Sunlit Parasol

Sunlit Parasol ~ 5" x 7" oil on masonite panel

Bid in my Daily Paintworks Auction HERE

It looks like the sun is coming back! After a week of rain and coolish temperatures, I've been feeling a bit blah, and lacking creative energy. But today the sun is weakly shining through thin cloud cover and I'm hoping it will clear today, so I can go for my run without getting soaked!

This painting reminds me of the sun!

Chuck

Chuck ~ 6" x 6" oil on canvas panel

Bid now in the Daily Paintworks auction

So, I've painted you cows, and I've painted you horses, so I figured it was time to give you all a cowboy.

This particular cowboy is a very close relative of mine, actually, my brother...and he HATES being called Chuck...so don't tell on me...The name Charles just seems too sophisticated for a cowboy. 

Casperson's Farm ~ Landscape painting

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Casperson's Farm ~ 5" x 7" oil on masonite panel

I thought I'd practise a bit of landscape painting today. I don't do it enough.

This is a little farm just down the road from my place. I love the old farming equipment left in the field.

BID in the Daily Paintworks Auction

Blanca ~ otherwise known as White cow in a Snowstorm

Blanca ~ 6" x 6" oil on panel

bid in the auction HERE

I'm always fascinated with the different variations of white. White things are never actually white to paint. I was inspired by how things seem to emerge out of nowhere, on those foggy, heavy misty days that are abundant in this west-coast village I call home.

I know I should have something deep to say about this painting or my technique, or purity or SOMETHING! but nothing is coming to me. My brain is a pure white blank slate...

Texas Gold ~ Texas Longhorn Cow oil painting demonstration

Texas Gold ~ 9" x 12" oil on canvas panel

I think I've mentioned before that a man down the road from us has Texas Longhorns. They're such a fascinating animal. They look so powerful and intimidating, but in actuality they're quite gentle and sweet natured.  Unfortunately, we live far from Texas, on the rainy West Coast of B.C., and light like this just doesn't happen. I tried to imagine and convey the heat and intensity of a summer Texas sunset in this one, as I don't think the mist and cedar trees of Bella Coola are a fitting environment for these magnificent beasts. For sale now at Daily Paintworks, click HERE to take you to the auction page.

Below, I've showed a few of the steps that I took in creating this painting. I know I should take more pics but I get so into what I'm doing that I forget to stop to show you my progress.

                         

Step 2 ~ about halfway done...I'm working out the shadow of the cow, and experimenting with the color of the background, adding some lights and mid tones, throwing in touches of pure color to excite the eye...(I hope, lol!)

Step 1 ~ the first block in. I do the darks first, working out the composition...It's much easier to work darks into light than the other way around. I find that the darks provide the framework, and it's everything on top that adds form.

Tuscan Vineyard

Tuscan Vineyard ~ 5" x 7" oil on gessoed hardboard

for sale at Daily Paintworks

Bid now in the auction

So I'm really mixing things up for you folks! Trying to keep it interesting, for you and also for myself. I love painting animals and people, I've always said my favorite things to paint are things with eyes..."the windows to the soul", and usually that is where I'm really satisfied. 

BUT...

A few years ago I went to Europe. It was the trip of a lifetime. I took so many pictures of the amazing countryside, and I told myself that I would paint them. And those pictures sit in my reference folder, taunting me every time I'm looking for subject matter. 

This particular photo is of a winery and its vineyard in the Chianti region of Tuscany where I went on a wine tasting tour. What a blast that was, and another story entirely, lol!!