Beach and waves- an aerial view

Gull's Eye View

24" x 18" Oil with palette knives

Blick Studio artist board

SOLD

I painted this just for fun. The inspiration came from some images I found on unsplash.com of beach aerials. Not sure if they were taken by drone or by plane but the colors and textures are so captivating and I knew it would be great practice for palette knife techniques. I imagine this is what the seagull sees as it flies overhead, looking to see if you have any good snacks to steal. I would love to be up high looking down on this beautiful scene. And then go down to the beach and enjoy some sun and ocean waves. 

Here are a few close up details.

Back to basics-drawing the figure

Last August I attended a live model session organized by one of our gallery artist. I decided rather than trying to paint her, I would bring out the charcoal, the contes, and the large newsprint and drawing pads and go back to basics. It was so much fun drawing with charcoal again.

Here are a few select pieces from the evening.

It was just like being back in art school again!

New family portrait commission

Family Selfie at the Beach (Ken and kids)

18" x 18"

oil with palette knives on cradled wood panel

Ken asked me if I would paint this cute picture of him and his kids on the beach. It was really fun to paint a portrait at such a large size, much larger than the portraits I've done in the past. I was able to get a lot of detail in the faces and capture their likeness better.

I took photos along the way of each stage. I always start with the hardest part-the faces and I basically painted one face a day and then the background and clothing on the final day.

Here you can see my orange background wash and the sketch on top.

Ken's daughter was first...

Then Ken...

Then Ken's son...

And here is a close up of one of the faces so you can see all of the detailed strokes.

I chose a simple white floater frame and Ken hung it up moments after I delivered it to him. He hung it over the TV where he spends most of his time at home and where he can look at it daily. He sent me this photo. 

Mr. Thingamajig

Mr Thingamajig

Assemblage

Approximately 20" x 10"

" Available

I entered this assemblage into a show for the Foxboro Art Association this past February. The challenge was to create a piece of art that pushed you outside your comfort zone by trying a new medium, a new style, or just something different and fun.

This guy is a compilation of various pieces of wood I have collected, plus other metal do dads, an acorn hat and a googly eye. 

A few years ago Polo and I had an assemblage show we called "Awesomeblages". You can see some of my favorites assemblages from the show on my blog posted here. It was so much fun that we've been talking about doing another one at some point soon.