In the Studio Today...Ridgecrest Sunset Cyclist; Final Painting

Friday, July 31, 2009

DETAIL OF HILLS: Sunset Cycle on Ridgecrest.

"Sunset Cycle on Ridgecrest", Ridgecrest Blvd., Mt. Tamalpais State Park,
Marin County, California."2 ft. x 4 ft.", o/c.

DETAIL OF CYCLIST: Sunset Cycle on Ridgecrest.

Please come see the painting in person, September 1st at a wine and cheese reception in downtown Mill Valley, California. A beautiful place to ride your bike!

September 2009
The Depot Bookstore & Cafe
Solo Show of Cycling Paintings
87 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley, CA
Opening Reception; September 1, 6pm to 7pm

In the Studio Today...Sunset Cyclist on Ridgecrest; Day 2, work in progress

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

"Sunset Cycle on Ridgecrest", Ridgecrest Blvd., Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Marin County, California."2 ft. x 4 ft.", o/c. Day 2; work in progress.

Fleshed out details on the mountains in background and foreground, as well as light on Bolinas Lagoon and some of the trees. Coming along. Still lots to do.
Painting at the exact same state as above, but inside, with halogen lighting. Colors look much warmer with lights on the painting.

In the Studio Today... Ridgecrest Sunset on Mt. Tam; Panoramic with Cyclist

Monday, July 27, 2009

"Sunset Cycle on Ridgecrest", Ridgecrest Blvd., Mt. Tamalpais National State Park, Marin County, California."2 ft. x 4 ft.", o/c.

I am delighted to be moving into a large canvas today, and back to a landscape. I still have finishing details to do in two other paintings, but I wanted to start this one, as the sunset scene with rolling hills had got me really excited. The big paintings always are fun at a show, and stand out. Smaller, more detailed ones force the viewer to go up to the canvas and look at all the stuff in them, but my big paintings usually do not. The image of the rider is pulled from a shot I took at the Tour de Marin, in Sausalito. He was part of the peloton, going around the Stage in Sausalito for folks to take photos. The image of Tam is from a sunset shot, a week ago with my family. This painting makes me want to go for a ride!

Plein Air... Mill Valley Paint Off 2009

Monday, July 27, 2009

"Saturday afternoon on Miller & Throckmorton", 16" x 20", o/c.

Final painting. Started at the Mill Valley Paint Off, 2009, completed in studio.

This is my painting from the Mill Valley Paint Out, 2009... after a second day in the studio. I had originally wanted to paint the scene with the street signs for "Miller" and "Throckmorton", as well as add the lip of the red awning from the Depot Cafe as a repoussoir element. I also added a woman driving a classic mint green convertible in the background, as well as the Cici Gelato bike. Cici sponsored the paint off this year, and sold gelato from Lytton Square during the judging of paintings, and I managed to capture a few shots of the bike and rider, leaving the Depot in his new, burgundy red clogs that matched the bike. I decided to go with the quirkiness that this paint off result produced, and include as many people and bikes as possible. It has a feeling of being a fun, friendly illustration, rather than a work of realism. Below is a detail of the Cici Gelato man and bike.DETAIL: Cici Gelato Bike from "Saturday afternoon in Mill Valley", 16" x 20", o/c.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Models, beside "Miller and Throckmorton Saturday";
16" x 20", o/c. (Click image to enlarge).

The man and dog standing beside my painting showed up about 10 minutes before the end of the paint out, so I asked him to stand by the clock tower, and I painted him and his dog into the scene. It was fun. Most of the people always paint the red awnings of the Depot Cafe, and the last painting here, by Scott Grabowski, won first place and the people's choice award. Mill Valley just loves those awnings.

Above: 1st Place Award to Scott Grabowski

Pam Gould, of "More Marin", the blog... also visited the event and wrote us up on her blog! Here is the first press I know of about the event: (Mouse over the images to read the artist's names)
"Paint Off in Mill Valley draws enthusastic crowd"

In the Studio Today... La Coppa Coffee; Day 2

Friday, July 24, 2009

"Ride to the Roasters 2".
La Coppa Coffee, Downtown Mill Valley, California. 16" x 20".

Painting in progress. Will feature 4 bikes in painting. See my previous post on this painting, here.

In the Studio Today...Farmstand Bike; Day 3

Thursday, July 23, 2009

"Gospel Flat Farm, Farmstand and Produce Bike" 18" x 24".

In the Studio Today...Bolinas Farm Bike; Day 2

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Work in progress... Produce stand owned by Gospel Flat Farm, as you enter the town of Bolinas, CA. Details of Bike and close up of stand, image 1 and 2 above... image 3 is the full sized canvas, 18" x 24".

