Thursday, December 31, 2009

"Olive" oil commission painting

"Olive" is one of the commission paintings I did recently. They own another really nice Porsche named "Roberto" and I painted that one too.....but, evidently,....I took no picture of the finished painting in the rush to get them in the mail!!...Rats!!..

9x12 oil on panel

Saturday, December 26, 2009

"Reflecting Fall" oil landscape painting, Arboretum series




I have been working on this painting in between all the Christmas activities. Hope the day was filled with love and laughter among friends and family for you, as it was for me.......now it's time to get back to work.........I love my job!!..=]
Postscript: I have added an updated photo of this painting. After looking at it this morning, I can see how far off the color was. Without a good camera and photo set up it is sometimes hard to get an accurate image. The one at top is a lot closer.......I'm working on finding the right light box and camera set up so I won't have this problem in the future.


16x20 oil on canvas contact robinweiss@earthlink.net sold

Sunday, December 20, 2009

"Fall Palette" oil landscape, Arboretum series

Next in the Arboretum series. The challenge was painting the glow of the leaves in the indirect , suffused light of an overcast, Northwest day. I had to dial down the background values enough so that the application of the cad. red and yellow leaves would pop. Sold

Saturday, December 19, 2009

"Runner at the Arboretum" oil landscape painting, Arboretum series

I did a 6x8 oil sketch of this runner to work out composition for a larger painting.....maybe 16x20.....I'm loving all the rich color in the fall leaves and grass.

6x8 oil on panel.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

"Mountlake Cut" oil landscape from the Arboretum series

Just before we went to Hawaii I spent the day walking all through the Arboretum by the University of Washington. It was a cool, overcast, Northwest day and I took lots of images to work from. Well,....it looks like I'm going to do a series of paintings from those photos. I have completed three so far. This is the first one ...of the Mountlake Cut , where they have the rowing competition in the summer.

12x9 oil on panel 2009 robin weiss contact: robinweiss@earthlink.net sold

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

"Clear Lake" oil landscape painting

Finally back in the studio after some time off to honeymoon in beautiful, sunny and WARM Hawaii...We had a blast!...=]....I'll be working from some of my pictures taken on the island of Kauai soon but wanted to finish this painting of Clear Lake that was on the easel before I left. This image was taken in July, at Camp High Rock when Annie and I served as cabin counselor and nurse at a camp for the kids off the Yakima Indian reservation.

36x18 oil on canvas contact: robinweiss@earthlink.net for more info. SOLD



The full scale sketch done with markers on white paper.

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Big Valley Moonrise" reworked oil landscape painting

Not sure if I improved this painting....the original was a bit dark and without a real focal point so I threw it on the easel after a cup of strong Starbucks coffee and started to play with it...(Don't try this at home!)....I think the new version has more for the viewer to work with.....

12x12 oil on canvas
The original version

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

"The Great Tortoise Hostel" Seattle city scenes

Some of you may remember this painting from 07......I have pulled it out of the closet ....finally!.....and finished it. I have been spending some time finishing or reworking old paintings and I will share those in my next few posts......Kinda got behind with the blog....what with shows, commissions, ...being sick...=/.....AND THE BIG WEDDING!....Annie and I will be married on Sunday!!=].. In fact, this painting was from an image that I took on one of our first dates before Ann went to Uganda.

If any of you are in the area and would like to come to the wedding, it would be a blessing to share this happy day with you...The wedding will take place at Liberty Bay Presbyterian Church in Poulsbo this Sunday at 3:00 pm.

24x24 oil on canvas sold





Tuesday, November 17, 2009

"Coffee Pot with Apple" oil still life painting

I love this coffee pot and have painted it several times. The reflections of light are always a challenge and a joy to paint.

12x12 oil on canvas 2009 Robin Weiss

Saturday, November 14, 2009

"Peaceful change" landscape oil painting

Loving the beautiful fall colors.....they are brief here in the Pacific Northwest...and rain is on the way. I would love to seize the moment but am committed to Arts in the Woods second day!...=]...Come on over if you can , it will be a beautiful day to tour art studios..

5x7 oil on panel

Thursday, November 12, 2009

"Bell Town 2" Seattle city scenes oil painting

I received such a good response from "Bell Town" I decided to try another smaller study from a different angle.

8x6 oil on panel sold

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

"Flock" landscape oil painting

I tried another little painting of the field outside and it just didn't work.....so I scraped it and just played around until this happened ........I think it's interesting........

7x5 oil on panel sold

Arts in the Woods.....This weekend!!....=].....See ya there!

Sunday, November 08, 2009

"Field Fir" plein air landscape painting

Sometimes I spend the whole day at the studio without a plan of attack or any inspiration. I usually end up walking in circles and not getting anything done. One day this week was like that.....At the end of the day I sat down, prayed briefly and then turned my easel towards the window and painted the field outside. I consider this insignificant little study an answer to prayer and a confirmation from my Best Friend.

