Catch Up Time

 I am so far behind with my posts. It's been been a very busy time for the visual arts here in the Tri-Valley.  I currently have paintings in six exhibits!

Here are my more recent pieces.

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Exciting Exhibition

 I have these two pieces in the Grand Opening exhibit at Latte da Vinci in Pleasanton CA. The reception is this Saturday, August 16, 4:00-8:00.

Occasionally I am 'driven to abstraction', and these are part of that series. Both are mixed water media on Yupo.

'Moving On', 16x7, and 'Midsummer's Eve', 7x17.

New!

 I painted these interesting mushrooms for my dear daughter-in-law Jenise Robbins Batchelder's birthday. She & I both thought the photo (see below) I took of them looked like flower blooms.

'Shroom Bloom', 8x8 watercolor on paper.

Art update

I've been rather remiss in posting, and much has happened recently. 

My 'Prickly Power' painting of a prickly pear cactus received SILVER (1st place) honors at the Alameda County Fair Art Exhibition. 

'Silently Slipping Away' and 'Death by Plastic' were juried into the Fragile Earth: A Call to Action exhibition at the Bankhead Art Gallery in Livermore.

And I completed four new paintings that are off to the framer now. See below

Prickly Power, watercolor 

Death by Plastic, mixed media on panel

Silently Slipping Away, mixed media on panel 

 

Vintner's View, 20x20 watercolor on Yupo 

Bird's Eye View,  11x11 watercolor on paper

Grapes Aplenty, 8x10 watercolor on Yupo 

 Fore and Pour, 20x20 watercolor on Yupo 

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Step by Step to the Finish

As promised, these images the steps of the process to finalize the mixed media intuitive piece I started when I gave a demo at the LAA/PAL General Meeting in June.

I worked on this off& on for over a week, giving it plenty of time to tell me where it was taking me.

The first one is the beginning started at the demo, and the last one is the finished piece, 'Silently Slipping Away'. 

This is where I started during my demo.

Here I added more paint to bring out the lower right.

I decided the Moon (or Sun) need to be red!

I used watercolors for the tree trunk and added gold acrylic

 to the boulders in the lower right.

 Final steps were adding dead branches to the tree 

and doing some value changes.

And there ya have it!

What FUN!!!

Last night I gave a talk and demonstrated a fun - and challenging - mixed media technique I love to play with from time to time.

My goals: get some people interested in & maybe excited about doing some intuitive painting, something new & different, and HAVE FUN!

I'm happy to report that audience participation was great - I do believe people were having fun. 

A couple friends shared pictures they took of me working. And I'm sharing the piece as it developed last night. I'll be working on this in the coming days and will post progress. These typically take 3-5 days complete, around 8-12 hours of work and a lot of drying time.

Another one done!

This is another intuitive piece, 12x12 acrylic & mixed media with collaged rice papers on stretched canvas. 

I start these paintings with no plan, no notion of what it will become. I did hope for a moon and got it - this joins my Fly Me To The Moon Series.

I titled it 'In the Shadow of the Moon'.

Yay!

The Alameda  County Fair Fine Arts Exhibition notified me that these three pieces have been juried into the 2025 event. This is a very popular art show, with thousands of visitors. I am happy.

Prickly Power, watercolor on paper, $850

Greening of the Vines, watercolor on Yupo, $1,000

Wine on the Vine, watercolor on Yupo, $1,000

Fun stuff!

These two use the subtractive method of painting watercolor on Yupo. I included the first step of 'Wine on the Vine'. 20x10

'Greening of the Vines', 20x10

For my Personal Memories collection

'Yellow Flag' is the only wild iris native to Ireland. We spotted a bunch of them on the Ring of Kerry. 9x7 watercolor on paper.

This 'Irish Countryside' was also in the Ring of Kerry. I used subtractive painting for this watercolor on Yupo. That consists of putting down a bunch of pigment to represent the landscape & letting it dry, then lifting out the white buildings and fences with a thirsty brush. 10x20

Now for 'Raven Trio'. These birds are so habituated to humans that they literally beg for junk food in the parking lot of the Painted Desert National Park in Arizona.

8x18 watercolor on paper.

Catch Up Time

I've been painting quite a bit, and ignoring posting on my blog.

'Liquidambar' joins my Morning Walk series. 11x15 watercolor on paper.

New to the 'Morning Walk' series

'Alt Route', 15x11 watercolor on 300# paper.

We have a lovely trail that runs through Livermore; I can access it just .7 mile from my apartment, and then walk several miles in either direction. 

This alternate path winds through the woods on the other side of the Arroyo Mocho trail. I was struck by the contrast of red leaves and green foliage one morning. It was a painting just waiting to happen.

Another of my 'Morning Walk' series

 The Prickly Pear cactus is a Mega Power Food. The entire plant is edible, and it has a myriad of health & healing benefits.

I spotted this one on my Morning Walk and it joins that series. 15x11 watercolor on 300# paper. I'm calling it 'Prickly Power'.

Another new one!

This old barn at Sycamore Grove Park in Livermore intrigues me. I take photos of it almost every time I visit the park. Think of the history; barns were literally the lifeblood of farms everywhere. 

Title: 'If Barns Could Talk', 7x13 watercolor on 300# paper.

Sycamore Grove Park Series

I just dropped off these 22x10 watercolors to be framed.

These are all part of a series I'm doing featuring the Sycamore Grove Park here in Livermore CA.  We are so very fortunate to have this outstanding park! I hike there frequently, and never tire of the painting-worthy scenes. 

The building was an early winery here, abandoned years ago. 

There are often cattle grazing on the adjacent pastureland. Can you spot the three on the ridge above the old barn?