In the Studio Today...Christin Coy Workshop & Mill Valley Coffee Shop

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

I started 2 paintings in one day, today! Wow...! You know you have a deadline when you start 2 good sized, detailed paintings in a day. The paintings I started today are local shops in Marin County; The red awning of the Specialty Coffee shop in downtown Mill Valley, and the Gospel Flat Farmstand as you enter Bolinas, California. I now have a total of 6 paintings for the Mill Valley show, and I have about 5 more to go. I chose some large canvases, so the paintings should fill in the Depot Cafe walls with some good negative space around them. If I have 10 new paintings, I will be delighted. If I can finish 12, that will be even better... but quality versus quantity, always. Spoken in the voice of Ellen Degeneres, as Dory in "Finding Nemo"..."Just keep painting, just keep painting, just keep painting, painting, painting...". By the way, if you've read this far, this marks my 202nd post on my blog! I reached 200 posts with out even realizing it!

"Ride to the Coffee Shop", 16" x 20", o/c.
Work in Progress... (Will detail 4 bikes in scene when complete).

Actually, the real reason for the 2 paintings in one day... I had a workshop this evening with artist, Christin Coy. It was a great session. Richard Lindenberg, who used to work for Sennelier Professional Oil Paints, was on hand to give a color mixing lesson. It was fantastic. I haven't mixed colors in a color wheel format in many years, but it was a great reminder, and I learned about "Chinese Orange", a color specifically commissioned by Cézanne. It's sort of a burnt umber, rust orange red color, but has a great transparency to it so it can be used to varnish, or when mixed with white, it is more opaque.Christin taught me to pre-stain my canvas with an acrylic color and water, to give it a warm undertone and get away from starting with the blank white of the canvas. The color I used was a warm sienna red color, which was perfect for the reds in the awning of the coffee shop.

In the Studio Today...Bolinas Farm Bike; Day #1

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

"Bolinas Farmstand & Produce Cycle" 18" x 24".

Session one on this painting, for the Mill Valley Depot show, September, 2009. This is a great farmstand in Bolinas, run by Gospel Flat Farm. They bike all the produce from farm to stand. The back seat is holding a galvanized bucket of flowers... stay tuned. I wanted to show the variety of uses of bikes in Marin for this Fall show; not just recreational road cycling and mt. biking. Click image to enlarge.

In the Studio Today...Mt. Tam Cyclist; Session #3

Monday, July 20, 2009

Detail: "Afternoon Ride on Ridgecrest" 24" x 36", o/c. Painting in progress, Day 3. Click images above to enlarge to show details of paint.

In the Studio Today... Mt. Tam Cyclist; Session #2

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Detail: "Afternoon Ride on Ridgecrest" 24" x 36", o/c. Painting in progress.

This is the second day on this painting for the Mill Valley Depot show, September 1st. I've had a postcard from MALT painter, Dana Hooper, sitting on my dresser since the May show. She paints with a palette knife which produces thick swatches of paint and a more painterly feel. For some reason, I was inspired to paint this cyclist with a knife today. More details to come, but I think I like the contrast of the foreground texture with the smoothness of the background. I used to paint more like this in college.

In the Studio Today... Mt. Tam; view of Bolinas

Saturday, July 18, 2009

"Afternnon Ride on Ridgecrest" 24" x 36", o/c. Cycling painting in progress.

This is the first day on a large painting for the Mill Valley Depot show, September 1st. I was up on Mt. Tam a few days ago, capturing reference images for some new cycling paintings. This painting will have a cyclist in the foreground, headed up Ridgecrest Blvd. towards Mt. Tam. I liked the composition, with the the layers of hills, trees, Bolinas Lagoon under the fog, and Bolinas above the fog. Stay tuned for the next couple days of painting on this one.

In the Studio Today... Elephant Mt. Cyclist Final

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

"Dwarfed by Elephant Mountain".

Platform Bridge Road near Pt. Reyes-Petaluma Road.
O/C 30" x 30", gallery wrap canvas, unframed.
Available at Mill Valley Depot show, September 1, 2009.
View painting in progress, in a previous post here.
DETAIL of above painting.

In the Studio Today... Ole's Boathouse Old Greenwich/Riverside, CT

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

"Ole's Boathouse, Riverside, Connecticut" o/c, 24" x 36". Commission.

I grew up down the road from this active boat yard, with access to Long Island Sound. I was able to spent part of my recent vacation time painting this commission. I forced myself to leave out details in the trees and water, and I like how that part of the painting turned out. It is very easy to over work a studio painting and add too many details. In this case, concentrating the details in the building, and leaving them out of background forces the viewers focus to the building, as one might paint a portrait of a face, with a misty or abstract background. Prints of this image are available. Please email me if you are interested.