"Peninsula Drift" 8x16 oil on panel $800 |
One more plein air painting from Eglon Beach! Fun to see how every painting I do there even if it's from the same spot is a unique painting. I just keep going back! Here are a few past Eglon Beach paintings.
This is the online art journal of Robin Weiss, where I will be posting all my artwork and adventures in plein air....For purchasing info contact robinweiss@earthlink.net
"LaConnor Boats" 8x16 oil on panel $800 |
I spent a couple days in Skagit County in early April just as the daffodils were coming out. It was a Plein Air Washington Artists Pop-Up Paintout and we had a pretty good turnout! We gathered each day at the Seaside Gallery and then went out to paint. On the second day I set up on the canal side walkway to do this scene. It's not the first time I have painted this view of the canal. It just makes for a good composition and the red building adds nice color harmonies.
If I can get some frames in time I will have this painting up on the wall at the Front Street Gallery for my Featured Artist Exhibition. Hope to see you at Poulsbo's Second Saturday Artwalk in May! Call for more info 360-779-3940
"Morning Mist" 15x30 oil on canvas $1800 available through Alki Arts 206-295-5115 |
You can see this painting in person at an upcoming group exhibition called "City Life" at the new Alki Arts venue in West Seattle. For more info on reception and event times and dates click HERE or give the gallery a call at 206-295-5115
"Bywater Bay" 8x16 oil on panel $900 |
These days I am longing to get back outside to paint! I have been stuck in the studio painting for upcoming shows and preparing for workshops. All that is good stuff don't get me wrong but painting outside is what I love most!
"Bywater Bay" was done earlier this year at a favorite location pretty near to home. At the end of Seven Sisters Road on the Olympic Peninsula is a protected bay with a long narrow land bridge to an Island that has homes only accessible by boat. The beach is nearly always deserted and a great place to paint!
This painting will be on display at the Front Street Gallery in May as part of a featured artist exhibition of recent and past work. Stop by during Second Saturday Artwalk in May to see the work and talk about what inspires me artistically.
"Market Music" 20x20 oil on canvas $1400 Available through Alki Arts 206-295-5115 or diane@alkiarts.com |
With this post I would like to let you all know about an upcoming show at the new Alki Arts Gallery in West Seattle, Along with gallery artists Brook Borcherding, Layne Cook and Arlon Rosenoff I will be participating in an exhibition of recent Seattle city paintings.
This exhibition will hang through the month of June with an opening reception on June 2nd from 5-7pm. The artists will be there to greet visitors and talk about their inspiration for this show.
Also in June continuing the celebration of this event will be another gathering for the intimate concert series featuring Moon Girl on June 8th from 6-8pm
The artists will also be in attendance for West Seattle Artwalk on Thursday June 6th from 5-8pm
I hope to connect with you at one of these events in West Seattle! For more information on any of the paintings on display contact Diane at 206-295-5115 or email diane@alkiarts.com
"Let the Earth Rejoice" 11x14 oil on panel $500 |
Lots of exciting things happening these days keeping me from posting for awhile. First up and already on display at the Front Street Gallery in Poulsbo is the annual Ars Poetica exhibition. Ars Poetica has it's roots going way back to a Roman poet named Horace when he said "The making of a poem is like that of a painting" This exhibition will pair visual artists with poets. The art along with the poems will be dsiplayed on the featured art wall at Front Street Gallery through April with an artist and poet reading on April 21st at 2pm.
"Let the Earth Rejoice" is the painting that I created to go along with a poem that was posted online by the daughter of a friend that attends our church. I was impressed with her poem which expressed her love of what she sees and obviously really spends time thinking about in nature, then integrated that with a grateful love of the God who created the beauty we see coming up with this sweet poem.
"Riverbend Park" 16x16 oil on panel_ Sold |
"Old Time Jam at Riverbend Park" 12x9 plein air oil Sold |
I came across a great plein air opportunity while painting in Riverbend Park during the 11th Annual Plein Air Festival hosted by the Lighthouse Art Center in Tequesta Florida. I love painting these cabanas that provide shade and rain cover for the picnic areas at this park. I painted them last time I participated in this festival 5 years ago.
