Sugarloaf Key Leisure-SOLD

Threat over Shark Key- 9x12

SOLD

Today's been kinda stormy here in the florida Keys, with a few minutes of sunshine in-between. hot and sticky of course. it is swimming distance from Cuba after all.

Did Sugarloaf Key Leisure this morning in my friend Bob's backyard. i cant resist a palm swaying to tropical breezes. he was upstairs putting the finishing touches on a sunrise painting. i showed a huge cloud bank over the keys silohuetted agains a beautiful magenta/coral sky. he nailed it, when he was finished i had to have it. its gonna look great on my wall at the house!

Later that day a storm popped up off the Atlantic and i had to paint it. it was magnificent, threatening to rain me out or blow me away. the easel was rocking a little from the gusts. the water took on a muted turquoise glow below the blue gray swirls. just too cool. this was done fast for obvious reasons. and as always i seem to like my hurried paintings because i dont load them down with unnecessary detail or (a new term ive come up with) "brush antics" LOL

Hope youre enjoying this taste of the tropics as much as i am being here doing them. Probably not! *)

Beach Boy like!

Clouds over the Keys-6x6-SOLD

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Sugarloaf Key Abode-6x6

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Sorry all... i cant write much tonite. its after 12 pm and i'm bushed from all the travel. i'll just say that i made the grueling 18 hour trip down to Key West and without much trouble. Old Bessie (my '93 toyota) has a funny noise or two she didnt have when we left and i got lost in downtown Miami after midnight last night. i kept thinking "i hope Horatio Cane finds the punks who are gonna kill me tonite" but i found where i made the wrong turn and got the heck outta there. its a scary place for a beach bum after midnite. anyway i painted these two today, with my new friends Bob Wilson and his charming wife Sharman. we talked painting all day and did a few when the rains cleared out. then we watched painting DVD's. what a great day wearing flip flops, surfing baggies and hanging out with cool people. dont tell my wife about any of this... she thinks i suffer for my art. thats my story and i'm sticking to it!!!

we're going into Key West tomorrow to paint. i'll post em if theyre any good.

Upcoming Palms-6x6

Getting my bags packed for the painting trip to the keys. Last night i wanted to brush up on my palm tree skills. those buggers are hard to get right and i dont get alot of practice on em up here in NC. we do have them but theyre not coconut palms like in florida. you have to keep them loosey goosey or they dont look right. theyre almost always swaying in the wind so the leaves have to look windswept.

this one is from a reference shot i took last year. starting to realize that i need to take more photos of stuff i want to paint instead of thinking i have to paint them all the time. sometimes youre pushed for time or the crowds are too big, or theres no place to set up. all kinds of things can make painting difficult if not impossible sometimes. i can always paint it next winter from a photo right?

the trip starts tomorrow and i'll post paintings daily from the road. i'll even ship them from the road when theyre dry enough to mail.

Precarious Cottage- 6x6-SOLD

Did this one from a reference photo and the little plein air study i did like it when i was out on the Outer Banks a few weeks ago. i really like how this one came out. direct brushwork, good color harmony and artistic license on the rickety old roof make this one of my favorites from out there.

Off 5th St. - 8x10

Going to a gallery soon. email me with title in the subject line if you want to purchase this one.

Here's my new ad in the April issue of American Art Collector. on shelves around 3/20/09

Tug on the Cape Fear-SOLD

Todays workshop in Morehead City went smooth as glass. i was teaching the cape cod underpainting technique where all the "sun shapes" get warm colors straight out of the tube and all the "shadow shapes" get cool pure color right out of the tube. then through a series of changes you transform it into the realistic color but keeping a fantastic feeling of light like monet and william merrit chase used to get.

todays painting of the tug comes from a reference photo i took from a tugboat trip i was invited on. i was painting down on the docks one day and one of the tug captains asked me if i wanted to ride along with him on some jobs. i was like "yeah"! so i took a few photos from the tug and this is one of the shots. the other tug on the job was running along parallel with us going to the job, turning a huge cargo ship around and pulling it up to the river mouth, out to the ocean. it was soooo cool. seeing this painting brings back all those great memories.
thats one of the cool things about being a plein air painter. you run into all kinds of cool people and situations. its "living on the edge" at its best!

