"Outside the Friesen Gallery" Seattle city scenes, urban oil painting

Being a full time artist and a daily painter has many challenges. Among them is keeping a good operating camera and taking quality pictures. (one of the reasons I haven't posted in a week) I prefer a moderately priced point and shoot so I can easily take it with me anywhere I go. Also a small camera is better for candid shots. Right now I am using a Nikon, Coolpix S8000.  This is my second one. My first one began a slow decline after I slipped on a steel sidewalk grate in Seattle and slammed it into the concrete. I liked it so much I ordered a refurbished one for half the price on Amazon. It looks like brand new and seems to work great and now I have an extra battery.......which is another good idea in this business(always take extra charged batteries and SD cards).  I have learned however that if you want studio quality photos of your work,  you need a very kind and giving colleague who knows photoshop to take your pictures with her fancy SLR.  THANKS LEIGH!

"Lake Agnes" Canadian Rockies,

I have never painted a majestic mountain scene before. We were so inspired by the Canadian Rocky Mountains near Banff I decided it was time.  I chose an image of Lake Agnes, a scene that I had sketched on location and took many pictures of . (see the sketches a few posts back) . If you hike up the mountain from Lake Louise to the Tea House, you can sit on the covered porch and take in the incredible beauty of this view as you sip a hot cup of tea.
36x30 oil on canvas  sold

Plein Air Painting, at the Point no Point Lighthouse

8x10 oil on panel sold

The morning started out foggy but was changing fast, so I had to set up and really get to slinging paint to try and capture the atmosphere.  My palette here is Titanium White, Hansa Yellow, Cad Red, Alizarine Perm., Trans. Orange Oxide, Veridian, Cobalt blue, Ultramarine Blue.

I found a good spot to set up on a bird watching platform! Nice flat stable footing with a great view from three directions!

Juan Valdez  all coffee'd up and pushing paint...=]

8x10 oil on panel

All of these paintings were done before the Jim Lamb color workshop on Saturday....Jim told us if there is a problem with a painting (and the design is good) it is one of four things;

Hue- (color)
Value- (dark to light)
Temperature- (warm/cool)
Intensity- ( amount of pigment)

This painting has problems in all four of those areas.....but I think the design is pretty good?

My last effort of the day. You can tell I'm sun burned and rummy.....time to pack it in...

Plein Air Painting, Brownsville marina

Brownsville Marina Boats 6x10 oil on panel

"River Cascade"

We stopped for a break at this river as we traveled from Banff to the Columbian Ice Fields.The sun was just coming out of the clouds, illuminating the spray and pulling the colors out from the rocks beneath the water.

18x14 oil on canvas.

"Water Hole" Grand Prairie, Trans Canadian Highway

I'm trying to convey the vastness and distance of Canada's Grand Prairie here. These small studies may be used in larger paintings down the road.
10x8 oil on panel

"Evening Train" Trans Canadian Highway

Ever since I was a little kid I have loved trains!  My dad helped me build an "N" gauge railroad layout with an engine similar to this Canadian Pacific engine.  That was our project to work on together for a few years. I am still fascinated by them. This painting depicts the trains we saw rumbling across Canada's great plains while driving the Trans Canadian highway.
12x8 oil on panel

"On the Road" Trans Canadian Highway

We are back on the road again.....headed for the Canadian Rockies...Stay tuned, we have miles yet to travel but the destination is spectacular!...=]

12x8 oil on panel

"View from Kerry Hill Park" Seattle city skyline

I took a break from the Canada images to paint this view of Seattle from Kerry Hill Park in Queen Ann. My solo show at the Directors Gallery on Bainbridge Island has been very successful but has left Alki Arts in the lurch for work....so this painting will go to them along with a few other recent paintings.
20x16 oil on canvas   sold

"Cut Field" along the Trans Canadian highway.

"Cut Field"  8x10 oil on panel    SOLD

We spent two days driving across seemingly endless prairie. Huge vistas of big skies and distant horizons.Cattle were scattered across the landscape and the Canadian Pacific Railroad followed along most of the highway. I love the stark beauty of those scenes and now it's my job to try and take my memories, some sketches and some flat lifeless photos and create the mood and feeling I had while traveling through Canada.

"Close of Day" on the Trans Canadian Highway.

I'm working my way slowly back into my normal routine at the studio. Yesterday I did three small paintings as studies for larger work......This was a quick sketch in oil of some images taken while traveling along the Trans Canadian Highway ....somewhere between Calgary and Banff.
10x8 oil on panel

"From the Sketchbook" Amish family, Holmes county, Ohio

Every time we get the chance to visit Ann's parents in Ohio there is always a trip to Amish country..This time we visited the town of Berlin and stopped for some ice cream. This young mother and her daughter were selling baskets along the road and took the opportunity to cool off under a large fir tree.

"Sketches from the Canadian Rockies"

Sometimes you can finish a sketch and sometimes you just have to get back on the road. The top sketch is the highway coming into Banff. We stayed at at a camp site with a great view of HooDoo mountain..From there we were able to trek to Sulpher mountain and the hot springs, Lake Louise, Moraine lake and the Columbian Icefields.

The picture (above) is the view from about two miles up Sulpher mountain. It encompasses the town of Banff and the Bow river valley. We didn't want to pay the exorbitant fees for taking the tram so decided to hike the four miles (vertical) to the top!  That was the first day in Banff and got me broke in for the rest of the trip! Fortunately they allowed us to ride the tram down for free!

This tram cost about $30.00 canadian per person and takes about 15 minuets to get to the top(as opposed to the two hours it takes to hike) but you miss a lot of great mountain scenery on the way. Before we started, the sign at the bottom stated that you need to buy a ticket to ride the tram down. At the top we really didn't want to hike back down so I asked the operator if we could ride and she said "Sure"!  If you don't ask you don't receive....I'm just sayin....

