30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 1

Great Blue Heron, Stage 2

Oil,  20x35 on wood board

What better way to start the new year than with a 30 Day Painting Challenge!  Artist Leslie Saeta is graciously hosting a 30 Paintings in 30 Days painting challenge to jump start all artists on the road to a prolific 2014.  Over 270 artists have decided this year to take up the challenge and post daily paintings to Leslie's blog for the next 30 days. I started Blue Heron in mid-November and decided that I would revisit him today.  I was not able to complete his portrait today; I need to add in the legs and the details on the beak, neck and the background.  

I hope you will enjoy following the the 30 Day Challenge this year!

Peppermint Pillows is a Holiday Treasure

 This little guy has been accepted in to the Holiday Treasures show at the Debra Huse Gallery on Balboa Island.  It is 3"x3" and it will be framed and hanging on a Christmas tree.

229 Marine Ave

Balboa Island, CA 92662

opens

Thursday, December 5th

http://www.debrahusegallery.com/debrahusegallery/EVENTS.html

6 inch Squared

Very exciting!  My painting "Red Swingline" was juried in to the 6 inch Squared show at the Randy Higbee Gallery.  Come check it out and some other amazing mini-masterpieces starting December 7th!

Great Blue Heron

"Great Blue Heron 1"

Oil,  20x35 on wood board.

Within walking distance from our house is a lake.  Living at the lake is a tremendous variety of bird species. One day when I was on a path that bridged a stream flowing into the lake, I saw this very large bird standing in the stream.  He was not afraid of me being there and posed for some pictures. When I returned home, I looked him up in my bird guide for the area and figured out that he was a Great Blue Heron. I had this piece of wood I had been saving and it seemed the perfect size to put this giant bird on. 

I have not painted anything this large before and my biggest challenge so far is mixing enough paint.  I am used to mixing small piles of colors and having that be more than enough.  Well, it is when you are painting 6 inches square but not when you are painting something this big.

This is stage 1 of Great Blue Heron.

Balboa at Topaz - revisited and completed

"Balboa at Topaz, revisited"

Oil, 8" x 8" on linen panel.

$125.00 

Click here for more information.

This piece is now finished.  I worked on the values in the buoy and added palm trees in the distance. In order to capture the shimmer of the water I went even lighter  with the light color in the water and deepened the cool blue. 

Balboa at Topaz revisited, continued

Balboa at Topaz, continued

I went back in and worked on the values in this painting. I defined the island houses in the background with some darker values and additional shapes.  I thinned down the buoy and added more shimmer to the water. I need to add a few more details before it is finished.

Balboa at Topaz revisited

Balboa at Topaz, pt. 1

On Halloween I had the opportunity to return to the same place on Balboa Island I had painted in August. I decided to paint the scene with the bouy on the other side with my real focus being on the water.  Thursday morning was slightly hazy the distance with a huge portion of the water just shimmering.  I am not done with this piece so stay tuned.  When I am not painting outdoors I have been indoors getting some entries ready for some upcoming shows I hope to get into.  Stay tuned for that too!