a Knife

"Burnscape 10"
oil on panel, 2014
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

This a recent painting from my Burnscape series which has been dormant for a while.

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.

This one is similar to my "Burnscape #4 (Charred Pine Stand)".
Trees are meant to survive natural wildfires where the brush is low to the ground, the fire sweeping through too quickly, and frequently enough, to wipe them out. These pines were burned too much to survive.
Here I included the dirt road which stands in stark contrast to the blackened soil and slices through the landscape like a knife.286

Click the Series-Burnscape label to see them all.

Series - Locomotive - UP 2464 Fire Hydrant

"UP 2464 Fire Hydrant"
oil on panel, 2013
5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78)

Number nine in my New Locomotive Series.

For this series, at least early on, my aim is to feature the locomotive in its entirety, in profile and in its environment.
The challenge with that is its horizontal format. That means I have to find ways to counter the side to side emphasis by using verticals and diagonals.
The hydrant was used as a compositional device. It helps break up the foreground horizontal sweep of the otherwise simple vacate street. This is part of my experimenting with the series.

Lighting is another element I am experimenting with. Here I backlit the subject as I did in "UP 4343". The difference in this one as opposed to UP 4343 is the locomotive is under a subtle undefined shadow consistent with the windy, cloudy spring day and not receiving a direct hit of sunlight.
So while UP 4343 has a diagonal streak of sunlight to break up the simplified foreground this one has a strong vertical to accomplish the same.
The same can be said of the clouds in each. It is not by accident but by design. In UP 4343 I designed the light streaking through the atmosphere to echo the foreground diagonal. Here I dragged nearly vertical streaks to break up the horizontal band of clouds and make a better composition.

I have some others in progress for this series that are different formats and views and will begin posting those in the near future.285

Click the 'SERIES-locomotive' label to see all.

HB Power Plant Landscape

"HB Power Plant Landscape"
oil on panel, 2013
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Here I painted the Huntington Beach California Power Plant from Costa Mesa. I have heard talk that it is going to be torn down although I have not confirmed it.
But with that in mind I decided to paint it from afar. The idea of it eventually disappearing from the landscape as new life springs up.

The power plant is pale in comparison to the vibrancy of the foreground.

The lively brighter vegetation painted with a sort of lyrical rhythm, pulsating with life while the background, nearly monochromatic, dissipates into the coastal atmosphere.268