Category: <span>Fine Art</span>

Going through family photos, my eyes landed on one I had never seen before. My grandfather Arnold, is on the left with my grandmother Louise in the center. Her twin Lucille is on the right waving her kerchief. They are standing near the San Gabriel River in El Monte California, at the family ranch. The original photo was a sepia and I wanted to preserve that look while surrounding them with a sky blue. This is oil and acrylic on canvas.… Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Fine Art

Quarantine

This was a small painting born from sheltering in place during the early months of the COVID 19 pandemic.

The painting began years ago as one of my first attempts at oil on a black gessoed canvas. My first attempt was dismal. So, I decided it would be an abstract, but that became horrible. So, I thought I would experiment with collage on oil paint using pages from an old Bible and dried flowers.

I still wasn’t happy with it until I had the gas mask idea, inspired by current events. A friend from the coast really liked it — now, it’s his.… Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Fine Art

I wanted to capture a downtown Grass Valley scene without the Del Oro Theater in it. So, here is my acrylic on canvas painting of Fable Coffee: 12″ X 16″… Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Fine Art

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I thought I’d try my hand at hyper-realism, but I don’t think acrylic paint was the best choice. Live and learn, they say. I painted this from a photo of Olive and Sylvie I took at the Roseville Aquatic Center. It’s a 40″ X 40″ canvas and it’s found a home. … Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Fine Art

Sunrise Over SPD

Sunrise Over SPD is acrylic on canvas 36” X 48”. This wasn’t my favorite entry, but it won the People’s Choice Award at the Nevada County Fair in 2019.… Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Fine Art

It seems like forever ago when I walked into downtown Grass Valley for their annual classic car show, snapping away with my Nikon. When I got home and looked at all the photos I shot, it just seemed natural to paint the passage of time. I had to remove some cars that were parked out in front, but that guy actually walked out and began taking photos with his phone. Nevada Club is acrylic on canvas. … Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Fine Art

This is one of my favorite paintings.

A friend posted a video on Instagram of her daughter running by on a dreary winter day — it’s a split second long. I loved the complementary colors and motion, so I thought I’d try to capture both on a small 12″ X 12″ canvas. … Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Family • Friends Fine Art The Last Postmaster of Camptonville

This is acrylic on a 24″x 30″ canvas. I took a photo of Olive in a blueberry field on Christy Hill in Sedgwick ME on an overcast day and thought it would make a good composition, if I made up a horizon and cloudy sky.… Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Fine Art Maine: The Vista From Away

I was looking at photos and video from our trip to Maine in July 2016. I wanted to paint these girls playing on a float on Blue Hill Bay in a way that would communicate activity and the passage of time. I decided to create a series of five small paintings in a left-to-right timeline depicting the girls in different positions on the float as they moved from one side to the other, in order to look at a crab they found. But, I was unsure if it would communicate what I wanted — and, that was the downfall of this project.… Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Fine Art

I knew Winston Churchill was a painter, but only recently heard of his essay, Painting As A Pastime. Former President George W. Bush credited this little book with both his deliverance from “sitting on the couch, eating potato chips” in retirement and awakening in him a newfound passion for art and painting. I thought I’d read the essay online, but The Estate of Winston S. Churchill has a tight hold on the former British Prime Minister’s massive collection of writings and correspondence.

I read the reviews and found this gem on Amazon.com “used” — it was actually new and I picked it up for about the price of a sugary, dairy-based corporate coffee drink.… Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Books • Literature Fine Art

I’m a new artist and had this conversation with Denise the other day: “My drawing skills are horrible and I’m so impatient that I’m not really observing my subjects at all. After I get going, the process slows me down and I begin seeing everything I missed.” Denise, as she typically does, listened patiently to my exposed inner thoughts and acknowledged my concerns. Then, she continued with her reading. This is a “conversation” we’ve had at least five times over the past couple of months and it was just this last Monday I engaged in the self-flagellation one more time.

On the way home from Bodega Bay on Tuesday, we stopped at the Goodwill in Auburn,  I picked this book up for a song and began reading it last night.… Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Books • Literature Fine Art

My latest urban landscape is Bubba’s Bagels, a familiar sight to most Nevada County residents. It is acrylic on canvas, but I wanted it to have a more printerly look. The colors are all desaturated to some degree with the ultramarine blue of the Arco sign being the closest to a pure hue. I wanted to create interest in a very mundane scene by placing elements exiting the frame in different directions, while drawing the eye into the center of the piece. The actual color scheme of the shop is captivating when you drive by it — so, I tried to get that just right.… Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Fine Art

Fudenjuce 2This year I had two entries in the Fine Arts competition at the Nevada County Fair. I received a Third Place for a Nevada County Scene with my Fudenjuce, which is acrylic on a large reclaimed yard sale canvas. It is one of a number of urban landscapes I am planning for the future. Although I received a third place, I was very happy with the result because I was competing across all skill levels including professionals.

Bridges PointI received a First Place in the novice category for my acrylic painting of a boat on Bridge’s Point in Brooklin ME.… Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Fine Art

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I completed my acrylic painting class about two weeks ago and this was my final project: Olive At Seven. I’m generally pleased with it, although it gave me a bit of trouble in combining white with raw umber and, then, glazing and going to a gray. After encountering that problem, I created swatches and learned that raw umber has some blue in it, evidently. I found that by mixing in a little burnt sienna, it “warms” a bit and will go to a creamier tint. Oh, well. That’s why I’m taking these classes.

Next up are a couple of portraits and then on to my current fascination: urban scenes.… Read the rest

Art • Design • Culture Fine Art