Painting these peaches was a race against time and breakfast.
Peaches Still Life Painting is for sale.
Peaches Still Life Painting
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Monthly Archives: August 2012
U Heights Hill- Painting of San Diego
I’ve been making some changes to my process lately. One thing I’ve been trying, and I’m not sure if I think it’s successful, is drawing lines freehand instead of using a ruler. On the one hand, I like the sketchy quality that emerges. On the other, I like things to be crisp.
Balboa Park Painting
I’ve been intrigued lately by the idea of doing tourist paintings. I’m more drawn to the opposite of landmarks- random, run-down places, or just an everyday street- but I like the idea of painting landmarks as well.
Canaletto’s career was based on them; Renoir painted his own versions of Canaletto’s Venetian cityscapes. And of course we have the rich legacy of Paris Impressionist street scenes. Monet, to me, was the star of that genre, but there were quite a few Impressionist masters. I’ll see where this idea takes me.
Also featured here: Gamblin Portland Grey! I’m always on the lookout for better ways to paint our cool, overcast mornings.
Balboa Park Painting is for sale.
An Inconvenient House Without Parking
The house behind this fence, beautifully bursting with bougainvillea, is for sale. It’s an old Craftsman with intact original windows- and no parking! For me, lack of parking is not a deal breaker (I travel by hot air balloon).
Train Tracks & Palm Trees in Santa Barbara
An industrial building by the train tracks in Santa Barbara, California. I was intrigued by the way the evening light streamed across the landscape, making a pattern in the shadows. I had to get a sketch in so I could paint this scene when we got home.
I’m very attracted to the boxy shapes of old Modern buildings. An oxymoron I guess, but the industrial buildings in particular from the early 20th century had graceful proportions and simple silhouettes. We are seeing a revival & a reinterpretation of this style of architecture in San Diego right now, especially in apartment buildings, and I think it looks great. The theory, I think, is that form = function.
I especially like these buildings when they are situated along railroads.
San Diego Seascape Painting
A steep path above the gently rolling surf in the ecological preserve on Point Loma in San Diego. This beautiful place is full of native San Diego species of plants and animals.
We’ve had a heat wave in San Diego this week and I’m itching to head back to the beach today. If traffic permits, of course…
Eucalyptus Trees in Balboa Park
Painting of San Diego Victorian House
This Victorian is across the street from where my drawing group meets. Before it was restored, it was a wreck, but it is beautiful now.
Like so many things, it just needed a little work.
Painting of San Diego Victorian House is for sale at my Etsy shop
Houses in Hillcrest- San Diego Paintings
Mission revival houses up on a hill- they have great views over North Park.
Craftsman House- Painting of San Diego
I like the steep pitch of the roof and the way this house (from the early 1900s?) seems to doze in its overgrown garden.
Painting of a Cat in the Grass
A painting of a tabby cat in my neighborhood, keeping cool in the shade. I like to paint cats; it is very relaxing.
Do you like cat paintings? I have a second Etsy shop full of cat paintings.
Painting of a Cat in the Grass is for sale.
Pink House and Palm Trees- San Diego Painting
A pink house in Hillcrest, seen from the alley behind, on a bright, sunny San Diego morning.
I like out- of- the- way places like this quiet alley, with a low jumble of rooftops and back yards… I like to paint places that look like they aren’t trying too hard to impress.
More of my paintings of San Diego, California at my Etsy shop.
Painting of San Diego Eucalyptus Trees
A stand of Eucalpytus trees in Florida Canyon. I like places like this, where even though you’re in the middle of the city, you get soothing natural vistas.
Painting of San Diego Eucalyptus Trees is for sale.
Mission Valley Target Store- San Diego Oil Painting
The Mission Valley Target Store has an eerie presence, long and low at the end of its empty, early-morning parking lot.
Like yesterday’s painting of the termite tent, I’d had a somewhat perverse itch to paint the Target store for a long time. I’m not going to try to analyze it.
This painting of san diego is for sale.
Rapp Saloon, Santa Monica Painting
I liked the way this old brick building (from 1875) was dwarfed by taller, newer structures around it. I was also intrigued by the atmospheric effects of the buildings in late afternoon light so close to the ocean.
This painting started as a drawing when we lost the car in Santa Monica. We’d parked on the fourth or fifth level of the garage- what we didn’t realize is there are several garages “near a J. Crew” which was my only point of reference. So after going all the way up and down two incorrect garages, we wound up in front of this building and I insisted I had to draw it. Mike went to find the car and left me to work on a sketch.
Time passed and I couldn’t get happy with the painting, so I abandoned it and forgot about it. More time passed, and my truck got broken into. While my GPS was stolen, this incomplete painting was not. I decided a square format would work better, so I started over and I wrapped it up today.
This painting is for sale.