I had someone come into the Juneau Artists Gallery where I have some of my work. They purchased this little Halibut mini (on the left) and wanted to know if I would paint them a larger one just like it. Of course I did. This was painted from a reference photo I took after one of our fishing trips.
And just for fun, here is a pic of probably my largest Halibut catch!
These are all favorite local scenes. The first one is a fishing spot where we go to fish for trout. This was a beautiful sunny day, but of course they are not all like that, especially here in Juneau. We have to fish in the rain a lot!
This was an amazing spot to paint. It may look a bit awkward, but it couldn’t have been much nice. There were not even any bugs to contend with. For some reason, I just like to paint rocks. And I don’t think that I am alone in this.
It just never gets old to see a batch of these together. There is just something so cool about small things. They fascinate me!
I am back at painting a new batch of miniatures for this season at the Juneau Artists Gallery. I will probably be doing several posts with them coming up. I did not feel that I would be putting time into doing the small ones this year, but once I did one, I was very motivated to continue. I have done about 20 new ones this past couple weeks, and really enjoying them!
This is an example of what I sometimes do…this has been a favorite 8×10 painting that I did several years ago (the one on the right is the first edition). I think it was one of the first times that I really tried to push my colors to be brighter and bolder than what I was seeing in my reference pic. As I have gotten older, I have come to enjoy that brighter array of color rather than all muted tones. So I really liked leaving this bright.
As time went on, I wanted to tone it down just a little, and play with some of the techniques that I had learned regarding color schemes. I have to say I am very happy with the results. Do you have a preference?
I’m particularly fond of these two paintings. I have always thought clouds were very difficult to capture correctly. On the days that I attempted these clouds they were moving very slowly and not changing much at all. I thought it would be the perfect time to give it a try. I was very happy with the way they looked warm and dimensional and not just white and flat. They were both done in my yard, which was also an advantage as I am still learning this process. I still like the security of being alone in my yard and not out among the public eye.
This piece is 10x 8 inches and was mostly done outside on location. I did do some adjustments when I got it back to the studio, but this was my most challenging paintings outside. I particularly like the contrast of the greens with the maroon in the tree bark on the spruce trees here. This is a very typical scene here in Juneau.
This piece measures 8×24 inch and sold at a recent showing at the Juneau Artists Gallery which I belong to. It is an artists co operative gallery. Sunshine Cove is one of my favorite spots here in Juneau. These little islands are just a little way from shore, but just far enough to give them a wonderful distance to be viewed. The roadside is also quite a bit above sea level, so that also lends to wonderful viewing. And the Chilkat Range of mountains on the far side are just spectacular as a backdrop.
I did this 8×6 inch oil on panel for a friend of mine. I couldn’t resist the beautiful light bouncing around on the fabric in contrast with the coarseness of the meadow. And I thought it was so cute that she was also barefoot, which you can just see the tips of her toes peaking out from under her dress. This was just a total pleasure to do! This is still one of my all time favorite little paintings.
Art with my Coffee 