FOR SALE - after the new year...

I have been encouraged to begin selling original works. I have decided to start that after the new year, so come back for a visit and pick something out. Price range [with very few exceptions] $50 - $125. Thank you for the interest.

"Ally at the Beach" a few hours of painting fun!

I wanted something colorful for that blank spot on the wall that is one of the first things I see in the morning. What could be more special than a portrait of my granddaughter! Based on a great profile beach photo [thanks to her talented mom], I set up the French easel in the garage for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon, grabbed a "garage sale" 24"x 30" canvas, spread out the acrylics on the top of a trash can, and did my thing. I intend to put a deep gloss coating on it, and maybe a very subtle light pattern in the sky and sand - and I am signing up for a portrait painting class at the CA Art Inst. for sure, ... but for now I have my "Good Morning" Ally at the Beach to smile-start my days off great! It works for me.

Plein Air Bob CAPE COD painting tour, 2010

What a great place to just relax and create memories. That's what I did during my 2 week trip to Cape Cod. Two paintings are now with private collectors in Marshfield and Duxbury, MA. All the paintings below are done in 90 minutes as part of my plan to get "loose" and also just to enjoy the process, rather than labor over anything. Small and quick and never going back for endless and time consuming re-touching is great training and it worked for me for sure. The people you meet while your tucked in on a small quiet street in the early morning, or on a stone wall on the smallest village main street is great. My wife's family welcomed us as they do to that part of the world every year, and part of that included a last day tour of spots I may want to paint next year. WOW! I am really ready to go as soon as next August rolls around for sure. I packed only a small lap-top size paint box this year and a great canvas bag made for plein air get-up-and-go painting. It all fit in my suitcase so no $100+ shipping charges this year. The great Inns we jumped from one to another to included The Danl Webster Inn, The Lamb and The Lion, The 7 Sea Street Inn on Nantucket, and the Candelberry Inn. Great places all with super innkeepers to match. It was really tough to come home to CA this time - for the 1st time I can recall. This winter I hope to be off to Maui, Amelia Island, FL and maybe to Boca Raton, FL for a Beach Club poolside chill out. We'll see.

Plein Air Bob Enjoying the Morning Light!

I am a morning person, and morning painter. Give me a cup of decaf "jo" from the local coffee shop, add a donut from a near by bakery, and I am off for a quiet morning of making 6x8 memories. Perhaps back to Maine next year, but the Cape Cod area was my place to set up this summer. Inn-hoping every day from Sandwich to Nantucket I traveled light with a laptop easel only the basic colors, a few brushes, and no cell phone. Painting was limited to 90 minutes per painting give or take and always on a small 6x8 canvas board.

WARM UP FOR CAPE COD - NANTUCKET PAINTING SEASON

Below are some of this weeks 6x8 "warm up" paintings to help me get as free and loose as I can before this year's Cape Cod painting trip. With the homestead given over to vacationing pals who promise to fed the cat and deal with the house painters while I am gone. All of these [below] were done in about 90 minutes using only the 4 primary colors along with my must have yellow oxide and neutral grey. I am packing very lite this year with an Italian traveling paint box that has all that I need in it to set up in my lap and enjoy thanks to my local ArtGraphics art supply hangout. I hope to do at least 10 that are worth posting as well as trade them to fellow vacationers for dinners at the local restaurants. We'll see.

The forecast is rain, with no chance of any painting..

The weather is "rain and more rain" all next week with the clouds building here in CA for the weekend. I am bummed and it's only Friday! That means no chance of any canvas creativity at all. As a sun-spoiled southern CA guy, if it ain't beach weather, it ain't worth getting out of bed for. The good news is that rain is perfect for script writing so I guess I will finally turn out that treatment that's been due for a while.

Our local Inn ripped out the old gas station and planted a vineyard. I decided to try out my new "fast painting" art case that is about the size of a mid-size coffee table book, stocked with the basic colors, a few brushes, and a small bottle of water - and head off to the late afternoon light and the newly planted vineyard. The entire painting took about an hour on site before it got just too cold. I finished it up the following afternoon in the front yard [temp 80+] in about 20 minutes. The kit needs only minor adjustments to make it really work on vacations, trips to the beach, or just to take out for a fast painting or two. The lesson is to finish in an hour or less.