The Piper's Sunflower

The Piper's Sunflower

This painting had a different approach than usual. It is 11" x 14" oil on canvas and the subject is the popular sunflower. This one I would sit and look at waiting at my son's bagpipe lesson and just love this oversized drooping seed head with side lighting late in the day. What was different was the raw sienna underpainting and then the rub-out with the cloth. The video link below shows the process. I did use real turpentine, hence the gloves, plus the window was open and fans running to avoid the fumes. The underpainting was quite nice, especially where the rubbed out portions were because the pigment gets caught in the canvas texture. For medium I used Liquin's Impasto for fun which gets the paint fluffy like butter and sugar when you're making chocolate chip cookie dough, and adds some final texture. The blue background is the thickest I've made in quite a while.

Seems everyone has to make a sunflower painting at least once. 

Roses

Roses

A 12"x16" oil on canvas to record these pretty flowers.

These are most of the second bloom from the Jackson and Perkins roses I planted this spring.  The white roses are "Moondance" and the pink ones are "April in Paris" which are much more rose perfumed.    In referencing old rose paintings from Franz Bischoff, it looks like he planted different curling varieties, some looked like David Austen roses, others were shaped like "Pope John Paul" where the petals make an angular fold.  Bischoff's ceramics (must see these!) are drippingly gorgeous and brought back memories of my mother's china dish painting and kiln, which she had been taught to do years ago in the South.

Here is

Golden Gate Bridge

 

I'm going to let this one sit and dry for a bit.  This is a 16"x20" oil on canvas.  I was out in the fog this past weekend both Saturday and Sunday watching a soccer tournament.  It was quite windy and I really could not stay long and wait for the fog to lift, so I ended up climbing over a strange building which the Presidio probably used to store ammo in and looked to have the footprint of a large cannon with all the bolts still sticking up in a circle.  The roof was made of concrete and since there wasn't a sign indicating it was condemned, I climbed over it and got this view.  Thinking how marvelous to have such a close view, I didn't stop to think how really bad my reference photos would turn out or that the bridge's struts would require the loathesome liner brush and a maul stick to paint.  And everything is dried out and dead, so all the foreground foliage had to be imagined alive and green in spring.  There are two paintings here:  the 'International Orange' bridge against the mauve and peachy hills with the cool water and the foreground painting of the cool gray-blue and red (pickle weed it looks like) scrub brush in the foreground.  Together it's a lot to take in, but I suppose that reflects the dynamism of San Francisco!  Imagine a clanging trolley car, or the fog horn, and crowds of people walking and driving across this icon. 

White Lily and Bright Lily

Bright Lily

White Lily

Lilies



 

 

A couple of years ago I tried planting Oriental lily bulbs in my garden and had pretty good (meaning easy to grow) success with them.  I have about 5 varieties now which bloom over a three month period and I regularly go out to photograph them at different times of the day.  The "White Lily" had a nice back lighting effect in the later afternoon and the "Bright Lily" really has the bold color notched up with a vibrant background.

Green Wave

 

This is a second painting of what will be a series of 4 in 16" x 20" oil on canvas of the same area near Davenport, CA.  Each painting has a similar color scheme but something different is attended to.  This painting is about the green wave and having a close up large rock which is like a curtain to look past while standing on just dry sand which is darker than sand further up the beach. 

My reference photos of this beach area leave out the pretty drift wood fire one couple had lit to sit by and the other little groups out to watch the sun go down and the high tide and waves roll in.  In the evening there are sometimes foggy sections which cover the beaches and then some open sections with good light and sunset, these move from day to day so it is almost like finding a good fishing spot to find a good sunset and lighting.   

Quiet Cove South of Davenport, CA

A Quiet Cove South of Davenport, CA

South of Davenport, CA there is a cove which was lightly foggy and nearing sunset which made the light quite soft.  There are 3 more paintings I want to make from this same area at the same time in the evening, one is already started.  Enjoy!