New Work

“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.

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

“Sunset at the Railroad Bridge”, oil on panel, 8×10, $310

I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Petaluma river over the last few months rowing with the North Bay Rowing Club. It’s been really interesting and inspiring seeing the river and surrounding landscape from a different perspective. So I got myself out of bed really early the other day and set up on the bank above the railroad bridge near the marina, and painted the sunrise.

“Duncans Landing” oil on panel, 8×10
Thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth in Bodega. It was great meeting so many nice folks. In talking about my paintings I realized I hadn’t shared one of the paintings from my trip to Bodega Bay. I started this painting because I liked the strip of fog off in the distance (not to mention the colors of the ice plant and water). So I took my time getting the right spot and mixing up some colors, and the minute I started painting, the fog moved in and suddenly everything was shades of gray. Painters are always talking about getting the values right, which means representing the relative lightness or darkness of the colors correctly. So I went ahead and painted the values I saw, using the colors I’d already mixed, and it worked!

This is what I saw by the time I stopped painting.

“Bodega Reflections” oil on panel, 8×10, SOLD

I think this is my favorite painting from our trip to Bodega Bay. The theme of the trip was “coping with changing conditions” and this painting was no exception. Just as I started working on this one the wind that had been creating these beautiful ripples in the water disappeared, and the seagull that had been calming sitting on the piling flew off. Lucky for me, I’d put in those reflected shapes first, but the seagull was a lost cause.

“Red Number 8″, oil on panel, 8×10, $320

Here’s another from Bodega Bay. When I got home the water looked improbably blue, so I checked a reference photo I snapped of the scene, and my camera seems to agree with me. Must have been sunny at the coast! Speaking of the Sonoma coast, I have another show coming up. The Bodega Seafood, Art and Wine festival is a little more than a week away, August 23-24. Drop on by if you’re in the area and enjoy some great food and music.