East Bay Open Studios – coming right up!

The Oakland art scene is getting better all the time. At Open Studios this year my group has teamed up with another group just a few doors down and between us we have over 80 artists all in one place! (I know, I know, the postcard said “79″, but we had one more join us!).

(Newsbreak: we had one drop out, so if any of you are interested, it’s a one-time last-minute chance to join – ask me for more details)

My update message, with video link http://eepurl.com/zVuBT and you can even subscribe to my mail list, if you like, by clicking on the upper left subscribe button.

can you tell me…

Few identify this creature right away – can you?

I have been surprised at what people see in this small painting. Tell me what you see!

53 Dodge

This poor hulk has been sadly neglected in our driveway for more years than I care to tell you about, but it is getting some attention today. It drove here, but as Tim says, you don’t go for a drive in it, you go for an adventure!  Gino will be helping Tim to fire it up. Will it really run again??

And, is this painting finished, what do you think?

weekend warriors

I took a workshop with a local painter I think is terrific, Randall Sexton. This was figure painting, which I gave up over a year ago, maybe two years. I had felt very frustrated with getting the myriad of colors that exist in a few square inches of skin – light to dark, one color to another, as well as reflected light, blemishes, etc etc. He somehow made it seem do-able again. Here’s one of my unfinished sketches, background left for later. I don’t know that I will ever finish it – and, how can you, once the session is over and the model has left? I guess that’s another one of the frustrations with this subject! Oh well, it’s fun in the meantime!

Sketch group exhibit in Albany California

If you are a sketcher, would like to try sketching out doors, or are not a sketcher….

There is an exhibit of sketches by my Sketch Group at the Albany Library this month.
Come by and see it during Library hours.
The Library is at the corner of Marin Avenue and Masonic (at the BART tracks).
Hours are :
SUN 1pm-5pm
MON 12pm-6pm
TUE 12pm-8pm
WED 12pm-8pm

THU 10am-6pm
FRI Closed
SAT 10am-5pm

We are having a reception Saturday the 19th at 3pm.
Come sketch with us before the reception from 12-3 on Solano near Masonic.

Holiday Owl

White on white is pretty fun, there are an amazing number of variations. In fact, however, some of these whites got so wild they are no longer white, but blue, orange, etc. Since I had so much fun creating the mountain goat I decided to try an owl, keeping it super-simple, because of the time constraint. This was a gift to @sathier.

Painting nominated for a recognition!

My Sunflowers  painting was nominated for an art blog still life recognition! If you have a minute, vote for your favorite starting tomorrow http://bit.ly/W0ovaJ

My good friend Jana Bouc nominated this painting on the Making a Mark blog. She has told me that she fell in love with the painting — it’s not just because she knows me! I consider her a dedicated and careful painter and really appreciate her vote of confidence. She has a painting up for vote as well at  http://makingamark.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/portrait-nominations-for-best-artwork-MAMAwards2012.html

 

 

Mountain Goat morning

For a painter’s party, we were given the missive to paint a winter scene. Those who brought a painting would draw from a hat to take home a painting by another artist—super fun! On the morning of the party day, I pulled out an 8×10 panel. I thought it was important to keep it simple, so I decided on a single animal portrait. These hardy mountain goats almost blend in with the snow in their natural habitat, but not quite, fortunately. The snowflakes falling make it feel pretty wintry!  Catherine Fasciato took this one home.

Sunflowers

The Shadow is what drew me originally to painting these sunflowers. I love sunflowers, but they are often over- or under-done in paintings so I have avoided them when often I might have tried it in the past. I like the way these came out, they are lively enough to make me envision the real thing!

 

SF auto show

I had never been to a car show before, thought it would be fun, not only to see next year’s designs, but to sketch. It was pretty crowded, I took a couple photos, and sketched from that. The Academy of Art University has a large and wonderful antique car collection as it turns out. They presented a handful, including some of their smallest and most eclectic, really fun. This is an example, designed by a man who normally designed aircraft. It was designed/built after WWII as economical, basic transportation, very affordable. I’m not sure I did it’s funny shape justice. When you look at it directly from the front it looks somewhat like a frog with it’s bug-eyed headlamps!