"Crow Flight"

First I got food poisoning then I got the flu which developed into bronchitis which gave me a violent cough which gave me a Hernia which explains why I have a lot of time to paint right now while I wait for my surgery on Wednesday.......Sheeesh

I have a whole stack of crow pictures that I take at lunch time while I'm sitting in the truck . All you need is a handful of french fries or potato chips. It was fun working on this little composition in between paintings

8x10 oil on ampersand panel $125.00

"Out to Pasture"

This car is sitting in a pasture just down the road from where I live on Bond road in Poulsbo. It would make a nice project car that you could buy and park in your yard and then think about how you are going to fix it up for the next twenty years. I like the idea of painting a picture of it and hanging it on the wall. 12x12 oil on canvas $225.00 SOLD

Working my way through the coast sketches. I haven't tried to many dramatic sky paintings. They are a real challenge for me. This one looks better in person. I got a lot of glare from the wet paint. 11x14 oil on canvas $225.00

"The Old Plywood Mill", Port Angeles. urban landscape, oil painting

Its been a long haul getting through the last couple weeks. First I had food poisoning then I succumbed to the plague that has been going around. I finally felt well enough to try and paint without throwing up from the smell of turpentine! sheeesh.......

This painting is from one of the sketches I made at the old plywood mill in Port Angeles. I used my pallet knife a lot on this one trying to work in interesting and varied textures with all the white forms. 16x20 oil on stretched canvas $375.00 Sold

"Bike Stand" oil, figurative painting

Caught this elderly gentleman as he was parking his bike to cross the street to the barber shop in Poulsbo. I don't know why he didn't just ride his bike to the other side of the street. Go figure.

I'm having a hard time getting started on my Port Angeles material so I am posting this one till I get going again. Guess I am having kind of a painters block right now. I'll get over it. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

14x18 oil on canvas $285.00

"Road Trip" sketches on the road to La Push

All week the weather "forecasters" predicted clear, sunny and warmer for the long weekend and for once they were right! I took advantage and headed out for one of my favorite beaches on the Washington coast, La Push. There are three great beaches in that area and I spent most of my time on Rialto beach. I did a lot of sketching so I could get the most work out of the time I had. These pencil drawings are all done on location. I did one oil painting which I will touch up in the studio and post later, with lots of painting to come from photos and sketches!
Port Angeles has so many great spots around the docks and shipyards that I stayed the night there and spent the whole day wandering and drawing and taking photos. I also found a great little seafood seller at the boat haven where I picked up some crab cakes to cook on the beach...yummmm.
Salt creek is another favorite camping spot only about a half hour out of P.A. going west. I took a quick side trip up there and got a few more sketches. the camp ground was closed due to lots of trees down from winter storms. Looked like they got hit pretty bad.
More sketches from the "Boat Haven" in Port Angeles.

"Overgrown" landscape, oil painting

I love old buildings and old sheds falling down and overgrown. Something about the color and textures in old painted and weathered wood. These guys are getting plowed down by the hundreds around here in the great cycle of life and commerce. Out with the old and in with the new. It's fun to find them and save them at least on canvas.

8x10, oil on panel, $150.00

"To The Lighthouse" landscape,oil painting

Got a little glare from the light in this photo, sorry about that. This is from our last visit to the Lighthouse at Fort Warden in Port Townsend. The day was blustery and cold. It felt good to get back to the woodstove at home. ..

12x16 oil on stretched canvas $275.00 Sold

"Sunglare" oil landscape painting

I could hear the dog barking but I couldn't see him when I stopped to take this shot up on the top of Sawdust Hill road. The sunglare off the pavement was so intense. I just pointed the camera out the window and snapped the picture not knowing what would come of it.

9x12 oil on stretched canvas SOLD

" Break Wall" Silverdale Waterfront Park, oil landscape painting

I drove by the Silverdale Waterfront Park last week and it happened to be a beautiful foggy morning just as the sun was burning off the haze. It's amazing how ordinary or familiar scenes are transformed by atmospheric conditions.

11x14 in. oil on stretched canvas $225.00

"The Same Moon" landscape, oil painting

In the morning setting, and the evening, rising , has been the most beautiful full moon the last few days. I share a love for this moon and the One who made it, with a dear loved one who is on the other side of the world right now but who looks up at the same moon.

8x10 in oil on ampersand panel $ 150.00 sold

"Great Tortoise Hostel" Seattle cityscape, oil painting

Man it's been a long time between posts! Sorry about that! To all you kind folks who have been inquiring as to my health and whereabouts, I am fine and still painting!... I was pleasantly distracted during the Holidays but took the time to take some photos. This painting of Seattle is 24x24 in. I have been working on it several weeks now and it is still a work in progress. Thing is,, it has sentimental value for me and I don't think I will be able to sell it!

I checked out " Richard Shmidt Paints the Landscape" from Smartflix.. Its pretty good..I'm starting to get jazzed about getting outside to paint. The weather here has been crazy this year but if R.S. can paint in a snow storm I guess I can paint in good old Seattle rainslushicesnowmuckdrizzlefloodfogsleet.

