"Bayview Barber Shop" Paintout Poulsbo, plein air painting by Robin Weiss

"Bayview Barber Shop"  12x9 oil on panel    Sold

This is the second painting I completed during Paintout Poulsbo.  The interesting patterns and lines created by the power pole caught my attention.  The day was blustery with the sun coming in and out of the clouds and changing the light pretty dramatically on short notice. I find that it can be helpful to find a back lit subject in those conditions.
 This painting was smeared pretty badly by someone who leaned up against it during the exhibition...one of the drawbacks to participating in a wet painting show...

Just to let you know about several up-coming events and some good news:

First up is a one day plein air painting workshop through the Cole Gallery in Edmonds WA. coming up Saturday, July 28th , 10:30am- 4:30pm.  For more info on this workshop click HERE

My painting " Camillias with Sugar Bowl" has been accepted into the 19th Annual AIS National Juried Exhibition. Somehow I hope to make it to this show which will be held at the Peninsula School of Art in Door County Wisconsin , September 27th.



I will be participating in Paint the Peninsula again this year which takes place August 19-26th in Port Angeles, WA. Afterwards I will be conducting a 3 day workshop in Sekiu , WA



I have been accepted into the First Annual Central City Plein Air Festival, which takes place in Central City , Colorado, September 28-30, 2018 .......So I guess I wont be attending the AIS show!!

There is probably some other stuff too! It can be hard organizing multiple events and shows!  It helps to write it down here on my blog as a reminder...A lot of time goes into all of the other related business in being an artist!  So don't forget to

Have fun out there!

"James Island" From the Quilute Marina. marine landscape by Robin Weiss

"James Island" From the Quilute Marina
16x20 oil on canvas, framed  Sold
Available through the Cole Gallery;    425-687-2787

This studio painting was inspired by a plein air painting that was a demonstration during my workshop this year prior to Paint the Peninsula.  We had such a good time at this workshop painting on the Olympic Peninsula that I have decided to try it again next year. If you are interested in joining us send me an email and I will get you on the list to receive email updates.

Workshop at Salt Creek

One of the locations we painted was Salt Creek a favorite of all the students and also the artists that come from all over the US and Canada to participate in Paint the Peninsula.  I came back to this spot during the event and painted as the moon blotted out the sun during the solar eclipse of 2017
More about that in future posts. =]

"Dungeness Tideline" Northwest coastal landscape painting by Robin Weiss

Dungeness Tideline" 28x38 oil on canvas        Sold
available at the Cole Gallery, Edmonds, WA
425-687-2787

I have yet to post anything about Paint the Peninsula 2017. It was a great event again this year and I will get to it soon.
This large studio painting was derived from plein air studies I did on location at the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge in Sequim, WA. during this years Paint the Peninsula. I was able to spend the whole day there and did three studies.

Dungeness Tideline  Study  11x14 

The Dungeness Spit is a long crescent of beach that stretches for five miles and ends at the New Dungeness Lighthouse. You can even make reservations to stay the night there and help with the lighthouse operations.

I have painted on the spit for the last several years during PTP and honed my skills painting driftwood. I find the designs, textures and patterns made by driftwood on the beaches of the Northwest endlessly inspiring. You can go to the same place each year and the driftwood will make the scene entirely fresh again.

Last year I won the Spirit of the Peninsula Award for my painting  Driftwood Giants you can check out the Blog post HERE 


Many of the paintings done at PTP 2017 will be displayed at Arts in the Woods. The knowles Studio will be open 10am-5pm,  Nov 11th, 12th and 13th . Please stop by and say hi!  Hope to see ya there!

"Beach Combers" oil, marinescape painting by Robin Weiss

"Beach Combers"    10x12 oil on panel , framed    $600

We waited for a sunny day to hike the trail down to Second Beach near LaPush, WA on the Olympic Peninsula. I painted here last year during PTP 2014 and even did a different view of this same sea stack.

"Incoming Tide" 10x12 oil on linen
PTP 2014     $600

The beach was pretty crowded with hikers and campers. I picked a spot out of the way, in the shade, then quickly sketched my composition with a drawing brush and thin, Quin Sienna paint from Daniel Smith. I like the transparency and the more saturated, red/orange color of the pigment for under-painting in the Northwest where we have so much blue and green to deal with.

The sun was moving very fast so I quickly washed in the shaded areas and then STUCK to my light/dark plan as everything started to change dramatically.  I finished this painting in about an hour and a half then packed my gear and headed down the beach to meet other artist friends.

Rhonda McKay painting on 2nd Beach

I was looking for something different from the last couple years of painting on Second Beach. The storm twisted firs marching up the bluffs caught my eye. Artist Rhonda Thatcher McKay was in my field of view so I painted her in.

Ned Mueller's  painting on 2nd Beach

Many fine paintings were done down on the beach that day by artists including Jim Lamb, Bob Stem, Eric Jacobson and one of my favorites of the day by Ned Mueller.

