Peaceful Thursday

Here is a painting I finished today. I'm enjoying painting rundown houses and shacks these days. I had this day to myself, with the wife and kids heading to the coast. Just a quiet house and my easel. Although I think it would drive me crazy if I had it this way all the time, today it was just what I needed.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

I've been neglecting my blog lately, sorry. Here is a painting I finished recently, entitled "The Red Bench". It's a great spot that I used to jog past when I worked in north Portland. This one hangs in the Ryan Gallery in Lincoln City. I was back in the studio today as a nice Father's day present, as I've been really busy with work and kid's sports lately. Looks like Monday and Tuesday I'll get some time in there as well.

Gallery Story

Here's a story about a quick gallery sale I made a few years back. My work had been accepted by the Ryan Gallery in Lincoln City, so I decided to take the family to the coast and drop my paintings off in person. Since the gallery is right on Highway 101, the first thing I did upon arriving in town was unload my work, then we had the rest of the weekend to play in the surf. On the second day, I realized I had forgotten to get a signature on a document. Upon arriving back at the gallery, I was informed that the above piece, the "Red Door" had sold. It hadn't even graced the gallery walls yet! Needless to say, this made our trip that much better.

Next time you're in Lincoln City, stop in and say "hi" to Victoria and Emily over there, they're truly great people to know!

Back in Town

I recently returned from a business trip to the west coast, and am hoping to get back in the studio on Thursday and Friday. These business trips are really what allow me to spend so many days in the studio, but the travel and the hours are taking their toll. It nearly takes me a week to recover from them and get my head back in the game.

Hopefully I'll have some great things to show here at week's end, but in the meantime here is a painting I did of my favorite mountain, entitled "Day's End".

Hey there.

You actually made it! Thank you so much, isn't it shameful that I had to sink to that level to get you here? Since you are here, this is a preview of a painting I've been working on for a couple of months now. It's a complete leap outside my comfort zone to paint even a single figure in a painting, let alone 7! I'm pretty happy with it, and yes I do have to give credit once again to my hero, Edward Hopper. This was a delightful scene witnessed in Baltimore's Little Italy, which is fantastic if you ever get a chance to go. If you do, you absolutely must get a cannoli at Vacarro's, it will forever change you.

Finally!

This is the painting that I was beginning when I first started this blog. My intention was to photograph it and blog about it as I was working diligently away at it. Well, I lost interest in it (surprise!) and nearly painted over/threw it out the window a number of times. The thing that kept me going was how much time I had invested in it. Needless to say, I am happy that I persevered, if for nothing else than the tree in the foreground that I'm very happy with.

If you're interested, you can dig back through my previous posts to see some of the in-progress photos and the original concept sketch.

Finished!

I finished one of the larger pieces I've been laboring over today, a spot just north of the Maryland/Delaware border on the Atlantic Ocean. This one ended up going in a very Impressionistic direction for a couple of reasons. First, the path really lent itself to being painted that way, due to the all of the footprints in the sand. Also, my surface became a major challenge as I was finishing, it must have gotten water on it somehow. I was actually ready to wipe it down at one point, but had spent too much time on it to throw in the towel. Glad I didn't give up!