"Lake Agnes" Canadian Rockies , from the sketchbook

I did this sketch after hiking 3.7 km up the mountain from lake Louise to lake Agnes. They had a beautiful tea house built at the lake fully staffed with tea and light lunch options....It was very refreshing after the long hike, but the best pay off was the spectacular mountains surrounding Lake Agnes.

"Approaching Alki" sketches from 2011

It's never a good idea to post on your blog or Facebook page when you are leaving for an extended vacation....That's the reason why it has been so long between posts! We flew to Ohio and picked up the vehicle that will replace my old red van....A nice new..(Well....new for us)....custom camper van, graciously donated by my in-laws and drove it across Canada and back home....We had a short break and then off for Camp High Rock 2011...a yearly summer camp for kids off the Yakima Indian reservation....We had a great time!! ....and I have lots of reference photos and field sketches to work from!  In fact,  I will be posting sketches for awhile until I generate some paintings....I have spent some time stretching large canvases and preparing panels ...so I'm all ready to go!!!..Stay tuned and thanks for following I.P.A.!!

This is a pen and wash sketch from my sketch book. I have been using a soluble marker and india ink mixed with water in one of those water brushes to sketch with and sometimes a little watercolor. 

"Market Lights" Seattle city scenes, urban landscape

Okay, Wow! It's been a busy month!  We took two weeks to go back to Ohio, where we picked up a van that our folks gave us and then drove it back across the Trans Canadian highway, stopping to camp for five days in Banff..The country we traveled through was spectacular and I can't wait to get started on some larger canvases from the pics and sketches that I made there!
  Next week we take off again for camp High Rock, a summer camp for kids off the Yakima reservation in eastern Washington . This will be our fifth year serving as camp counselors along with folks from our church, Liberty Bay Pres., Harrah community church and Sacred Road ministry.
  Finally, please come to my solo show, opening this Friday, 7/1/2011 at the Directors Gallery on Bainbridge Island . I will be there from 6:00pm till 8:00pm and would love to say hi if you are in the area.Winslow Way is still pretty torn up from road construction but there is a really nice outside sitting area right by the gallery and the weather is looking good!! Yea!
 See ya there and thanks for supporting In Plein Air!!  

16x20 oil on canvas  sold

"The Argosy" Seattle waterfront, oil painting

It is getting close to "Show Time" folks!!! If you would like to see this work up close and personal.....and maybe even take it home to hang over your fire place...come on over to the Directors Gallery on Bainbridge Island the first week of July.....I will be at the gallery for the first Friday art walk and would love to meet you!
The gallery will be full of my recent original paintings of Seattle and the surrounding regions of the Pacific Northwest.
16x20 oil on canvas  sold

"Sunset over Elliot Bay" Washington state ferries, marine landscape

Not too many ferry paintings make it to my easel....but I just had to try and capture this dramatic sunset over Elliot bay.....the ferry gave it that sense of interest and location.
12x9 oil on canvas  sold

"Flower Barn" Skagit Co. tulip festival, oil landscape painting

I found one more painting of the Tulip Festival that I forgot to post......Here it is!....I like the way that the mountains were rendered in the back ground ...but when I showed it to my wife, she said "nice clouds honey"...At least they receded into the distance the way I wanted...
14x11 oil on canvas panel   sold

"Apple Blossoms and Garden Chairs" oil landscape painting

This painting was inspired by the view outside my window at the Knowles Studio. I had been watching the apple trees blossoming and wishing to paint them but every time I got the chance, it would cloud up and rain...or hail...or snow...or drizzle..or blow a gale....Sheesh!  What a spring we have had!...Any how, I finally turned my easel around and painted the garden chairs under the apple tree... that no longer had blossoms...... but I remembered them...I painted these same garden chairs last year, en plein air......when we had much nicer spring weather..
12x36 oil on canvas

"Home Pasture" cows in the landscape, oil painting..

One more for the cows!! This time I combined some of the images that I took in LaConnor ...Using an old barn from one pic, the pasture from another and one of my sketches of the cows, I was able to put this composition together.....I think it could go bigger...=]
6x8 oil on panel sold

By the way, if your wondering why I am not offering these little paintings for auction it is because I am saving some work for my solo show at the Directors Gallery in July . I hope you can make it for the opening, First Friday Artwalk in July!.. There will also be larger recent work!....  I will start with the auctions again after the show....

I keep thinking of more things to say....Publish, edit...publish, edit...you know the routine....But....I wanted to add that my friend and fellow plein air painter, Darrell Anderson...(actually he is a much more dedicated PA painter than me!) will be offering a painting give-away on his blog and all you have to do is comment to enter!! The more comments the better your chances....Great idea !
8x6 oil on panel  sold

"LaConnor Cows" cows in the landscape, oil painting

This is the second small painting that I did of the cows in this pasture....trying to capture the spring green of the grass and contrast of the cows grazing.
8x6 oil on panel sold

"Skagit Cows" oil landscape with cows

   

Cows are endlessly fascinating subjects for me to paint...especially the Holsteins with their black and white markings. I jerked the truck over to the side of the road at the end of the day when the light was saturating the colors to capture these guys.

8x6 oil on panel sold

"Tulip Girl" Skagit county tulip festival

"Tulip Girl" 6x8 oil on panel  sold

This is the same little girl that was in Sea of Color..She was having a blast in the fields of flowers and so full of joy!  It was fun trying to capture her Happy Dance..=]
6x8 oil on panel

"Daffodil Farm" Skagit county tulip fields.

I loved the profile of this massive barn with the daffodil fields in the forground and the mountains behind.

10x6 oil on panel.  sold