American River #5 9x7

this is looking upstream from the top of the bluff near Sunrise.

new Folsom bridge 9x7

The view of the lake from across the street from my house. I had to hop the fence that protects people from falling off the bluff so I wouldn't have chain link in my way.

near Winters 9x7

These hills are near the town of Winters just west of Davis California.

glove #2 5x7

It was sort of rainy today and I didn't have time to get outside any how. I had a very busy day. It was such a relief to sit down and do this simple little painting. I used the leftover paint from my self portrait of a few days ago. I think it's sort of amusing that I used the Zorn palette to paint a Zorn palette colored thing. Back in the day, Anders Zorn did some amazing work with this palette and I'm looking forward to experimenting more with it.

Lake Natoma #6 7x7

This view is of the lake from the top of the bluff. The spot that I painted this from is about half a mile from my house.

head study #6 11x8

Seems like I do one of these about every 100 paintings or so. I like this one. I'm thinking about entering it in the American Artist's self portrait competition. There's some awfully nice stuff entered so far.

Rattlesnake Bar #3 7x7

Armed with my new annual state parks pass I headed back down to the lake. The colors are getting quite bright. The saturated greens of the new grass and leaves make the red dirt look even redder.

American River #4 9x7

This is the American River just below No Hands Bridge in Auburn.

white house 7x7

This house is next to my sister's place in midtown. I like how the bright sun spilled across all these planes.

lifeguard house 7x7

There were a few of these lifeguard stations being stored in a field by Stinson Beach. I liked their color.

Stinson Beach 9x7

A beautiful day at the beach. Stinson is a couple of hours from our house.
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figure study 8x11

I went down to Terry Miura's studio for an open figure painting session tonight. I had been planning on going for a while but only just got around to it. I had a great time. I haven't painted a from a model like this since I was in college. The other artists were very welcoming and I'm really looking forward to the next session. For me, painting has been a pretty solitary endeavor. It was great fun to be doing it with a roomful of like minded individuals for a change. Thanks Terry (and every one else I met tonight)! This photo has quite a bit of glare. If I can take a better one tomorrow, I'll replace this.

powerhouse 7x7

This is the PG&E powerhouse on Dry Creek Road.

barn study 8.5x5

I didn't make it outside today but I did do this little barn study as a demo in class. I was showing some kids Terry Miura's site and showing some of the cool things that I learned at his workshop a couple of months ago. The students noticed that Terry had put barns in a bunch of his paintings and that was it. I had to put a barn in the demo. Terry makes it look a lot easier than it really is. His barns look really natural, like they just belong there. Oh well, at least mine got my kids off my back. I think the obvious solution to improving this is to go out and find a real red barn and do a few hundred from direct observation. Come to think of it, my mom has a red barn at her place in Weimar. I'll have to pay her a visit!

Sierra view 7x7

This is the view looking east from just above Forresthill.
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Rainbow Bridge 7x9

This is the Rainbow Bridge in Folsom. I rode my bicycle from my house paint this. Its about a mile and a half away. There are quite a few good vantage points for painting this so I will definitely be doing it again. It was clear and very windy today. Nice conditions for painting.
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silo #3 7x7

This is the same silo that I've painted before. This time I'm on the West Sac side of the river. My wife doesn't really care for these silo paintings. They're a little too industrial for her taste. It's not their industrial-ness that I find interesting. I'm itching to get to the mountains, Yosemite is about three and a half hours away. I want to paint some monoliths and this is the most monolithic thing we have in Sacramento. Painting its north face today I was fantasizing about painting the north face of Sentinel Rock!

Loomis 7x7

There was a district wide in service today at Del Oro High School. At lunch I went out behind their baseball diamond and painted the view looking south.

Lake Natoma #5 9x7

I rode my bike out to the lake to paint this one today. I'm starting to like painting these digger pines. There are many of them in this area and I think they kind of get a bad rap because they aren't really "pretty". I like them because they are so individualistic.

gravel bar 9x7

This is just below the Ponderosa Bridge. I like the moody light in this one. I just about got rained on.

No Hands Bridge #5 9x7

One again, No Hands Bridge. It actually has a hand rail now. I don't think it adds much to it, aesthetically speaking, so I don't paint it.
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tree study 4.5x7

I didn't get a chance to get outside today. Daylight saving time messed up my circadian rhythm, plus it was dark this morning. This is a little painting demo I did for some students from memory.
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American River #3 9x7

This is just below Folsom Dam and Folsom Prison. It's pretty loose. I was painting fast because I got a late start and the sun was going down. It's probably a good thing for me to have a cut off time. It keeps me from overworking things. I'm pretty happy with this one.
With the advent of daylight saving I now have more time to paint in the afternoon after school but no opportunity to paint in the morning before school. For the next few weeks it'll be too dark.

barge canal 9x7

This is the drawbridge over the barge canal in West Sacramento.

forbay #2 7x7

I got up early again today and painted this before school. I really enjoy the morning sun. This worked out well because it became sort of overcast later in the afternoon.

Mt. Shasta #2 9x7

This is essentially the same view of Shasta although it is from a different photograph. I used a little more muted palette on this one. It's been a little overcast lately so I haven't been getting outside to paint. Tomorrow should be sunny. This one is also on glue sized paper.
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Mt. Shasta 8x6

I did this painting in the classroom from a black and white photo on a piece of glue primed paper as a demo for a few of my students. The idea was to keep the shapes pretty general but to mix the colors accurately enough to create a sense of depth and atmosphere. I like how it turned out. I'm looking forward to getting up to Shasta in person later this year to do some painting. It's a very beautiful place. I climbed it seven years ago and really enjoyed that experience.
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Coloma Hills 9x7

These hills are out near Coloma. The sun was right at my back which made the lighting a bit flat. It was an interesting challenge I'd like to try again some time.

Folsom lake #4 9x7

This is the view of Folsome lake from Mo court. It's a little down the hill from where I painted the last couple of lake scenes. I like the empty roads in this one.
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American River #2 7x7

This is the American river right at Folsom. It's looking upstream from right above the Rainbow Bridge. The rock just right of center is called "Big Tit" by all the neighborhood kids. They jump off of it in the summer time.
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silo #2 7x7

It was a beautiful day, sunny and clear, a real pleasure to be outside painting.