"Lake Irwin Camp" Crested Butte, plein air, landscape painting by Robin Weiss

"Lake Irwin Camp"  10x12 oil on panel   $600

Since we didn't have reservations for a hotel in town , Maury and I found a camp spot at Lake Irwin. I ended up staying there for the next three weeks. The place had everything you would want in a landscape for making great paintings! The fact that there were no showers or running water was not on my priority list.  We just made it work..

Camp #2  Lake Irwin

As soon as the folks next to us left we moved to that spot which could be occupied for up to three weeks...perfect!

This became home for the rest of our stay in Colorado. About 100 yards away was a hand pump well for water and a one seat outhouse and that was about it for amenities..

We did have a camp host named Shelby who was there for the summer with his family. We got to be good friends and hope to see them again on our return.

"Crested Butte Homestead" plein air landscape, oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Crested Butte Homestead"      $700
 Available through the Oh Be Joyful Gallery in Crested Butte, CO

painting in Crested Butte

As you come into the town of Crested Butte there are beautiful vistas everywhere you look.  It's hard to pick one out! We just decided to pull over onto the side of the road and paint whatever was there. In this case you could face in four different directions and be inspired to create a perfectly composed work of art.

This painting is available through the Oh Be Joyful Gallery in Crested Butte.  Click HERE if you would like to contact the gallery.

In Other News, I have been invited by the Howard Mandville Gallery to be in their Small Works show!  If you would like to attend the opening reception click HERE to get more info and to see the list of artists that will be in the show. I feel humbled to be among these fine artists.




Also, save the date if you are in the Poulsbo area (or if you would like to take a road trip to a neat little town on the fjord!  =])  for North Kitsap's Studio Tour!  I will be at the Knowles Studio as usual along with several other fine artists and crafts people .Click HERE to see the Cultural Arts Foundation page with more info on this great local event!

"Centennial Barns" Crested Butte, plein air air, barn painting by Robin Weiss

"Centennial Barns"  9x12 oil on linen panel     $600

I found the best weathered, old barns in Crested Butte!  About wore out my brakes stopping to take pictures.  The kind folks who owned these allowed me to paint them on location. Apparently they have been around awhile...=]

"Barns and Beauty" Crested Butte, plein air, landscape painting by Robin Weiss

"Barns and Beauty"  14x9 oil on panel   Sold
Available
Through the Oh Be Joyful Gallery, Crested Butte CO.

One of the amazing things about the Colorado Rocky Mountains is the spectacular wild flowers that blanket the meadows and hillsides. I managed to include them in most of my paintings. Humming birds were zipping around everywhere!

Say, I have to take the time to plug Paint the Peninsula coming up next week. If you are in the area be sure to stop by the Gala exhibition. There will be paintings from some of the best artists in the northwest  and points beyond!  hope to see you there!

"At the Edge of Town" Crested Butte, plein air landscape painting by Robin Weiss

"At the Edge of Town"  10x10 oil on panel    sold

Time has gotten away from me yet again and I have neglected my blog...Boy has it been a busy summer!! Since posting last I have attended the Crested Butte Plein Air Open in Colorado, hosted by the Oh Be Joyful Gallery. I completed 14 paintings in the three weeks I was there and hope to post most of them in the weeks ahead.

Maury in Crested Butte

My son Maury came along for the ride down to Colorado. We stopped in Kenniwick, Wa. Twin Falls Idaho and Grand Junction CO. on our way, painting in each location.

 In Kenniwick we contacted Melanie Thompson, another PAWA painter and she took us to one of her favorite spots along the upper Columbia river.

I did two paintings there. One was a scraper.The other one got lost along the way somewhere.Now that I am back I can't find it!

Our next stop was the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. We got there in time to paint the spectacular Sunset....Thanks for checkin in and stay tuned..=]

"Spring in Seattle" Seattle, cityscape by Robin Weiss

"Spring in Seattle"  18x14 oil on panel
Sold

Another shameless plug for my featured artist show at Alki Arts located on First and Seneca in downtown Seattle.The gallery is just a short walk from the ferry.  If you go to the opening on August 6th you can also visit the S.A.M. for free and check out the other galleries that are open late during Seattles First Thursday Artwalk!.....But don't miss my recent city scenes at Alki Arts!

Thanks!!!

