New Work

“Tin Roof” oil on panel, 11×14

I’ve painted this barn before, but this time I focused on the shadow cast by the edge of the roof. It’s amazing how bright a new tin roof can be in the sun.

“Three Sixty Eight”, 5×7″, oil on panel, $75. Available at my Etsy store.

As part of my series of paintings on the Petaluma river, I’ve been looking at all the older industrial buildings downtown and along the river. I really like the abstract quality of this one, although the ventilators on one building were very difficult to capture. The title is from the numbers painted on one of the buildings.

For those of you in the area, my last outdoor show of the season is next weekend in San Carlos. Hope to see you there!

“View from the River” oil on panel, 11×14″

I think the title says it all.

“The Five”, oil on panel, 8×10, $320

This channel marker is about 4 miles downstream from the rowing club dock on the Petaluma river, and the first time I rowed all the way to “the five” it was a big deal. Now this marker is a familiar friend on my morning rows.

“Five Pilings”, oil on panel, 5×7″, $75

Did I mention I’ve been focused on painting along the Petaluma river recently? Here’s my most recent favorite view. The challenge of painting the river is that everything is so horizontal, so having the pilings and the great shapes of the distant vineyard really help break it up.

“Backlit”, oil on panel, 11×14″

I don’t usually paint back-lit subjects when painting outside, but I really liked the light coming through the bay tree. It will be an interesting place to come back to once we get some rain and everything is green again.

“Victorian Shadows” oil on panel, 8×10, $320

I’ve painted this building that sits on the Petaluma turning basin before from the other side of the river. The clouds made this one challenging because the strong shadows on the building would appear and disappear as the clouds moved across the sky.

“D Street”, oil on panel, 5×7, $75

I was painting around downtown Petaluma the other day and all day the geometry of these buildings (all that is left of the Rivertown feed store) was calling me. Towards the end of the afternoon the light was finally right, and I did this little study. I was inspired to try painting in the more industrial section of Petaluma by the paintings of Stephen Magsig who paints a lot of small paintings of industrial Detroit.

“Petaluma Tug” oil on panel, 8×10″ SOLD

“Petaluma Marsh”, oil on panel, 11×14″

When I talk about the importance of estuaries, and the impact of habitat loss in my biology class, I often use the tidal marshes of the San Francisco Bay as an example. Nearly all the the original tidal marsh in the bay was converted to bay fill, farmland or salt ponds, with the exception of the marsh along the Petaluma river. The good news is there are several projects that are restoring salt marshes in the bay, and the total acreage of tidal marsh is increasing. There’s a great walking path through part of the Petaluma marsh near the marina that extends to Shollenberger park, and that’s where I went for this painting.