"Arts in the Woods" is coming up this weekend! ... Be there or be square!...=].......check out the Cultural Arts Foundation website for more info..... or come to the Knowles studio to pick up brochures and maps of all the other studios. Hope to see you there!!

Thursday, November 05, 2009

"Bell Town" Seattle city scene oil painting

My son Maury is going to school at the Art Institute of Seattle for game design. This little sidewalk cafe is in Belltown near AIS. When I am walking through the city ...or just about anywhere......I snap pictures with my pocket digital. I don't even look at what I'm taking till I get home and then go through and delete all the junk and keep anything that looks promising. I liked the perspective of the red umbrellas in this shot.

12x12 oil on canvas sold


Tuesday, November 03, 2009

"Easy Pickins" seagull in flight oil painting

Me and Annie were sitting in the sun watching a gentleman feed the seagulls on the ferry to Seattle awhile back. I pulled out the ever ready pocket camera and took some shots of the seagulls in flight. The images were really blurry but that's OK! I'm not a photographer, I'm a painter...=]

6x10 oil on card 2009 robinweiss@earthlink.net

Sunday, November 01, 2009

"The Red Purse" cityscape oil painting

I did a small study for this painting awhile ago. The Ohio series is done for now and I'm back to painting cityscapes for an upcoming show in the Frodel gallery at Westsound Academy that will be in December.
16x20 oil on canvas 2009 contact robinweiss@earthlink.net sold

Arts in the Woods is the next show coming up. For more information on AITW click here

Sunday, October 25, 2009

"Morning Fog" landscape oil painting , Lansing Ohio

We spent a few days with my aunt Carol in Lansing Ohio....This was a view from her back stoop of the alley behind the house. My Grandma and Grandpa lived a few houses down the same street.

6x8 oil on panel sold

Thursday, October 22, 2009

"Green Pastures" oil landscape painting with cows

I have one more Ohio painting to post and then I'm done with this series......pretty sure.......Cows are just too much fun to paint! These are Holsteins.....ready for milking!...hanging out in the green pastures of southwest Ohio. The challenge was adding interest in the foreground grass by varying color, texture and brush stroke.

14x18 oil on canvas
Prelim sketch

Sunday, October 18, 2009

"Passing Through Orville" trains in the landscape , daily oil painting

Orville is the little town where Annie's folks live in southeast Ohio. I saw this locomotive parked on the tracks in a side train yard as we were walking to town to find the library .....and a good coffee shop....=].....I'm not sure if someone is trying to restore this train or it has been forgotten and left as a relic of the past.....It was fun trying to paint her as if she were still in service......the lonely train whistle sounding on the way to some distant destination.

12x16 oil on canvas sold
From the sketchbook.....
My next show is coming up in November. It will be here in Poulsbo and I will be joining four other artists in the Knowles studio on November 13th, 14th and 15th for the Arts in the Woods studio tour put on by the Cultural Arts Foundation.
I will be telling you more about the other artists and reminding everyone about the show as the dates get closer. For more info just click HERE

Friday, October 16, 2009

"Summer Barns" oil landscape painting

Finally got a decent picture of this painting. Another one of the interesting barns from Ohio.

6x8 oil on panel

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

"Cows on the Edge" landscape oil painting


I've found I really like painting cows. I used an image taken from my Ohio pictures of cows heading to pasture and added the foreground. It's kind of a marriage between representational and abstract painting...
16x20 oil on canvas sold

Monday, October 12, 2009

"Hollyhocks" floral still life, oil on canvas

The big freeze is coming...better paint the flowers while I can..I put these in a vase by the window and painted them for warm ups....=]

11x14 oil on canvas

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

"Three Green Pears" oil still life painting

I picked a few wild pears from the field outside the studio to do some little warm up paintings. It's nice to get started painting from life before diving in to the larger landscapes when your working from photos and sketches. I attempted to match the amazing green in these pears by mixing viridian with cad yellow and titanium white.

6x6 oil on panel

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

"One Lane Bridge" oil landscape painting from Amish country

This painting was done from a very vague photograph which I intentionally used to keep the painting impressionistic..I'm not quite sure I have conveyed enough information to make a good painting yet. I will probably go back into this one at some point.

11x14 oil on canvas for info contact robinweiss@earthlink.net
The preliminary sketch. Two Amish boys walking down the road in Holmes county Ohio.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

"Sunset, Moonrise" Ohio barns, landscape painting

This is a scene I remember flying down the highway through the cornfields in Ohio as the sun was setting and the moon was rising.

12x16 oil on panel.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

"Baling Hay" Amish country, Ohio, daily landscape painting

I have been preoccupied with a commission painting that is testing my skills and causing me to experiment with some different techniques. I won't be able to share that painting for awhile so there will be some delays in posting. Thanks for your patience.....

