His and Hers

6x6 each - oil on panel
$100 (each painting) + $11 s/h - contact me

I've always wanted to paint a diptych - or even triptych - and this scene in Starbucks the other day just struck me. The scenes would overlap a bit, they are not divided exactly, but I think they would look very nice hung side by side, if you are interested in purchasing both, please email me in the next day or two. If not, I will post them separately with paypal links.

Lunch on the Steps

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h - sold

Sometimes there are so many ways to paint something that its hard to know if you've done it the right way. What I mean is that the steps and plaza could have been brighter and more yellow, like they were bathed in sun, or they could have been cool and blue, which is more what they were (a gray granite)... or they could be rosy and pinkish, or ochre. Its really endless. And each choice conveys a different feeling. Am I entirely satisfied with this color choice? Not really to be honest.

I'm beginning to learn to paint not exactly what I see. That may seem strange. But in order to capture and convey sunlight, one has to "invent." Or enhance. It is impossible to paint light, or even the full spectrum of color we see, but there are some tricks I am learning. Take Ken Auster... his city scenes are fabulous, but they are not exactly representative of what those buildings truly look like. Usually one side of the street is bathed in shadow colors (cool) and the other all warm, sunny colors. He doesn't carefully copy each building's particular masonry. But there is a color scheme which unifies the painting and creates a scene bathed in sunshine. Another great painter to look at is Kim English... his works just seem to glow. But were the sidewalks really paved in gold?

Well this just became a ramble. Back to the easel now to try again.

The Pages of a Romance

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h - sold

This was from one of my sketches I did last week downtown. It was during lunch hour and quite a few people came and sat in this sunny plaza on 6th street - many of them ate their lunch and sat with a book. A nice escape from the pressures of work.

The Art of Art Appreciation

I saw this promoted in an email from Karin Jurick and saw that my work was referenced as well as many others... the subject being the interest many artists have in depicting people looking at art. There is some nice work featured and the rest of "if it's hip, it's here" is fun too! Check it out.

BTW - I have been busy elsewhere all week... except a trip downtown to paint with my friend Tess Walls today. We had a nice morning painting then lunch in a square where we sketched more.

Back with you all next week!

Sidewalk Artists

11x14 oil on panel

Ask Castle Gallery about this painting.

This mommy and daughter were perfectly posed as they focused on their sidewalk art skills at the arts festival downtown Austin. I had a bear of a time painting the lady's feet though. I hope I have them correct now. If not, I don't want to hear about it. ;-)
Have a wonderful weekend. We will likely be enjoying the fine weather and the reggae festival.

The Scribbler

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h - sold

I couldn't resist the opportunity at the arts festival to take lots of shots of both young and old doing chalk drawings. This little girl just looked like spring with her floral halter dress. She moved around a lot too and really spent some time making her mark... hence the name "The Scribbler."

Cafe Crowd

7x5 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h - sold

Finally - a small painting to offer my blog patrons. This is a smaller scene from a larger painting I am working on. I experiment with several cropping options when planning a larger work and I really liked this view. As if we are sitting behind this guy amongst the crowd. This is from Jo's coffee house on 2nd street in Austin.

Sixth Street

18x20 oil on linen

Ask Russell Collection Fine Art about this painting.

This painting is a view looking west on our (in)famous Sixth Street - a location full of music venues/bars. Austin is really the Live Music Capital. EVERYwhere you go, there is live music playing. Even the HEB - our grocery chain.

Business Break

10x20 oil on linen

Ask Castle Gallery about this painting.

To redeem my bizarre painting of models below, I had to post this gallery painting that I finished on Friday. This is the Driskill Bar in Austin. A few men taking a break from the meetings going on elsewhere in the hotel.

Art After Dark

So my artist friend Tess Walls and I made our way downtown Saturday evening to be part of the art festival entertainment. We eventually found our way to our place... you can imagine how confused these large art events can be... and we met some other artists from the Austin Figurative Gallery. There were two model sets apparently and about 20 artists registered to paint before the interested crowds. To be honest, I don't know how crowded it was! Once I began painting, I focused on my work and the models.
The painting was not ideal conditions to say the least. Bad lighting, cool breeze, bugs, and such. The poor models were shivering! (It was a crisp 60 out.)
We took plenty of breaks though and got to enjoy the party. It was a very fun evening. And those deplorable conditions being talked of, I will now be brave and post my work from that night. Here it is in its unrefined, unfinished glory.

Art Alliance Austin

Tomorrow night I am going to join members of the Austin Figurative Gallery for a special art event - Art After Dark. They will have models posing outside along a nicely developed section of the warehouse district by City Hall and we will paint during a reception. Some fine restaurants are going to be catering and we will be live entertainment. This is right up my alley - bringing real, representational art before the public. If you are in town, check it out.

Chance Meeting

16x16 oil on panel

Purchase info to come.

I love these overhead views and so made a larger scene with brilliant morning light pouring through the painting. This was done a week or so ago and will soon be framed and sent to a gallery. I will update here with a link when I know where!

Sisters

5x7 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h - sold

Browsing the Stacks

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h - sold

Bookstores are a favorite haunt of mine. Probably the same for this woman as she spent a lot of time perusing the literature section. I was on the floor camped out with several options I wanted to scan. My camera was with me as usual and I couldn't resist capturing her absorption in the books before her.

Eating Establishment

24x36 oil on linen

Ask Russell Collection Fine Art about this painting.

This is my final painting. I haven't thought of a better name as yet. My title is the advertising that is printed on the front of the pub's window.
Below is a close up view of one section.

Eating Establishment - WIP

24x36 oil on linen

Stage two. I put about 3 hours into this today and worked mostly the darks, circulating around the painting and connecting them. I wanted to work all the darks and gradually move up to the lighter values rather than work one section at a time. I think this will help my motivation to finish. So if I was looking at the value scale, I might have come up to a 5, or 4. The whites are still the areas that I have not painted yet.
The part that I most enjoy in painting is the highlights. Those magical strokes that transform the flat planes to illusions of three dimensions. The right highlights will round out a form and give the illusion of light.
As Skip Whitcomb called them, "the money shots."
Those go in last. And in the end, you do a lot more looking than painting. The canvas before you will tell you where to put those special strokes, and I love that part.

Eating Establishment - WIP

24x36 - work in progress

On our recent trip to the dude ranch, we stopped in Fredericksburg to eat lunch and I got a couple of great shots of the activity inside the brew pub there. I've been mulling this over for some weeks now. Building up I guess to tackle something large and needing the right images, and the right energy. This is my underpainting and sketch. Stay tuned!

Delayed Game

5x7 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h - sold

This young lady found a good way to occupy herself while waiting for her soccer game.

Writing It All Down

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $11 s/h

Another part of Central Park - near the Bethesda Fountain.