"Pike Place Chowder" plein air, Seattle cityscape by Robin Weiss

"Pike Place Chowder"   8x10 oil on panel
 Sold

All the paintings are framed and ready to take over to Alki Arts. My featured artists show is coming up fast! Plan a fun evening out the First Thursday in Aug and come to Seattle, then stop by the Gallery on First and Seneca to view my recent city scenes!  I'll be in Colorado painting some 12,000 foot mountains but my wife Ann will be on hand to greet you.  Thanks honey!

I painted this scene on location at Pike place Market a week ago. It was fun interacting with all the people walking by. Check out the video!

"Mt Shuksan Glow" plein air, oil, landscape painting by Robin Weiss

"Mt Shuksan Glow"  10x10 oil on panel    Sold

Can't get enough of this view of Mt Shuksan as the sun goes down and slowly turns the mountain to molten gold with Picture Lake reflecting the show.  We didn't get back to Marks place till after 11pm but it was worth it!

Mark Bistranin painting the mountain late evening 

"Mount Baker" plein air, landscape painting by Robin Weiss and news of upcoming shows!

"Mount Baker"  12x10 oil on linen panel    Sold

I painted this view of Mt Baker from Artists Point in 2013 at about the same spot. You can see it HERE.  It's interesting to see the difference in the two paintings!  I think I made a more authentic rendering of the mountain in this painting.... my greys are a bit more sophisticated....but tell me what you think!

I have been working frantically on new cityscapes for an up-coming featured artist show at Alki Arts in  Seattle!  I have twelve new works heading to the city in mid July!  Come to the August, First Thursday Artwalk to see all the paintings before they sell!  Ha!  =]  Unfortunately I will be in Colorado for the Crested Butte plein air competition and won't be able to attend the opening of my own show!... but my lovely wife Ann will be standing in for me. Here is one of the new works,

"Night Falls on Marion Street"  16x20 oil on canvas  Sold

                                                   And here is my lovely wife Ann








Also I will be teaching a three day plein air painting class in association with the Plein Air Washington Artists in August on Whidbey Island.  See all the details by going to my website  robinweissfineart.com and clicking on the workshops tab.

"Wheat Field Farm" Skagit valley, plein air , oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Wheat Field  Farm"   12x8 oil on panel  Sold

I recently took a trip north to paint up at Artists Point near Mt Baker. I stayed with my friend and painting buddy Mark Bistranin the first night. As is our custom we went painting near Laconnor to warm up the brushes.
 In this painting I was successful in rearranging some of the shapes I was seeing to make a more interesting composition. I also painted from the bed of Marks truck which gave me a higher perspective point. That worked pretty good and now I am trying to figure out how to attach a platform to the top of my van so I can paint from there!

"Beauty", "Home", "Freedom", "Peace" miniature oil paintings by Robin Weiss

"Beauty" 3x3 oil on linen   Sold

"Freedom" 3x3 oil on linen  Sold

"Home" 3x3 oil on linen   Sold

"Peace" 3x3 oil on linen    Sold

The Edmonds Art Festival is this weekend! Tomorrow is the last day!  (Sunday,21st of June 2015) So if you get the chance and you are in the area stop and see the juried art exhibition. These four miniature paintings were accepted into the exhibition and I won 1st place in the mini division for "Freedom"! This is my second year painting minis and it's kinda fun. I had two other larger city paintings accepted as well, "Bush Hotel" and "Underground Tourists" Should be a beautiful day! Maybe I will run into you there!!....at the hotdog stand!  =]

"Washington Oaks Coquina Rocks" St Augustine, plein air, marinescape oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Washington Oaks Coquina Rocks"  9x12 oil on panel   Sold

 Wrapping up the trip to the OPA National are the two paintings done on location at Washington Oaks Park. A beautiful location with lovely botanical gardens and beach access to warm, soft sand beaches with areas of the native Coquina rock.
 Occasionally quarried or mined and used as a building stone in Florida for over 400 years, coquina forms the walls of the Castillo de San Marcos, Saint Augustine. The stone makes a very good material for forts, particularly those built during the period of heavy cannon use. Because of coquina's softness, cannonballs would sink into, rather than shatter or puncture, the walls of the Castillo de San Marcos.

"Washington Oaks Surf"     Sold

I completed two paintings of the surf that day. This one sold to the lovely young lady who works at Cutter and Cutter Fine Art.