"Morning Walk at Riverbend Park" 12x9 oil on panel sold |
"Market Day" 14x11 oil on panel Sold |
Recently Ann and I attended the 11th Annual Plein Air Festival hosted by the Lighthouse Art Center in Tequesta Florida. It's been 5 years since I participated in "Lighthouse" and it was really cool to see how much bigger and better the organizers have made this event! Also a lot of fun to run into artist friends that you really don't get a chance to see much outside of these shows. I can see why many artists travel the circuit spending all summer at various plein air events around the country.
Usually at these competitions the "Quick Draw" as they call it, is near the end of the weeks programs. This time the first Sunday of the festival was the "Quick Draw" it actually worked pretty good as a way to get the artists submersed in the mindset of competition painting at one of the larger plein air festivals in the country. We all met at Harbourside Place in Tequesta, a large complex of shops and restaurants hosting a Market on Sundays for local vendors. The artists all got reacquainted with their "tribe" and set up wherever they thought would make the best composition for a painting.
I scoped out a scene the day before where I could locate my easel on a street corner with some attractive umbrellas surrounding an outdoor restaurant. I got there early to grab my spot as other artists with the same idea set up around me. The comradery of the artists made it a lot of fun as we laughed and told stories of all our travels.
We had two hours to complete a painting and the artists got serious when the horn sounded and the painting began. All was going pretty well until the sky started to turn dark and it looked like a squall was moving in....and boy did it! Artists started running for cover as the skies opened up! All part of the plein air experience! I was under a partial cover and was able to get my painting mostly done and over to a covered are for judging and sales. Whew! You never know what you will run into during these events!!
"Blue Heron on Liberty Bay" 16x8 oil on panel $800 |
You can view this original painting at the Front Street Gallery in Poulsbo through March!
"Kimball's Cow" 11x14 oil on panel $900 |
In an earlier post I wrote about the workshop we took with Kimball Geisler. I learned a lot! This is one of the paintings I did in that workshop. The original design needed something to break up the layered look of the line of cows. Kimball referred to it as the "birthday cake effect" so I added the cow in the foreground looking right at you.....thus, "Kimball's Cow"
The reference was taken in Crested Butte CO and I will be shipping this painting along with some others to the Oh Be Joyful Gallery in CB in the spring.
"Washington Wetland" 14x18 oil on canvas panel $1100 |
Every artist has been there before. We are constantly observing light, color and nature and how they can merge at certain times of day into stunning patterns and compositions. It's kind of mysterious and sometimes concerning to our friends or spouses when all of a sudden you yank the wheel and pull off the road to take a picture or do a sketch or set up your easel if you have the time. Especially when to the non-artist it seems as if there is nothing there interesting enough to take a picture of.
That's what happened with this painting. I was trucking along my favorite back highway to Port Townsend when I glanced over and saw the light and reflection in this marshy area along the road. Had to pull over and take a few photos.
"Salt Creek Tide Pools" 12x24 oil on canvas panel $1200 |
"The Road to Paradise" 14x18 oil on canvas panel $1100 |
This is a view familiar to northwest Washington residents who drive the road to Paradise in Mount Rainier National Park. This park is so popular in the summer now that there are long waits at the gate. I suggest you get to the park entrance early! It is so worth the wait especially if you can stay a night or two at the Paradise Inn or the many camp grounds.
"Sailing with the Brothers" 36x36 oil on canvas framed $3500 Available through Alki Arts 206-295-5115 |
So if you have been following my blog this painting may seem familiar. As far back as 2014 I painted a small version of it that generated a lot of comments and likes then sold quickly. A few years later I did another small version which also sold, so when a long time collector asked if I would do a larger version on a 36x36 format to fit a particular location in a new home in Seattle I figured it was win win. I made the painting to their requested specifications and it did not meet their expectations. My policy has always been that if clients do not like the finished painting they are not obligated to buy it as long as the painting is not a portrait or personal object or house ect. In other words if it is a subject that anyone would appreciate then I would offer it to my other galleries. That is what happened to this painting. In the process I have painted over this painting about three times now. Altering it a bit in value, saturation and paint application trying to give it that spark of life. You can judge for yourself whether I achieved that . You can see this painting in person at Alki Arts in West Seattle where it has gone full circle back to it's roots. The image taken that was reference for this work was on the beach at Alki with the Olympic mountains in the distance.
