EBAY AUCTION #5

"Farmhouse" 8" x 10" oil/canvas

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I painted this farmhouse en plein air about six months before it was demolished to make room for a new store and gas station. It was so typical of the farmhouses of the area with the stone walls and tin roof plus the red barn to the side of the house was a killer on its own.
I just couldn't get a good view of the barn from the highway where I had pulled off to do the painting. I can't tell you how many people honked at me as they drove by at 70 miles per hour plus. As if honking was going to inspire me to do a better painting or maybe they were just hoping I would flinch and totally screw up. Either way I showed them a thing or two by completing the little booger in spite of all the racket.

This painting will be on Ebay for a week then it is gone forever. I've sold the last two paintings so I'm hoping for the three-pete. The problem is going to be when paintings don't sell. I've made a promise to myself that at the end of the year I'm going to take all of the non-selling Ebay paintings and destroy them. I have time to think this one over. I'll get back to you on that.

EBAY AUCTION #4

"Day's Done" 8" x 10" oil/linen

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"Day's Done" is my fourth Ebay auction offering. Spurred on by recent sales success on Ebay I am going to continue offering a new painting each week until the end of the year. Then when I sit down to make plans for 2012 I'll decide if the program will continue. I gotta say watching the auction is a little addictive.














"Colorado Hillside" sold on Ebay last week. Watching the bids come in was a lot of fun and I'm sure the painting will make the collector very happy.

ITS THE LITTLE THINGS

I posted this painting last week right after I finished painting it.

















The painting is of the "Lighthouse" which one of the famous rock formations in the Palo Duro Canyon in west Texas. I knew when I did it I was not happy with the slopping hill going to the left from the Lighthouse. I felt it was lacking character and it was taking the viewer's eye away from the main rock formation. Deep down I also know that people who know this formation know that hill does not exist as I painted it. I also felt the sky was too blue for this to be a late afternoon, almost dusk time of day.

I do not know about anyone else, but after spending twelve hours or so working on a painting I tend to look past the flaws because I've got so much time invested in it I almost want to convince myself that it is a good painting, even if it has problems. For that reason, when I finish a painting I put it away out of sight for at least a week then put it back on the easel and look at it with a critical eye.

For one thing I want to see if the things that bothered me initially still bother me. In this case the answer was yes. So now the decision becomes do I fix the problems or does my garbage man have another free painting to take home? Today I chose to fix the problems and the new painting is below.

















I hope you agree with my fix. I reworked the slope by adding rocks, bushes and cactus which is more in keeping with what is actually there. By breaking up this slope it keeps the viewer's eye from sliding away from the Lighthouse. I also reworked the sky by adding lots of greens and yellows into it plus some purples and reds toward to lower portion to give it that west Texas dusty sky feeling. I think the changes in the sky really help establish the time of day I was going for. I punched up the yellows and ochres in the cliff going from the Lighthouse to the left to add more of a late afternoon feel.

Being self-critical of one's work is just as important as knowing what colors to mix. Scott Christensen has a great quote when referring to doing large scale paintings. He says, "Ugly is one thing, but big and ugly is bad."

SOME PAINTINGS ARE SPECIAL

"Taos Mountain" 24" x 30" oil/canvas


Every artist, me included, has paintings they have done that are just more special than others. This painting "Taos Mountain" is one of those. In the first place it hangs in our home and is not available for sale because it is my wife's favorite painting. I took it to a gallery once for a show and you would have thought the earth had stopped moving when my wife saw the empty spot on the wall. Needless to say, it is back home and back on the wall never to be removed again.

The other reason it is so special is because it is a constant reminder of the trip we took with our in-laws, Alan and Mary, to Taos several years ago. The trip included plenty of sight seeing, fishing, a white water rafting trip and a hike up the back of Taos Mountain.

This is a studio piece done from photo reference. I would love to go back and spend a week just cranking out one plein air painting after another.

NOTHING LIKE WAITING TO THE LAST MINUTE

"Lighthouse" 24' x 30" oil/canvas

Today is the final day to enter the American Impressionist
Society show/competition. Leave it to me to wait until today to start a 24" x 30" painting to have something to enter. I guess its the illustrator mentality in me that waits until there's a deadline to get down to business. I've been wanting to do this painting since April when I last visited Palo Duro Canyon. My fall back position is I had a three man show in May and I've been kind of pooped out ever since.

I have spent the summer trying to get new work to the galleries, but I just haven't been happy with anything I've done for about two months. I'm hoping this painting is the kick in the rear I need to push me forward. I've hit a plateau of sorts artistically and I'm trying to sort out what it is I want my work to say. I've had this conversation with myself several times and it always leads to discovering new things to do to improve my work. Let's collectively cross our fingers...toes count as well...and hope I come out on the other side of this self-interpretation excercise a better painter.

ROSITA'S BRIDGE

"Rosita's Bridge" 24" x 30" oil/linen

In San Antonio the river winds its way through downtown and serves as a major tourist attraction with many fine restaurants, shops, galleries and historical buildings. A visitor can take a guided tour of downtown on a flat boat. There are several bridges like this one that connects one side of the river to the other.

This particular bridge is named after Rosita Fernandez who was an internationally known singer during the 1920's when she made San Antonio her home. The flat stage on the right side of the painting serves as an outdoor theater for stage productions and musicals. Sandra Bullock shot a scene for "Miss Congeniality" on this stage. Rosita performed for over thirty years on the stage raising money for local children's charities.

The interesting challenge of painting this bridge is that it is in sunlight for only twenty minutes a day. The rest of the time it is covered by the shadows of the tall downtown buildings that line the river. There's another bridge to the right of this one so if you time it right you can paint both bridges from the same location. For me to get this painting and stay out of the way of the many visitors walking along the side of the river, I had to stand in the flower garden of a local restaurant. I had a nice audience of people eating on the outdoor patio right above me.

EBAY AUCTION ITEM #4

"Colorado Hillside" 8" x 10" plein air

Starting the month of July off with an Ebay auction.
I did this painting a couple of years ago during a trip to Estes Park in the Rocky Mountain National Park. I've always liked the feel of this painting with the aspen trees just starting to turn colors against the green evergreens. As with other paintings I have put on Ebay this one will
be available for about a week so if interested click on the link below.

Ebay art click here!