Blue Sliver-7x5-$50

$8 s/h
to purchase pay instantly by clicking the "buy now" button below with PayPal or credit cards. or you can be the first to email me saying you want it.

Really wanted to do a warm cozy interior today. its chilly and damp outside and i hung around the studio all day today.

i did all but the finer details with the painting upside down! i flipped the reference photo upside down and the canvas too. this way is fun to paint because all you see is shapes and not couches, pillows, etc. then when youre finished you flip it right side up again and see what that triangle was, what that dull orange shape was.
a pillow! who knew.
the painting stays loose this way and is great training for seeing like a painter has to to see. we want to see abstract shapes of a certain value, color and saturation. if it looks like what its supposed to-- thats the cherry on top!

Wanchese Abode-12x16-$200

Unframed
Shipping free!
to purchase click the "buy now" button below to pay instantly with PayPal or credit card or be the first to email me

This is a painting from my Studio Cleanout Sale from the last couple of months. This Wanchese painting needs a good home and at this price, it's a steal. this size retails in my galleries for nearly $500 framed.

Nags Head Abode- 8x10

SOLD

Leisure Boat-SOLD

These small ones are fun because there's no room on the canvas to get worried about detail. just concentrating on the color notes (the DNA of the shape) its the color, value, and saturation factor. if you put them in there right and the shapes are drawn right it'll look like something (hopefully at least)

Perched on the Dune- 8x8

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This ones a quickie done from my cab. i love this one strip of Topsail Island. the cottages have character and sit squarely on the dune, tempting the Atlantic to topple them. it wont be long now before beach umbrellas, suntan oil and tourists start taking over the deserted beach. i can get close to these cottages, and paint without being harrassed, until then.

Swan Quarter Shrimper-SOLD

OK. i think i have the need to paint figures out of my head. the warm weather we're experiencing here in coastal NC has driven me out of the studio and into the local marina's. Yooohooo! Boats, boats and more boats. until key west next week anyway.

Dont forget that this weekend is the Cape Cod Underpainting workshop i'm holding in Morehead City/ Atlantic Beach area. Starts at 9 and we'll all meet in the Carolina Artist Studio Gallery parking lot at 9 a.m. If its nice we'll paint outside and if its nasty out we'll be in their classroom. drop me an email if you'd like to attend. details are over on the right sidebar.

Two Friends in the Surf-8x6-SOLD

Timeless2-6x6-SOLD

More from this Timeless series i'm stuck on. its my way of remaining free. let me explain---

something that happens to alot (not all) of us artists. we paint a certain thing we like and folks love em and buy em like mad. then we paint something we like and you cant give them away. the temptation is to do more of the ones you know will sell, especially when you eat (or dont) off them. i mean who wants to paint something you know might just be in our "personal collection" indefinately LOL

but to remain what i call "independent" i keep painting ones that might remain unsold. its very liberating. if we only painted ones we thought would sell, we'd go mad. might even cut our ear off or something!

Light and Dark Waterfront- 8x10

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This is the Morehead City waterfront. everybody who's ever been down there knows Capt Bills restaurant.

i like the way the building throws that heavy shadow down on the red brick sidewalk. and where else can you see a lighthouse behind a restaurant like this.

Sitting on the Edge-SOLD

One of the iconic nags head cottages sitting right on the edge of the ocean. i did this one from a study i did while out there last week. sort of looks like the one i stayed in. love the way these old cottages lean and the roofs sag just a bit. real personality compared to the McMansions they build now.

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Afternoon Glow- 8x10

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Done from the cab of my truck on a cold day in columbia, n.c. a small town on the way to nags head.

Yellow Blanket-SOLD

you can tell what i have on my mind now that we eased into the 60's. the beach silly LOL
this is from one i did last year and i loved the way the light hit the whole top of her body. i pumped up the volume on the yellow beach blanket for fun.

Done till Morning-9x12

Going to a gallery soon.

Timeless3-8x6-SOLD

Having a ball painting these lovely white, billowy dresses. theyre the perfect foil for the human form. and its fun to see how colorful i can be in the shadows.

in my mind, this series i'm working on has a classic california impressionist style from the 30's. i start off wanting to do a really simple, clean "shapey" painting and the repressed west coast impressionist from the 30's in me takes over and i start putting lots of shapes in shapes and dreamy lavenders, pinks, dreamy light, etc typical of that time period.

