Old Truck in Front of Barn

Ok, first of all, let me say that this is still a work in progress.  Secondly, let me tell you a little story about this.

A colleague of mine, knowing my propensity for all things rusty and wheeled, sent me a picture he took of this truck.  I couldn't help but attempt a painting of it.  I drew it, and painted it.  It looked horrible.  I couldn't stand it.  Even my colleague looked at it and asked if I had regressed in my painting.

I literally started pouring on the water and rubbed most of the paint off the truck.  Having done that, I was left with a painting that still had color, but which was infused with tiny white dots where the paint had been taken off.  It still looked horrible.  So, here is what I decided to do.

I admitted to myself that I'd wasted a sheet of paper and used it for some practice.  I stood, instead of sitting, and started swabbing on paint, not worrying about color or exact placement of paint.  In short, painting more loosely.  You can see I got some red on the roof of the bar,  a big swab of blue on the side of the barn, some green for trees, and yellows, reds and greens for grass.  While still wet, I just flicked in a few weeds.  I touched up the paint on the truck, and POW, a huge difference. I couldn't believe the transformation of this picture. It went from something that was totally drab and blasé to something in which the truck actually stands out in the picture.

I know that I still have a little bit of work to do painting but I couldn't believe how much better it look when I stopped trying to paint so tightly.

I hope you all enjoy it I am going to be posting the finished painting soon. Thank you.

Green Motorcycle

Ok, I've been trying to paint a few paintings recently, and have been having a few problems.  I am not a trained painter.  I've never taken a course, and I don't prescribe to any  real system to do my paintings.  I have, however, reviewed like a million videos, and online tutorials on how to paint.  At this point in my artistic career, I should tell you I think they are all bunko!

I've done a few paintings recently (ones that you will never see) that were painted in this more traditional way.  Sky first, then background, foreground, blah blah blah.   They all stunk.  I think that method isn't going to work for me.  Looking back at all the pictures that I have done that I think look good, and that I have had fun painting have been done mostly opposite of this.  As was the painting of this motorcycle.

I sketched the bike and jumped right in with painting it.  The foreground, the background, the sky, they will all take care of themselves.  What I think is most important to get right, right away, is the subject of the painting.  (Yes, I will admit that I like these kind of diffuse foregrounds and backgrounds.  And if I wanted to at this poinet I could go back and put in whatever foreground or background details and no one would ever know I didn't do it the "proper" way.)

I will admit to making one HUGE error with this bike.  It was supposed to be blue!!  I was working on two paintings at once, on was drying and I started with the wrong color without thinking about it,  Oooops, what do I do?  Well, I just kind of went with it, and figured that some people have green bikes anyway.

I still like it, and hope you all do to.

A Couple Quick Sketches From the Hotel

Ok, so I just spent a few days at the Cliffs Resort in Shell Beach.  While I was there for an official work function, I was able to break away and do a couple of painting.  This is the first one.  It is the side of the resort.  To the right is where the swimming pool is, to the left is the Pacific Ocean.  I don't know what I liked so much about these trees.  I guess it was the fact that none of them were straight, and the cast a really interesting shadow on the side of the hotel.

This little group of palm trees was about 20 feet from where I sat to paint the picture above.  They were just in the middle of the small field that separated the hotel from the ocean.


Now that you have seen these pictures, take a closer look at them.  Know what you aren't seeing.  Pencil lines.  I actually started out drawing both these scenes.  The drawings were horrible.  Painting in my "studio"  I have time massage drawings and to make sure they look as right as possible.  For whatever reason, my drawings were not working out at the hotel.  After  a while I just decided that I could paint them better than draw them.  So I did.  And I did.  I know these aren't the most technically perfect paintings, but I spent about 5 minutes apiece on each, and given that amount of time, I think they are pretty good.  I've some others from this conference that I will post tomorrow.  They are quick and dirty paintings too, but look just a bit better.

