“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.
Petaluma Marsh
September 23rd, 2008Painting at sunrise
September 22nd, 2008
“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.
Green Dish
September 19th, 2008
“Green Dish”, oil on panel, 5×7, $75. Available at my Etsy Store
Here’s the last of the still lives for now. After several days of overcast weather, we had some sun today and I took advantage of the weather to do some painting outside. I’ll be sharing them as they dry. I’m putting some new works in the gallery next week. If you’re in the area, the opening reception for the new show is next Saturday, September 27th from 4pm until we run out of food and wine.
Sungold
September 14th, 2008
“Sungold”, oil on panel, 5×7, $75
Deer Island
September 13th, 2008
“Deer Island” oil on panel, 5×7 $75
I painted this last week when the temperatures were over 100. I wanted to explore Deer Island in Marin, and ended up hiking over an hour to wind up painting pretty much where I started. Highlight of the walk was the unexpected view of a red-breasted sapsucker. Low point was the poison oak I picked up when i was sitting in the shade thinking about what to paint.
Tomatoes
September 11th, 2008
“One Two Three”, oil on panel, 5×7, $75 available at my Etsy Store
Right now our tomato plants are producing like crazy, and my favorite variety are the little orange cherry tomatoes called “sungold”, so I did a couple still lives with them. I really liked the contrast of the orange fruits with the blue shadows in the bowl.
Back to painting
September 10th, 2008
“Side Channel” 5×7, oil on panel, $75
I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Petaluma river. It’s not technically a river, but a tidal slough that’s an extension of the San Francisco Bay. This is a quick study of some of the marshes alongside the river on a very overcast day.
Winding Trail
August 28th, 2008
“Winding Trail”, oil on panel, 11×14
Back from Bodega
August 26th, 2008
“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.
Painting at sunset
August 22nd, 2008
“Hay Field” 5×7″, oil on panel, $75
After I finished this painting, “Sunset at Crane Ranch”, I turned 90 degrees and saw an amazing sunset in progress. I had enough paint on my palette left over that I whipped out a little panel and painted stack of hay bales across the street. Usually I take the time to do a little sketch and think about composition, but I didn’t really have time for that with this painting. It was just so much fun to paint with such vivid orange and purples.
I’m all packed up now for the show at Bodega this weekend. I was looking over the list of bands and wineries participating, and I’m sorry I’ll be sitting the booth the whole time. It looks like it’s going to be fun!