This was the last in the series of Amish country paintings I completed two weeks ago. I will get back to those! There are many more images I want to paint and some I will use for larger format paintings. We were fortunate to come across a field of grass that was being harvested and baled the Amish way.....Of course I was drawn to the light and to the "old world" feel of this scene.

6x8 oil on panel sold

Monday, September 14, 2009

"On the way to Etna Green" oil landscape painting

We took a side trip to Indiana to stay with my cousin Sandy and her husband Rich. They have forty acres of corn and soybeans.....a small farm by Indiana standards.....We passed OCEANS of corn and soybeans on our way.....and lots of barns!

6x8 oil on panel sold

Sunday, September 13, 2009

"Hilltop Barn" Holmes county Ohio, landscape daily painting

We spent one day just driving around taking pictures of all the farms. The weather was perfect and the light and shadow patterns kept me clicking away.....More barns to come....=]

6x8 oil on panel sold

Saturday, September 12, 2009

"Passing Jonah's Farm" Amish country, landscape daily painting

This is one of the Amish farms we got to visit in Ohio. They sold beautiful hand made baskets.

6x8 oil on panel sold

Friday, September 11, 2009

"White Barn" Amish country, oil landscape daily painting

There are LOTS of barns in Southeastern Ohio and I took TONS of pictures of them so be ready for a lot of barnyard scenes. This one is in the little town of Berlin.(emphasis on the "Ber") in the heart of Amish country. We stopped at a little cheese factory called "Heini's and I took the reference photo for this painting from the parking lot. ..............Yes......believe it .....Heini's cheese factory.....=]

6x8 oil on panel sold

Thursday, September 10, 2009

"Thankful Rest" Amish girl with bike , oil landscape daily painting

It's good to be back to my daily painting routine after traveling through Ohio meeting Annie's family and introducing her to mine. Many of the paintings I am working on now are from the pictures and sketches I made there.

6x8 oil on panel sold

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

"Down to Ebey's Landing" oil landscape , and new sketches

The last painting I did from my images from Whidby Island. 8x10 oil on panel



It was wonderful visiting relatives and my new family in Ohio. We spent several days touring Amish country in Holmes county Ohio and I am anxious to get started on the sketches and images I took.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

"Poppy House" landscape daily painting

I forgot this little painting from the images taken on Whidby Island this summer when the poppies were in bloom.

I'll be traveling back east on Wednesday to visit Ann's family and attend a reunion of my family in Ohio. We will be gone for 16 days so there will be no updates for awhile unless I can figure out how to post some drawings during the trip.....Thanks for following In Plein Air!

5x7 oil on panel sold

Saturday, August 15, 2009

"Bees on Lavender" daily painting

I took a break from my island series to paint the bees on the lavender just outside the studio doors. Leigh has done a great job landscaping the studio grounds and I often see her puttering in the garden. Arts in the Woods is coming up in November, the 13th, 14th and 15th here in Poulsbo......Don't miss the Knowles studio!....and the many other fine studios and talented artists on the tour......for more info check the Cultural Arts Foundation website..

8x8 oil on panel sold

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

"Blue Van" daily painting

This van sits at the boatyard in Port Townsend. It is being used to keep a compressor out of the weather..........Had to paint it.....

5x7 oil on panel

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

"Weed Garden" Orcas Island homestead , daily painting

A studio painting from one of the images on Orcas Island........Again, drawn to the light and shadow. The color and textures.......There is much beauty in the blight....

9x12 oil on panel contact; robinweiss@earthlink.net

Saturday, August 08, 2009

"Shaw Island Hay fields" pleinair landscape painting

Back to the paintings I did on location in the San Juans . This one is on Shaw Island at a beautiful spot the locals call "Cedar Rock", which is now property owned by the University of Washington.

8x10 oil on panel

Thursday, August 06, 2009

"Lime Kiln Lighthouse at Close of Day" watercolor landscape painting

Okay, last watercolor for awhile........This was done from one of the images taken while I was plein air painting on location..........I kept waiting for a clear shot without people in it and couldn't get one........but I think the figure adds interest with the cast shadow...

10x14 watercolor sold

Sunday, August 02, 2009

"Coming into Shaw" watercolor landscapes from the San Juan Islands

More from the San Juan Island trip....This is the view from the ferry as you arrive on Shaw Island.

10x14 watercolor
Another view from the dock. The stark white building and boat against the dark water and trees was intriguing to me.....especially for watercolor.
By the way, I almost have the watercolors out of my system......will begin working in oils again soon......
10x14 watercolor

My friend and christian brother, J Matt Miller. We had a great time getting out and painting together!...Thanks for your hospitality Matt!
For those of you who were fans of Matt's excellent blog and his beautiful and inspiring small paintings, I hear he is working on a website......=]


Me with my traveling paint gear, heading to location.......My new job!!