Hope you enjoy these.  Thanks for looking.

Last One of This Series

Well, at long last I have come to the end of painting old rusty trucks.  I'll do some more of them at some point in time, but right now, it's time to move on.  I've really enjoyed painting them, and have learned a ton.  Also, I've learned there is a ton more to learn.  Oy Vey!  Well, it's a good thing I'm still having fun with it and want to keep going.  I really do think this is the best one I have done.  I'm posting several pictures again this time too.  I got some good feedback about it last time and am going to try to incorporate pictures of the steps more often.

 Here is the start.  A simple drawing.  Only the truck and a little bit of the fence.  I've moved the center of interest off the center of the paper.  Hopefully, it make the painting just a bit more interesting.

The underpinning of the truck body.  You can see the green and red as well as the rust color.  More layers to come.

I'm not sure this is the perfect place to start, but I get so hyped to see the truck come to life that I start with it.  I may have made a small mistake by painting the bumper at this point, but I can fix it later if I need to.

Background, and foreground go in.  Nothing with any detail, just some basic colors.  Note there is just a hint of blue for a sky.   Trees will cover the rest.  I'm not sure why I did the inside of the cab and the grill.  Mostly I think it was because I was being interrupted while I was painting and that is just how it turned out.  Also, you can tell I added another layer to the truck body.

A few trees and some shadows.  I am thinking of leaving the trees like this, but they look a little to airy.  I think I will eventually have to paint a layer over them.  Some shadowing under the front clip of the truck and it really comes to life.  It's amazing what a little color can do some times.

Well, I painted over the leaves of the trees in the background.  I've got to do all my detail work on the truck now before I put the foreground on.  I have to do this so that if I paint over the truck with the foreground, it will really push it back into the painting.    At this point, I'm worried about the grill.  The picture I'm painting from shows the grill as black, or at least really dark.  I don't want it to be a big black hole in the center of the painting.

This painting for sale.  9x12  $30

Here it is, the finished painting.  The wheel is done, the grill is done, and the weeds help to push the truck back into the painting.  I think it turned out great. I couldn't be happier with it.  I hope you all like it too.

Gus's Grocery

Ok, I will admit, Gus's isn't in Morro Bay, it's in San Luis, but its an institution and everyone knows it.  I had to give it a try.  Incidentally, if you want a great sub, Gus's is the place to go.

Some good and some bad on this one, just like the rest.  Seeing the scanned image, i can tell my perspective is still off a bit, but I don't think it really takes away from the picture all that much.  Some good coloring on the trees, and a bit ont he brick on the front of the store.  The stucco, I feel like I am having trouble with.  Soooooooooooooo many of the building here are all stucco, and if you know me, you know that i think stucco is like the laziest way to finish a building.  It rarely ever looks good.  Maybe I feel I am having a little trouble painting it because of the way I feel about it.    After painting the Bayside, I was told that if I made the windows totally dark, or black, that they would be much more dramatic.  I have to say, That was some good advice.  Well, I hope you all enjoy the painting.

Beach House on the Moon (well, maybe the beach)

Watercolor 9 x 12.  This Painting for sale.

Trying to do the stylized method on this picture just like on yesterdays bird.  Putting the darkest part of the sky at the horizon and the darkest part of the ground at the horizon line is supposed to make whatever sits along that line really pop out.  It certainly did with the bird yesterday, today, not quite as much, but i probably didn't make the sky quite as dark as I should have.    I tried to blend and lighten the green as it came down the beach toward the viewer, the ad som mounding and beach grass.  Seeing this painting scanned in, it looks a little too grey for my taste.  I wish I could would have noticed it while i was painting.  I guess that will come with experience.    Also the outlining is purposely done very loosely.  I didn't want to do an exact outline of every shape.  This style gives you indications of where the lines should de, and allows your eye or mind to fill in what it thinks should be there.  Hope you enjoy.

Beach House

Just a quick little painting of a house set back from the beach.