Spanish Bay at Monterey, CA

This year I wanted to do all digital paintings (a kind of relief from inhaling the paint thinner fume). Unfortunately my sensu brush for iPad didn't arrive on time so I had to use a regular stylus. Here's my first try...

The Old Church at San Juan Capistrano

This past MLK holiday, the family took the train and spent the day in San Juan Capistrano. Didn't get a chance to bring the painting gear due to the weather so I decided to do a thirty minute study from a photo I found online. Need to work on edges and color blocking.
Oil on 5"x7" Canvas Panel.

First Painting Trip of 2012. Laguna Beach.

This year I resolve to paint more, and paint more with friends. Here's the first one of the year with Dalton and Will. Thanks guys it was a fun day.
Oil on canvas 5" x 7".

Clearing

After a failed painting attempt at Sequoia camping trip couple of weeks back, I was finally able to squeeze in an hour or so at Dogwood to do some oil studies. I'm planning on a couple more in the next trip.

iPhone Painting #4

I actually had fun with this piece. I found some old pics from our honeymoon in Italy with funny looking cars and decided to recreate one. I'm starting to see the small screen real estate of the iPhone as a healthy limitation that is forcing me to think in terms of form, color, mood, and composition. Detailed overworked paintings is really not my style. Hope you like this.

iPhone Painting #3

One of my favorite colorist Lou Romano nailed it right when he said that "research trips (for animation film reference) can sometimes be a plus and a minus: the plus in that visiting a place surpasses what you gain from photos alone, the minus in being a slave to the reality." Here's me slaving to the reality.

While the layout of the piece came out of a sketch as opposed to a photo reference, I was trying to use the lighting condition at the time of painting as my lighting guide for this. What a big mistake. Never base your lighting on another sets'.

iPhone Painting #2

Still not feeling it with the stylus. The whole process hasn't come back to me yet as well after being away from painting for so long. Oh well, here's #2.

iPhone Painting Marathon

Over the weekend I picked up an iPhone stylus from Best Buy to try to do some quick paintings while on-the-go. Surprisingly, the whole process felt just as natural as painting with a small watercolor set -- without the hassle of setting up and cleanup brushes etc. Here's my first try.

A Quick One from the Park

Celebrated memorial weekend with Chelle's family. Did some hiking and got a chance to squeeze in a short painting session.

Italy

From honeymoon pics of a long time ago, I dug up some photos and painted. This one's of either Perugia or Tuscany. Still doesn't beat painting on location though.

Holy Molly

This afternoon I got a chance to hike one of the short trails around Fullerton (Cayote Hills area) and found a sweet little clearing. Thinking I could do it in less than 30 minutes, I breezed thru the setup and was on my way. Unfortunately, midway through the light changed "dramatically" and muddied my scene as I try to re-balance the stark warm oranges of the sunset with the dull hues I started with.

It's a little messy but I hope to get back to it again as another approaches filled with painting plans.

Oil on canvas board. 5" x 7"

Huntington Beach Pier

I can't believe my last post was back in 2007! I apologize for falling behind on updating but I did manage to squeeze in a couple of paintings last year so I'll post those up soon.

In the meantime, here's a more recent one I did of the Huntington Pier en plein air.

Oil on canvas board. 5" x 7"

Cliffside

Lost all my color sense on this one.
Oil on canvas board. 5" x 7"

Kennedy Lake

Another Kennedy Lake view from Fedak's hiking archives.

Oil on canvas board. 5" x 7"

Still looking for my edges...

Nope, not here! Here's another autumn piece for those who are particularly sad that the fall season is almost over.

For the curious, I'm still working from photos. My fear of the real outdoor and all the challenges of painting on location is still with me. While working on a photo affords me plenty of time, I try to keep my painting sessions to 30 minutes to 1 hour max. This helps me lock down the "essence" of the scene both in color and value as these factors are most likely to change in a real plein air session. One thing I do need to work on though is the brush work.

Oil on canvas board. 5" x 7"

Lost edges in the fall ...

One important element that help suggest form is your edges. Just as I thought I had it down, here they are, playing hide-go-seek on me. Back to square one, but there is always tommorow...

Oil on canvas board. 5" x 7"

Peek-a-boo

Can you see the cow in the meadow just beyond the trees? This piece is from a similar painting of the high meadows in wind river mountain. I can't wait to take a painting trip one of these days with friends.

Oil on canvas board. 5" x 7"

Kennedy Meadows

Here's another one from fedak's archives with Levitt's Peak peaking at the back there. Mike Nguyen (and most of you) would probably squirm at those cotton-ball-looking trees but oh well, hey, it's been a while. On this blog, you'll see a mix bag of goodies and crappies.. enjoy!

After a Marion Townsend

After a long time of looking for something to paint, I decided to "copy" a Marion Townsend. Not exactly a copy but it's decent enough. In the early days of painting, copying from the masters is common practice as a way to learn the craft. And most of who we now consider masters took a similar path in their days as apprentices.

Cove

Little cove. This is an attempt to capture a late afternoon light. I enjoyed painting this piece, but for some reason it didn't show up in the painting. Oh well, enjoy!