Ballerina Bride-6x6-SOLD

Working on a series of brides. i love the way their dresses are so full of light and the way they flow making great shapes that are large compared to their torso shapes.

Evening Clouds- 30x40

SOLD

This one just went to City Art in Greenville. if you're interested give them a shout. i took five new paintings to them yesterday.

Clouds Over Bethel-SOLD

A demo piece for this past week's workshop showing how to make all the first shapes very simply and get the color notes right before worrying about anything else. i painted it from a larger piece done plein air and ended up liking this one better than the original.

Fiery Morning-6x8-SOLD

today's the last day of the workshop and i've got to give a shout out to the workshop sponsor Tracy Bell (tracybell.blogspot.com) who did a great job of keeping up with all the business type stuff that needs doing like ordering lunches for everyone, registering everybody, keeping up with painting sales, on and on.
the other shout out is to Sis Hall who opened this beautiful beach cottage to us for the week to paint in. you couldnt ask for a sweeter hostess. and thanks to all that came and took the workshop. everybody left with the tools needed to paint better paintings.
another workshop is planned for april. if youre interested in taking this three day class email me to see if there's any room.

For the Birds-SOLD

Here's a quick one done right outside the beachhouse where we're on day four of the nags head workshop. i liked the way the birdhouses were lit up against that lavender sky. it only lasted a few minutes and BOOM it was gone! these lighting effects are fleeting and youve got to work fast.

Rick Nilson, from out here in Kill Devil Hills, joined us to paint today. google his name and blogspot to get over to his blog. He did a sketch of a beach cottage from memory of something we painted today.

Tracy Bell (who put the workshop together) also has a nice blog. google her name and blogspot to get over to hers as well!

Sis' Wine and Fruit-7x5-$50

$8 s/h
to purchase- be the first to email me or click the "buy now" button below to pay instantly with a credit card PayPal

Peggi Ann's Still Life- 6x8

SOLD

Both of these were demo's during the weeklong workshop i'm teaching on the Outer Banks. it was kind of warm outside first thing this morning so i couldnt resist taking a plate, mug and some fruit in the sun and paint. i showed them how to paint warm colors on all the "Light shapes" (all those surfaces getting light). then you paint cool darks on all your "shadow shapes".

you get such a feeling of light when you do it this way.

if you'd like to learn how to do this technique too, sign up for my Cape Cod Underpainting workshop in Atlantic Beach. the date's on the right side bar. Email me if youre interested and want to sign up.

Nags Head Sunrise-6x8-SOLD

OK let me brag a minute :D

this is the view i saw when i rolled over in the bed this morning! the beach cottage that i'm staying in and that we're holding our workshop in sits right on the ocean and feels like you can reach out and touch the water. it's absolutely beautiful.

i wanted to sleep in just a little but HAD to get up and paint this and as soon as i got it blocked in it was gone. just did get the colors and feel down, before it went all glary and the sun was up over that big cloud in front and it was gone.

mixed the colors (3-4 light values and 3-4 dark values) and furiously tried to get the scene down.

today in class i showed how any color imaginable can be mixed from red, yellow, blue and white. at the end of the day the ladies were saying they didnt need the forty colors they had in bags resembling suitcases. now they can carry 4-6 colors and make any color imaginable. its liberating for sure!

Here's the view off the cottage's back deck. there's maybe fifty feet of sand and then the waters edge. very cool during good weather but very precarious during hurricane season or Nor'easters, when i'm sure the water runs right up to the cottage's footing. if that happens enough the cottage tumbles into that pretty blue water you see there

is this a sweet place or what?

Dancing Shadows-SOLD

Didnt paint today. this ones from Sunday. a clear chilly day from nags head on the Outer Banks.

today was the first of a weeklong workshop. i had all the students painting in monochrome color just learning to see everything in five values. much easier than trying to paint the hundreds of values the eye actually can see. we painted cubes i made out of construction paper and lit up on one side with photo flood lights. then they tried to describe the still life cube using around five values. it simplified the painting process and the cubes looked like cubes sitting on a table. i know it doesnt sound challenging..... but you ought to try it. guaranteed to make you see and paint better. whats more important? seeing or painting? definately seeing!

tomorrow we will break out the colors now that they know how to see value.