Sketching larger

I am trying to keep some of the loose quality from the smaller forest sketches below in this 50"x72" painting. So much harder to do at this scale! This is about eight hours of painting over three days.

Plant sketches

More quick sketches. Sometimes i just choose the hardest thing I can think of to paint and then see if I can pull it off. The reference images for these paintings come from hikes at Point Reyes. They're so fun and sloppy to make, and they inspired the large painting in the post above.

Magic

Here's the progress in one day on a little (22"x34") painting of the highway in Oakland.  It's so magical when the paint starts to look like more than just paint.

Some sketches from the studio

With several large paintings nearing completion and requiring detailing with smaller brushes, I get restless. I want to be messy and fast, and usually end up working on lots of little paintings like these. Because they are small and quick, they have a freshness to them that I am working to keep as I start larger work, but it's so hard. Still I try. Meantime, the studio is littered with little experiments.

What I've been up to...

Some paintings and some prints. More to come.

Solo Show - A Sense of Place

Please join me at Artzone 461 Gallery for the opening or my show A Sense of Place. The opening reception is Saturday, May 10 5-8PM, and the show runs through June 15.

A Sense of Place
May 10 - June 15
Artzone 461 Gallery
461 Valencia (btwn 15th and 16th)
Opening reception May 10, 5-8PM

Also, the gallery is in the midst of a kickstarter campaign to fund a book of artists' work. Any contributions would be gratefully appreciated.

New work in the show!

This week in the studio

Here's some of what I did in the studio this week. The paintings are all in process. Top to bottom: trees from train in Norway, the glacier we walked on in Iceland, and some housing in Texas. Today I dug out the inks and tried to remember how to use the printing press - always humbling as I seem to have so little control over any aspect of the printmaking process.