During the month of January and February 2016 you can view many of these paintings during a solo exhibition at the Tree House Cafe. Click
                                                      HERE 
for info on this great restaurant and event destination located in Lynwood Center on Bainbridge  Island.

"Driftwood Giants, plein air, landscape by Robin Weiss

"Driftwood Giants" 9x12 oil on linen     Sold
New Dungeness Light Station Keepers Award  PTP 2015

We were designated a painting spot on one of the days during Paint the Peninsula so me and painting friends, Jim Lamb and Melanie Thompson met early at the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge and headed for the beach. The Dungeness Spit is a long narrow strip of land five miles long with a light station at the end. As one of the sponsors of PTP 2015 the Light Station Keepers would be judging and giving awards for the work done by the artists painting in the refuge during the day.

Melanie working on her painting

The trail from the parking area is about three quarters of a mile. When we reached the end Melanie set up right there with a view of the Olympics peaking out through rapidly changing cloud conditions. It wasn't the best weather but it wasn't raining either!
 I hefted my pack down the spit where there was more driftwood. I found an interesting arrangement that would lead the eye of the viewer into the painting. I even moved a few pieces out of the way to make a better composition where one long piece of driftwood goes through the "eye" of another.

On the Dungeness Spit

The sun kept peeking out through the clouds. I snapped a picture so that I could reference my camera monitor to add shadows where I couldn't see them most of the time. I punched up the color notes and increased the size of the Olympic Mountain range in the distance. I was inspired by the color of the mountains and the way they were obscured by the clouds so I increased the saturation of the blue-green color of distant land seen through atmosphere.

In the mean time the light station keepers came around to check on the painters and encourage us.

 When I finished this one I moved to the other side of the spit where Jim was already painting. We were positioned at about 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock  around a large tide pool formed as the tide retreated into Dungeness Bay.

Dungeness Bay  9x14 oil on panel  $600 

As we were painting I noticed something moving in the tide pool that looked like seaweed. There was no current since the pool was isolated by now and the movement caught my eye. I walked down closer thinking it may have been a sea otter but when close I recognized it as a Giant Pacific Octopus trapped in the tide pool.  Jim came down and we both started taking videos of it. As it moved to a sandy area and settle down it would change color and blend in perfectly with the bottom. Then it would start moving and turn a rust red color.

The funny part about this octopus story is when we got back that day I posted my video on facebook and it received over a thousand views. Jim posted his and since he took the video vertically it posted vertically  and didn't get many views.  Being new to facebook he was not sure how to rotate it and in trying to he re-posted it to his page six times and changed his profile picture to the octopus. Ha!  You have to hear him tell the story!

Receiving the New Dungeness Light Station Keepers Award
For "Driftwood Giants" Paint the Peninsula 2015

"Airstreams and Tractors" Paint the Peninsula, plein air, oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Airstreams and Tractors" 9x12 oil on panel    Sold

Looking back over my blog I realized there are no posts about Paint the Peninsula 2015! Yikes! That was a huge show for me this year and a great success as I won three different awards including Best of Show for this painting.

There were so many adventures and so much fun meeting new friends that it will be hard to condense it all down. To start off I was juried into the show and given host housing with Jinx and Gunar in Sequim, WA. That turned out great because I had the opportunity to paint more in that area like Chi's Farm where Airstreams and Tractors was done.
 The long row of bright yellow sunflowers was the first thing that grabbed my attention driving down Towne Rd looking for a good painting location . I pulled the van into the driveway and saw a small, neat little farm with a small shack and  few Airstream trailers. The shack had a sign inviting friends to come in and pick up their eggs leaving money in a can on the desk. There was a card describing the farm as a CSA and a phone number of the manager. I called the number and explained that I was an artists and would love to paint on location there.

The pizza oven

 Ankur enthusiastically said"Great! It's a good day, we are having our end-of-the-month pizza and veggie pick up party.  I had noticed a thick column of smoke coming from the back yard but didn't know that it was a home made, clay pizza oven!  Well that sounded good to me so I set up the easel and started my first painting.

Click HERE to learn more about Chi's Farm

Chi's Farm

I wanted to capture the first thing that impressed me about the farm. The sunflowers! So I set up to do that painting first. I will post the finished painting in my next post.
 My under-painting shown here was drawn in with a "drawing brush' and then filled in to fix my composition and values before starting in with color. This has been my standard way of getting started on a plein air painting and it works for me...=]

Plein Air wine from Camaraderie Cellars

By the way...part of my award for winning Best of Show at PTP 2015 was getting the winning painting printed on a wine label for Camaraderie Cellars signature"Plein Air" wine. A portion of sales are used to benifit the Port Angeles Fine Art Center If you are interested in learning more about PACAC and this wine click the link HERE

If you would like to go directly to the page where you can order this wine from the Camaraderie Cellars website click the link HERE