"Father and Son" farm life, oil painting

There is an interesting book in the studio called "Farm Life". It documents in black and white photos, the life of a farm family through two generations. The photographer and author lived with the family on and off during the life of a boy until he grew up, married and had his own family. I have looked through this book many times and find it not only a fascinating account of one aspect of American life but an inspirational source for painting subjects when I have forgotten my images and can't go outside to paint.
I added the painting in the drawing phase. Charcoal thinned with turps.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Daily Painters Studio Tour

The awsome artists on "Daily Painters" website are all going to post a picture of their studios. You can check them out by clicking on the Daily Painters widget. This is mine. Most of you have already seen the studio that I work from most of the time ,if not you can go back a few posts to see the Knowles Studio. This is my small studio at home which I get a lot of use from also, it's just hard to back up from a painting when you only have about 5 feet to back up and that is when the studio is clean, which it never is.
This is the most interesting feature of my studio. The cats private bathroom, designed by me to exhaust all cat box odors and paint fumes from the painting area. On the other side of this hole, which is cut through the wall of the house, is a plywood box containing two large litter trays( we can go about 30 days) with one of those window fans set on top to suck out the fumes. I leave it on low 24/7 and it works great!......Thats Rosie's butt...she loves her "Kittie Kan"!..........oh and I did not pick the drapes......

"Chev. Truck" and "Mt Rainier" finished, oil painting

Got to go back to this farm last week. Last year in November, when it snowed I got several successful paintings from the Bledsoe farm in Poulsbo on Pugh Rd. This year it was after our first snow. This truck was parked in the same exact position as last year so I painted it again from a different perspective.12x16, oil on stretched canvas $250.00
I finally finished the Mt Rainier painting, I decided to add a car for interest . I still havn't figured out if it is coming or going...... This could reflect metaphorically on the artist.......

1....the obvious...I don't know if I am coming or going..

2...I've had a mountain top experience and am now headed for the valley....or I've been in the valley and am now headed for the mountain....or my cars out of gas and I'm coasting to the gas station....

3....I didn't do a very good job on the car..

But the best thing is to let you ,the viewer tell the story.

18x24, oil on stretched canvas, $450.00

"Dock light" Bainbridge Island, oil painting

My job does have it's advantages. I get around a lot and always carry my camera with me. So when I can't get out to paint there is always a library of photos to pick from. This one is out on Bainbridge Island. 8x10, oil on panel, sold

" Fog Delivery" country landscape, oil painting

Just a quiet scene I wanted to get down on canvas before I lost the feel of it. I go down this road alot in the mornings on my way to get gas. Its one of those magical valleys that hold a thousand paintings of every mood depending on the light... 8x10 oil on masonite panel $135.00

" Behind the Hansville Store" oil painting, urban landscape

Another painting from the Hansville area. There is alot of cool stuff behind the Hansville store. About a mile down the beach from here is the Point no Point lighthouse. 14x18 oil on stretched canvas, $300.00

"Road Sign" Mt Rainier, updated

Got the day off today...yippi-ki-yea......because......well check out the picture of the studio below. That about says it all....and then behind that came...torrential rains and high winds.... The gov. declared the whole western side of the state a disaster area. Homes flooded, bridges out, roads closed. I feel actual pain when I see these homes flooded out because I was one of them several years back. Fortunately they replaced a culvert under the road that was the culprit and it swallowed all the water this time, P.T.L.

Anyway, I got to paint today and I worked on the Mt Rainier piece. This is one of those paintings that looks alot better in person. I also did a couple more to post later.Sold

Update on the "Crows" monotype....I guess you really need a printing press to do these except Leigh told me that some artists used steam rollers back in the 60s and huge paper. Also she said you can use ordinary oil paint and then a cloths pin for rolling but it won't look the same........By the way this print is about 9x12 , one of a kind (mono)type, $75.00

We ended up with about seven inches of snow before the monsoon hit. A one day winter wonderland.

" Road Sign" Mt Rainier , oil painting in progress

Cutting over to Port Orchard from Belfair on Lake Flora Rd. I had to pull over and take a picture of Mt Rainier. It was awsome with the last light of day illuminating the snow on top of the mountain. 18x24 oil on canvas , paiting in progress . Sorry for the poor photo image.

" Crows" monotype print

Thought I'd post my first monotype print. This was done from a photograph taken on Bainbridge Island at the Texico station. A favorite spot for working guys to get their lunch during the day. If it's not me , sombody is throwing out french fries ,potato chips or something for the seagulls and crows. I always get out my camera and try for pics of crows with attitude.

Monotype printing is easy, you just roll out some ink on a plexiglass plate and then wipe away the highlights. I'm already thinking of images that would be good for printing. SOLD

"Mikes Auto Repair" urban oil painting and Model study

This business is located under the 11th street overpass in Bremerton. I went by there again this week and they had spray painted the whole building... doors ,trim ,windows,... everything.... a kind of baby poo yellow ..So glad I got this painting before they did that. 18x24 oil on stretched canvas $450.00
Well I found a figure drawing class on Bainbridge Island. It will be good to get back to painting the figure...thats the best practice... I'll try to post what I do there. My first two paintings went to my friend Todd and I forgot to get pictures.

"Arts in the Woods" 07

I remembered to pull out the camera on Saturday. This is an oil painting of a sketch that was posted a while back.
Lots of folks came by on Fri. and Sat. We sold many paintings and had a great time talking to all the people that were touring all the studios.
Out of my comfort zone painting in front of lots of people and working on portrait and figure work.

"Arts in the Woods" and Veterans Day

Sorry for the lack of blog entries lately. I'm sitting here amazed by my own stupidity. I spent the whole day yesterday just having a blast talking with folks, selling paintings, prints and cards..Then I went over to fellow artists Tom and Dave Layton for an excellent dinner before we went to an opening show at Westsound Acadamy for artist illustrator Richard Jesse Watson......... www.richardjessewatson.com and I did not take one picture to post on my blog. I even did a demo painting and didn't get a picture. So..... nothing today but some great links to check out.... but don't worry I'll get lots of pics today.

Good friend and great artist Derek Gundy illustrated a video for Vietnam Veteran and musician Blind Albert. Check it out and say thanks to a vet this weekend! http://www.artistsedge.com/gallery.html