All in all the OPA national and our trip to St Augustine was a great success and just a really fun time. I hope we can go back again soon!  Ann's Sister, Nancy and her Husband Lowell made the trip extra special for us! We will miss them!

Well I have taken a little break from blogging and a lot of painting has been going on!....so I need to get back to it!    Thanks for following along and stay tuned for more adventures in plein air!

"Pulling the Trap" St Augustine, plein air, oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Pulling the Trap"  10x12 oil on panel      Sold

Heading to the last location scouted the previous day I ran into another painter, Manon Sander. After meeting and talking with her a bit I set up my easel thinking that the "porch painting" should have been my last one because the thunder clouds were forming faster and getting darker.  I got a good start when the rain began... Slowly at first and then later in sheets! When it first started I looked around and Manon was painting (Tip!) under a clear plastic umbrella! The kind that covers your head and shoulders but you can still see through it. Great idea! ...I dumped the water out of my palette a few times before the painting was far enough along to pack up. Then we headed back to Sanford St where Ann and I sat on the porch and watched the deluge of water streaming down from the sky.


"Pulling the Trap" was the  painting I entered into the plein air competition. While it won no awards it did sell within the first couple hours which I consider an award by itself!  Sorry I don't have pics of all the award winners. It was just a really busy week!!

There are still paintings from the OPA national exhibition for sale at Cutter and Cutter Fine Art in St. Augustine. You can view them HERE. I was really impressed with the folks at Cutter and Cutter! They worked very hard to display the work to it's best advantage. They were friendly and helpful to the artists and collectors seemed to love the gallery and the fine folks who work there!

At The Del Mar Gallery  

At "Harrys"  where I discovered my new southern favorite dish,
 "Shrimp and Grits" !  Excellent!

"Two Palms on Sanford Street" St Augustine, plein air, oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Two Palms on Sanford Street"  11x9 oil on panel   $480

This view is from the awesome front porch of our very cool AirB&B in the Lincolnville district of St Augustine. I painted from the porch because the weather report predicted thunderstorms and rain. Well, it didn't start raining until I set up out in the open for my last painting of the day!...However, the owner of the car in this scene decided to leave after I just laid down the under painting. I had to use my trusty camera monitor to "Get er done"

Ron and Lizy's Air B&B front porch and Nancy's Benz

Speaking of cars did I mention that Ann's sister Nancy loaned us her Mercedes SL550 to drive down to St Augustine?  Well, the crazy girl did!  We had a blast cruising down the A1A !
Thanks Nancy! She didn't even mind when I joked about getting purple paint on the white leather interior.

This is the front porch of Ron and Lizy's B&B where I did the painting and that's Nancy's car in the drive.

"Debbie Moore's House" St Augustine, plein air, oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Debbie Moore's House"   9x12 oil on panel   Collection, David Foster
Sold

During the OPA National Convention we stayed in an Air B&B owned by Lizy and Ron in the Lincolnville district of S.A. Great hosts and I highly recommend staying there!

I mapped out three locations the day before the start of the plein air competition. All three were very close to our B&B so I could easily walk to each location. the first one was just two blocks down Sanford St. to this lovely little tree covered lane with the old houses, dappled in sunlight, lining the street. As I was happily painting, the neighbors stopped by to chat and see what I was up to. They weren't used to seeing artists out painting on the street. One neighbor said to me"That's Debbie Moore's house!" "She used to sing jazz with Bennie Goodman" She's ninety years old now"
 Sure enough, I did a little research when we returned and Debbie(McDade) Moore did indeed sing jazz in a number of venues. Click HERE to read an interesting history of Debbie(Mcdade) Moore and the Lincolnville district of St Augustine.

Lizy and Ron's B&B in St Augustine

First Baptist Church, Lincolnville, St Augustine,
where Debbie Moore attended church

"Palms on Anastasia Island" St Augustine, plein air, oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Palms on Anastasia Island"  8x8 oil on linen   Collection- Nancy Lohman
Sold

The Oil Painters of America National Convention in St Augustine Florida was a great success and a really fun time!  If you ever get the opportunity to travel there don't pass it up!

