"Sierra Boat House" - SOLD

6x8" oil on hardboard

I did this painting last night from an image taken over the weekend. There was still a lot of snow on the ground and more was on the way. Very unusual for June. We had beautiful weather though, very sunny and warm.

"Chickens" - SOLD

6x6" oil on Gessobord

If you find yourself in San Francisco between July 13th - August 7th be sure to stop in at the Studio Gallery on Polk Street. The show is called "Mischief - Characters, critters and comics". The reception is on Sunday July 17th 2-6pm. My contribution this year will be feathered critters.

I'm off to the mountains! I should be posting again by Wednesday. Thanks so much for all the kind comments yesterday.

"Three Little Figs" - SOLD

6x6" oil on Gessobord

Figs are hard to paint! That's all I'm gonna say about this one. I may be taking some time off from posting any new work. I've got some framing to do and I've got to get my life back in order. I've been posting for almost six months straight and it's taking its toll. My backyard looks like a field of wheat. I'm contemplating mowing some crop circles. My house is totally disorganized and desperately needs some exterior paint. The list is long, believe me. I need a break. Merci and I are heading to the mountains for a few days and I'm leaving my paints at home.

"Old BSA"

12x12" oil on masonite

Here we have an old BSA motorcycle parked in the Mission District of San Francisco.

"Streetcar"

12x12" oil on masonite

Well here's the streetcar I mentioned in an earlier post. My favorite way to travel down Market Street.

"Down Escalator"

12x12" oil on masonite

I had to work for this one. I painted this from an image taken at the Gap on Market Street. There were several times early on when I didn't think it was going to work. I just kept going though, and somewhere in the process it sort of worked out.

"Bus and Taxi"

12x12" oil on masonite

Merci and I went back to the MOMA on Sunday since we didn't have time to check out the art library last weekend. The library is a fun place to relax and rest your legs, the cafe is pretty nice for that too. We mostly looked at photography books. Diane Arbus, William Eggelston and Henry Wessel. I'd never heard of Wessel before, but really liked some of his work. We took the streetcar down Market street which was fun. SF has done a beautiful job restoring a bunch of vintage European and American streetcars. I may just have to paint one.

"Seaside Inn"

12x12" oil on masonite

"Page Street Roses"

12x12" oil on masonite

"Red Rover"

12x12" oil on masonite

"Rowboat Reflection"

12x12" oil on masonite

"No Fences" - SOLD

12x12" oil on masonite

"Loading Dock"

12x12" oil on masonite

Merci and I went to the MOMA on Saturday and checked out the Stein Collection. Lots of Matisse and Picasso. I left feeling inspired to paint bigger and more expressively. I cut up a sheet of masonite into 12x12" panels and coated em with two coats of gesso. I plan to continue my daily work in this size range and see how it goes.

"House on Hillside"

5x6" oil on hardboard

Sometimes you've got to fire up the saw. That's exactly what I did with this painting. It was originally an 8x6" panel. I uploaded it on to Etsy, where the image is cropped for thumbnail display purposes. I was humbled by the fact that the automatic Etsy cropping actually improved the painting. I immediately took the wet painting out to the chop saw. You may notice some sawdust in the paint. You may also notice raindrops, it started raining when I was photographing it. I'm pretty sure I successfully painted out the mark from where it hit my big toe when a strong breeze blew it off the stand.

"Port Clyde Village"

6x6" oil on Gessobord

"Swimmer" - SOLD

6x6" oil on Gessobord

I painted this in the spirit of exploring challenging subject matter. I like that the water creates distortions in the figure, especially the legs which are further from the surface. This was certainly an exercise in simplification and pushing the abstract .

"Old Pickup" - SOLD

6x6" oil on Gessobord