SAN FRANCISCO PAINTOUT

"WORK IN PROGRESS" (16 x12 oil on canvas) Ref Photo

I hope Bill Guffey will accept this unfinished piece for his Virtual Paintout blog. I thought the Columbia Building would make a good painting with the complimentry colors of green and red. I am recycling an old painting hence the bull looks like he is standing on the light pole. I used a Sharpie and ball point pen to make the drawing. I then use a fixative to ensure the drawing does not bleed into the oil paint. The only paint so far is on the first floor of the building and the two poles. The rest of the color is remnants of the old painting. I will post images as I progress with this painting.

CORSICA PAINTOUT

Mom & Junior (8 x 10 Oil on canvas panel) Ref Photo

This month Bill Guffey has selected Corsica for his VIRTUAL PAINTOUT Blog. I spent most of my time virtual hiking around this beautiful island. The snow covered mountains in Northern Corsica are spectacular. If you scan to the left in my reference photo and look due west you will see what I thought was the best view of these mountains. I did this sketch of the cows with the intent of doing a larger painting of the mountains. I still may paint the mountain scene. I had great plans to paint the cows Alla Prima, but fell short of this goal. It was a noble try and will keep trying this technique on small sketches.

MEXICO CITY PAINTOUT

"RECYCLING" (9 x 12 oil on canvas) Reference Photo

This image is at the north end of 10, Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico City. I made a Graphite Sketch and submitted it to Bill Guffey's Virtual Paintout blog. Then after hours of wandering through the city and tagging several potential painting locations, I came back to this same image. There was quite a bit of clutter behind the horse and cart which was removed to improve the composition.

BONSAI CLUB

NIPOMO BARN (5x7 oil on Masonite)
I have been a member of the Santa Maria Bonsai Club for years, and write our club's Blog. For our end of year party we have a Santa Maria style barbecue, a bonsai demonstration, and gift exchange. For the last several years I have created a small oil painting as my gift. I like to include an interesting tree in the composition. I found this great tree framing an old barn just south of Nipomo Ca.

NOVA SCOTIA PAINTOUT

Peggy's Cove (11 x 14 Oil on canvas panel)
This is my Nova Scotia painting for Bill Guffey's Virtual Painout Blog. Peggy's Cove is a terrific painting location with weather boat docks, storage sheds, crab traps, and net floats. There is a light house just up the road. My painting location was 130 Peggys Point Rd, Halifax (sorry I can't load the hyperlink, for some reason when i do it takes you to "'Peggy Texas").
I am not quite finished with this one, the foreground needs some work. The dark water area looks more like mud at the moment. It needs some submerged rocks to give it depth. Also I am not happy with the big shed it doesn't look much like wood shingles, But I am not sure how to make it look right. Any suggestions?
"HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL"

BELFAST PAINTOUT

Farm Road (11 x 14 Oil on canvas panel)

This is my Belfast paintng for Bill Guffey's Virtual Paintout site.

I enjoyed hiking around Larne, Northern Ireland. Everything is so lush and green. I almost missed this image at 109 Deerpark Rd. It must have been late in the day because the image was very dark [Ref: Photo]. After bringing up the brightness on the monitor I discovered a potential plein air painting site, There is good composition with a nice light/Dark pattern. The old farm machinery in the foreground adds interest .

LISBON PAINTOUT

Lisbon Laundry (9 x 12 Oil on canvas panel)

This is my Lisbon painting for Bill Guffey's Virtual Paintout site. This alley can be found by going to [69 Campo de Santa Clara, Lisbon] on the Google Map, or just CLICK HERE. This is an interesting find. I was looking at sites around "Panteao Nacional", and set the yellow guy down at 63 Campo de Santa Clara. I moved two clicks toward the Panteao and suddenly was transported into this alley just east of Campo although the map shows me to still be on Campo.

I loved the multiple colors of the wall, and the tall double doors. The hanging laundry brings in some additional color to the painting. The perspective was changed so that you are looking more toward the wall as opposed to looking down the alley. Can you find a person in this painting? It's like the picture from our childhood, where you had to find the hidden objects.

Their are two sketches form this Virtual Paintout on my Sketch Blog PHIL'S SKETCHES.

HAPPY CLIENT

My client Tracee accepting her new painting.

BORA BORA

I just completed this commissioned painting. As usual I start with a red under painting, and then sketch in details as needed. In this case the mountains and canoe were sketched in to ensure they are correctly drawn.


These two objects are now painted in.

Now the sky and water have been painted in. The general shape of the clouds with the lightest lights have been defined. The general color tones for the water have been laid in.

Bora Bora (24 x 36 Oil on stretched canvas)

This is the finished painting. It is the largest painting I have ever done and the task was somewhat intimidating. I am pleased with the results and will now feel more confident with larger paintings.

LONDON PAINTOUT

Back to School (12 x 9 oil on canvas panel)

This is my London painting for Bill Guffey's Virtual Paintout site. This is the York Bridge in Regent's Park, Paddington, England. CLICK HERE to see the Google Map reference photo. I painted most of this one loosely as though it was a plein air painting. I did however photo the image so I could draw some grid lines to aid in getting an accurate drawing of the boy.