Lyn Asselta painting a beautiful pastel

 We arrived a day early and had the chance to connect with Lyn Asselta.
  Here's a tip... Before you travel to an event in an unknown location, look up artists that live there and contact them. You just may make a great new friend ...and learn a bit about the area that will save time and frustration.
  Lyn took me to Anastasia Island just a hop over the bridge(there are four of them)from St Augustine. It was a great spot to practice painting palm trees (Lyn never paints them!) and warm up for the plein air painting competition.
 It all worked out great! I found out what I forgot, managed to do a decent warm up painting and made a new friend!
 Do check out Lyn's amazing pastel work HERE  ..Thanks Lyn, for making my visit to St Augustine so much more enjoyable!

"Weather Clouds" plein air landscape painting by Robin Weiss

Weather Clouds   9x14 oil on panel    Sold

From a recent blustery day painting with friends on the shores of Puget Sound. We managed to dodge rain , hail and lightning and still get a few paintings in. Thanks to Gigi from the BBI group for hosting!

If you happen to be in St Augustine Florida in May be sure to stop by Cutter and Cutter Fine Art to view the 24th Annual National Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils at Cutter and Cutter Fine Art. I will participating in the plein air event in conjunction with the OPA national Convention April 30th - May 1st

"Chip Brush" paintbrush, still life, oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Chip Brush"   7x7 oil on panel  Sold
Available at Alki Arts

It's always best to have a plan when you walk into the studio.  Have an image in your head, or a plein air study, a sketch or a photo. Sometimes there is a canvas on the easel with a underpainting all worked out from the day before....I love that! ... Sometimes....I got nothin...
On those days,when painting outside is not an option, I have found it beneficial to grab the nearest object and paint it rather than spend a bunch of time circling the wagons.

paint tube

This was one of those paintings...plus, Diane at Alki Arts has been asking me to paint more of these little studies. She has a collection going and thinks some of her other customers would like them too...So I did several.

You can see all the paintings I did for Diane by going to my re-designed website!  Yes!  I have a new website!

www.robinweissfineart.com

 It's the same URL but a totally different look. If you click on the Portfolio tab you will see the paintings available at both Alki Arts and The Carrie Goller Gallery.  A lot of the other page links will take you to my Daily Paintworks or Daily Painters gallery page. That gives you a good overview of my recent and past work.

Let me know what you think!
Thanks!

"Under the Fremont Bridge" Seattle city, marine oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Under the Fremont Bridge"  16x20 oil on canvas   Sold

I was totally surprised and delighted that "Under the Fremont Bridge" was accepted into the Oil Painters of America national exhibition in St. Augustine, Florida. What an honor to be included among some of the finest painters working in oil today.  I will be participating in the plein air competition that is included among many events at the convention this year.

 Really looking forward to connecting with other artists I have admired for many years.

This painting was done from a photo taken on location in Seattle, WA. I had a brief window of time before meeting someone and I raced around taking photos of the marina and boat houses under the Fremont Bridge that really grabbed my attention. I remember studying this view and thinking how massive the bridge supports seemed. Of course the photo did not convey that so I accentuated the support as well as bringing the rowboat more into the foreground.

photo ref.

This is a good example of how the composition of a painting can be enhanced using your photo reference and the memory and feeling of the place. The ideal situation would allow time to do sketches or even a color study but that is not always an option as in this case. Sometimes you have to snap as many photos as you can, take a mental image and get into the studio asap while the inspiration is fresh in your mind.

"Cascade Mountain Farm" landscape oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Cascade Mountain Farm"   10x12 oil on panel     Sold

Wish I could say this painting was completed on location but that would be wrong. I painted this from a photo taken on a road trip to the Yakama Reservation that did not allow me time to set up and paint. However, the only reason I was able to interpret this photo accurate to place and time was all the work I have done in the field.
Bottom line,( you will hear this from most landscape artists) If you want to use photo reference for painting and those paintings to be believable, you must paint from life as much as possible!

Art Day!

BTW,  my destination on that road trip was to participate in "Art Day" at Hope Fellowship Church in White Swan, WA . I taught watercolor to an enthusiastic group of native kids. They are very creative and we all had a lot of fun!

If you would like to learn more about the Sacred Road Ministries work on the reservation check out the website  HERE.  Be sure to check out the videos on their youtube channel!






This painting is now posted on the Daily Paint Works Auction Site.  Click HERE if you would like to place a bid.

"Red Rose"  7x7 oil on panel  

Click HERE to bid