New canyon landscape

Ending up doing about one painting a week lately which is OK production now that I'm working part-time outside of art. Reading more art now too as my job winds down soon and I can get back to full time art by summer. My son-in-law said today it is a good time to reinvent myself which is what I'm doing through the new painting styles, including encaustic which I will go back to soon as spring brings warmer weather and I can use my ventilation system again.

This is an 8 x 10 oil from a photograph taken by my daughter who is really getting to be an excellent photographer. You can see her work on fickr.com under the name jennhx.

New Southwest Scene

Here is a colorful southwest sunset scene done entirely with palette knife. The more I paint the rocky scenes the more I like the texture I get that mimics the scene. This is 9x12 inches. The water soluble oils let me paint every day with the paint "set up" a little although at this thickness it's still pretty wet. I can mix the paint on the painting as I add refinements yet overpaint as needed too.

Lake Washington View

This is an 8x10 thickly painted scene of Lake Washington in Seattle. I'm next working on a challenging interior scene and will see how it works out.

Still working part time so less time to paint but have a bigger series of new landscapes in mind and will start working on these soon. Was going to take a related class to get me going on these new works but figure can invest the price of the class in materials instead. Also have some schedule conflicts and at the high hourly price, wouldn't want to miss a session. Mainly take classes to motivate myself but in this economic environment I'd do better to motivate myself and spend the money more efficiently. Most classes I end up being the most advanced learner and don't get that much out of them other than the several hours of class time to discuss art.

Portrait

Here is an 8x8 inch portrait from a photo by a traveler to China. It's for an informal contest among the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters. Portraits take a lot of time and effort. I had trouble making the young lady look young enough until I finally rounded the features and blended the shadows. Portraits are not my strength even though I do a lot of drawing and can get a pretty good likeness. That last few percent is the difficult part. This was also painted on an absorbent gesso on board so the texture is not what I wanted but I am fairly satisfied with the result. I have a nice red antique frame for it.

Also been busy updating my art database to get ready for when the economy picks up and sales perk up again.

Chinese Village

This 11x14 oil is part of an informal contest for the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters. Several photos from a member's China trip were selected and each member can paint from them to do their own interpretation. I did my thick palette knife style as usual. There is also a portrait option and I'll work on that next although not sure which style. I may redo the landscape scene in wax as another option. I enjoy having a goal like this and like competition.

Worked on my taxes all afternoon so painting was a nice break. The business tax portion takes as long as the rest put together.

Another Grand Canyon

This is an 11x14 oil done completely in palette knife technique. After a few layers the surface looks like the aging eroded rocks.

Malibu Landscape

Here is a 9x12 landscape from my trip to LA in the winter. This is a view from the park high above Malibu beach. It's the thick palette knife style I like although sometimes it's not the best for some scenes, like a smooth ocean in the distance.