Blog
The Carlsbad-Oceanside Art League (COAL) July Members Show is now open. My painting, “A Shady Creek flows toward Carlsbad”, is in the show. Hope to see you there.
I will be hosting the NCAG on 1 June 2025 and would love to see you there. You will be amazed at the variety and quality of the art selections available. Let me know when you visit and I will try to be there to show you around.
See the Events list for the dates of this show. My original submission was purchased by a very special collector special collector and she sent me a photo of her with the painting…a very kind gesture. I have substituted “Morning at Oceanside Harbor”. Hope to see you in the gallery. Let me know when you plan to visit and I will try to arrange to be there when you go!
The Carlsbad-Oceanside Art League's March Show is open now at the North Coastal Gallery. The Opening Reception is this coming Saturday at NCAG from 3-5PM PDT. I have entered three paintings, "Evening in Buenos Aires", "Breaking onto Rocky Shelf", and "Midday Sun Breaks though Morning Clouds". The latter two works were painted en Plein air and the first was a studio painting from a smaller study. I hope to see you at the gallery for the reception or for a visit. Let me know if you plan to visit and I will try to meet you there.
The February Show at the NCAG of COAL members' art included my diptych of the San Diego Coastal Mountain range including Palomar Mountain and looking south to Laguna Mountain. The "Palomar to Laguna A" painting was awarded 3rd place in the Oil Paintings Category and received several votes from the People's Choice voting. My other entry was "Bridge at Oak Canyon", a painting that I reduced in size to 20 x 24 from it original 30 x 24 size and modified in the studio. After having it reviewed by a signature artists doing evaluations of submitted paintings for members of the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, I decided that the other parts of the painting, although providing greater context for the scene, were not essential to supporting the focal points, the bridge and at the fall colors. This painting also receive some attention in the Peoples' Choice voting.
I entered one painting, Coastal Dawn 6x8, into the Laguna Plein Air Painter’s Association’s (LPAPA) 2023 "Less is More" juried show: Coastal Dawn 6x8. The show will be juried on or around 5 June.
At that time we will know whether it has been selected as a finalist or semi-finalist, so we will keep our fingers crossed. I will update this blog when I learn the outcome. The piece is posted in my website’s "Available Small Oil Paintings" folder.
Five of my pieces are entered in the Carlsbad and Oceanside Art Leagues (COAL) June Monthly Show at the North Coastal Art Gallery (NCAG).
The paintings I have entered are: A Quiet Cove, Across the Cove, Shadows & Shelves, Colonia del Sacremento Adobe and Gateway to the Seven Sisters as seen in Available Oil Paintings or Available Small Paintings. They are available for purchase through NCAG.
They will go on display starting the week of June 5th and ending July 3rd. Check the Gallery’s operating hours at NorthCoastalArtGallery.com. An artists reception will be held at NCAG (300 Carlsbad Village Drive, Suite 101, Carlsbad, CA 92008) on Sunday, June 13, 2023 from 3:00-5:00pm. I would love to see you there!
For the first time I entered several paintings in a juried show…the Laguna Plein Air Painting Association (LPAPA) “Less is More” for small paintings. I submitted six paintings, each 6x8. One of the six was accepted as a semi-finalist and is shown in their online show auction with other semi-finalists. The painting is titled “Shadows and Shelves” in which bright sun washes color out of the ocean and rock shelves lining the shore, and the cliffs are in shadow with a kiss of sunlit color along the top and some edges. It can be seen at http://dailybrushwork.com/grid2.aspx?OJSID=52380&OID=3&GSID=10166&pg=3 . You can also visit the LPAPA gallery and website to see the finalist and a catalog of the exhibit.
The other five paintings are all in the Available Small Painting collection on my website: “Afternoon at Sunset Cliffs”, “Emerald Cove View”, “Gotta Love the Marine Layer”, “Looking Across the Cove”, and “Peering Over and Through”. When I submitted these paintings I had no idea what the jury might look for and was a bit surprised they chose the least colorful of the set. Although I think the other paintings each have their own interest, I can see that “Shadows and Shelves” features contrasting shadows and light as well as a perspective that draw the eye into the painting.
I hope you enjoy seeing all six of these new works.
I continue to study with John Cosby and this session's plein air event was at San Clemente pier. In the morning, we focused on subject selection and composition design in two ways. First, we sketched to capture value and composition; then, we captured images electronically and designed the composition on screen. We started the afternoon watching John do a quick plein air painting and finished it by painting our own.
It is always fascinating to watch John quickly compose a plein air painting in just a few minutes and humbling to follow up with a two-hour process struggling to correctly depict the near and distant objects with their color, values and tones. But, as with science, it's the 'doing' that facilitates the learning and creating...