Call Diane at Alki Arts for more info at 206-295-5115
"Mountain Pass #2" 20x20 oil on canvas |
"Walking the Spit" 12x24 oil on canvas SOLD |
Studio painting number two!
I pretty much manufactured the wave breaking in this series of paintings I have done of the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge in Sequim, WA. There were waves breaking at the time. Mostly they were made of foam. As I was trying to capture them on location observing the way the waves were breaking my mind took over and painted the wave like I have seen them in other paintings or like I have observed them in California. I liked the way it worked with the plein air painting (see earlier post) so I elaborated that concept onto the following studio paintings.
Note to those who are entering painting competitions: Make sure you take the time to carefully read the rules of each competition as there are often size restrictions depending on the gallery hosting them. The reason I made two larger studio paintings of this scene was because I realized after the fact that I had painted the first one too big and then had to scramble to get another one done that would fit the regs. Interesting, after all that, the one I entered did not make it into the competition!!
"Dungeness Wildlife Refuge Studio Painting" 18x36 oil $2500 Available through Alki Arts, West Seattle 206-295-5115 |
This studio painting was done using the plein air painting done on location and photo reference done on site that I talked about in my last post. Sometimes transferring a 6x12 sketch to a 18x36 studio painting can be tricky but made easier by having a solid design to work from and the color harmonies worked out ahead.
This painting is available and on display at Alki Arts in West Seattle. Call Diane for more info
206-295-5115
"Dungeness Tideline" painting done in 2017 |
"Dungeness Wildlife Refuge plein air" 6x12 oil $500 Available through the Cole Gallery 425-697-2787 |
"The Old Sycamore Tree" 18x36 oil on canvas framed Sold |
Love Under the Chestnut Tree |
"Madrona Shadows" 6x12 oil on panel Sold |
November 30th was my last blog post! A lot has happened over the last couple months including great family get-togethers over the Holidays. Hope you had an inspirational Holiday season!
The above painting won the First Place Award at the Plein Air Washington Artists big Winter Show in February! Big thanks to the good folks at the Cole Gallery in Edmonds WA and to the judge of awards, Kimball Geisler for this honor! The competition was stiff and the gallery packed at the opening reception. Kimball did a good job explaining his choice for awards and made everyone who participated feel pretty good about the work presented. Many paintings were sold and Edmonds continues to be a destination for art lovers.
I am in the process of writing a more thorough blog post about the show and the workshop that followed with Kimball Geisler as instructor. You can link to it HERE
Also if you are interested in seeing all the award winners in the show go to the PAWA facebook page HERE
WHAT'S COMING UP!
The opening for a much anticipated Featured Artist Exhibition at the Scott Milo Gallery is coming up on February 2nd. I will be exhibiting with other gallery artists for a one month show. If you are in Anacortes stop by and say Hi! 6-9pm. More info HERE
If you are interested in taking a workshop with me, two are scheduled through the Black Barn in Kingston WA. Find more info on those HERE
I will be participating in the 11th Annual Plein Air Festival hosted by the Lighthouse Art Center in Tequesta Florida, March 3rd \-9th. It's been 5 years since I have attended this event and we are looking forward to sunny Florida in March! =
Lots of other stuff coming as well! I'll try to keep you updated as summer rapidly approaches! Cheers!!
Group photo from Kimball Geisler's workshop at Art Works in Edmonds WA |
"Port Townsend Beach Combers" 11x14 plein air SOLD |
"The Mansion at Bloedel" 6x8 plein air $350 |
I have posted about the amazing Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island in WA state before. It is a beautiful estate property bequeathed to the public to enjoy the gardens, rare plantings and facilities. The property has an endowment that keeps it well maintained with a professional staff and programs to keep visitors and sponsors coming back, including me! Bloedel is a favorite local painting location and I am now a part on the program as one of the artist/facilitators who offer workshops on plein air painting at the reserve.
Check out their website here for more info on The Bloedel Reserve
"The Marsh at Magnuson Park" 11x14 plein air $800 |
I spent some time touching up this painting from earlier this summer during the Plein Air Views of Washington event at the Magnuson Park Gallery. PAWA members gathered at the park to paint and exhibit at the gallery. It was a day of fun and fellowship with artist friends and family.