Chino Valley #3

Today I finished Chino Valley #3. I'm pleased with how I resolved the open areas that were too dark and abstract yesterday.

Continuing Chino Valley Series

Here is the completed Chino Valley #2 that I began yesterday. It is a 14" X 11' canvas.


Below is today's start of Chino Valley #3 that is a 20" x 16" canvas. I have to think about this one overnight and paint more tomorrow.

Chino Valley Paintings

These two paintings were inspired from my road trip from Las Vegas to Prescott. Chino Valley, Arizona was a beautiful sight as the sun sank into the horizon.


The painting above has one area I need to re-work on and re-photograph. I was finishing up just as it was twilight and the color isn't as good as it could be.

What is Art?

I think this is!

BTW: never eat sushi at a buffet in Las Vegas. I learned the hard way.

Birds after Storm

Our palm tree in front of the house has been the home for nesting Barn Owls. Apparently there is a youngster who is unable or refusing to leave the nest. Every night for weeks there has been a terrible screeching all night long as this bird begs for food. 2 birds were visible this morning after the storm of yesterday that removed more dead palm fronds.

My Coffeeberry shrub is fruiting in my mostly native front yard, and the berries just became ripe. Today the shrub was hopping. Robins and this Black-headed Grosbeak gorged on berries until the neighbor outdoor "bad cat" bird hunter showed up. I also glimpsed a bird that appeared to be an Eastern Warbling Vireo with the usual Pygmy Nuthatches and Chickadees. There was also a tremendous outbreak of termites that were thickly covering the pickets on the fence. Yikes!

Stormy Days . . .

Today our huge storm has hit so I am unable to photograph yesterday's work in natural light. For now, I will put these temporary photos in before a probable power outage!

This newest piece (above) is called "Joli's Apples". It is an 8" x 8" piece in progress. Below is the completed "From Mori to Marin". This canvas measures 14" x 11".

Completing Mori Point Paintings

Above: Sunday, October 12th I finished this panoramic painting of Mori Point looking south.
On Saturday I continued working on the above painting. I finished this smaller piece below, as well as working on another in my Mori Point Series.

Meanwhile, I am beading up a storm in the evenings. I am now working on my 5th tubular peyote stitch snake necklace but this one is in "my colors" rather than snake colors.

More Mori

The above painting is called Mori Point Tsunami completed yesterday. I worked on the painting below at the same time. It is called Mori Point Breaking and was conpleted today. These are both 10" x 8" oil on canvasboard and will be shown to sell at the Open Walls/ Small Works exhibit in December.

Everybody Loves Mori Point – New Work in Progress

I've been wanting to paint Mori Point for a long time but couldn't quite manage to haul my supplies there to do plein air work. I have taken lots of wonderful photos at Mori Point, and decided to reference those. Here is a 20" x 10" painting on canvasboard in progress.

These two oil paintings are details of Mori Point with surf. I've just started these and I plan to do them fast, keeping them fairly loose and a bit abstract. I'm working on these simultaneously. They are 10" x 8" on canvasboard.

Just to do something different, I've begun a portrait. I call this "The Wrong Dress". I was charmed by this rather serious little girl with porcelain skin who explained to me that her mom didn't want her to wear this dress to my niece's birthday party, but she has another one and she wanted to wear this. It's the first portrait I've done in oils in recent years. This has aspects that are wrong here, and I may just restart this one or move on! I find fast drying acrylic paint, that I used exclusively up until a couple years ago, much easier to handle for this type of work. I painted with oils at the SF Art Institute in the 70's when I worked much more slowly and was not as prolific.

California Oak Woodlands

Here are two more studies of oak trees in the golden California grass. Both paintings are 8" x 8" oil on canvasboard.

Snakes!

In addition to painting, I have been "beading" snakes. Shown above "in the wild" and shown below "close-up". They are stunning to wear and really make an impression. They make nature-oriented people look and wonder, "Red on Black . . . Red on Yellow?"