Commission:

 (Untitled) Final Drawing 6x8"

I was recently commissioned to do a 36x48" southwest desert scene painting for a public space in Oklahoma city... Not exactly mid-western fare landscape-wise, but the client's vision for the space required some "western" atmosphere, and of course this is a subject I can really get into~

I first did about 10 thumbnail sketches based on my plein air paintings and sketchbook doodles from a trip to southern Utah and Maynard Dixon's homestead/studio last year...

  
After reviewing the pencils and using examples from previous paintings on my website and social media, we agreed upon an amalgamation of several of my thumbnail roughs into the final design (at the top of the page)...

 

Here are the final canvas stained and ready to paint (background) and a 16x20 "test" painting (with altered composition) under way to make sure I've got my colour palette working...

 

So far I've done about a dozen drawings and 4 colour studies in various sizes...you never can do too much homework before undertaking an important commission!

THANKFUL!

 "Fertile Valley" (9x12) o/l SOLD

Thank you to my collectors and Maxwell Alexander Gallery yesterday for giving homes to these 3 paintings at the their Black Friday sale -- all 3 sold in the first hour!

 "Autumn Song" (9x12) o/l SOLD

These miniatures were done specifically for the sale, but also serve duel purpose in functioning as studies for larger paintings in progress~

"Desert Run" (9x12) o/l SOLD

VERY thankful this holiday season for the privilege to do this for a living, and for the support of my family, my galleries and all who find my work worthy to own -- Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Is it done yet?

 "When Work Is Done" (20x24) o/l

This new piece, "When Work Is Done" will be featured in March at the 2018 Night Of Artists at the Briscoe Museum in San Antonio, Texas.  

When I was invited a few months ago I began this painting, and since it was the first finished of three that I will send, I had extra time to scrutinize it. I painted it rather quickly and tried to not finesse it to keep it's freshness, but after looking at it off and on I've noticed things that needed changing... Its always nice to have a period of time to consider work before it goes out the door as often the little nuances that need to be added, deleted or corrected are not immediately obvious...

(Original background colour)

For instance, I realized I wanted more colour harmony between the background wall, the porch floor and the guitar -- this necessitated bending the wall colour toward a much warmer tone by scumbling over it with some of the peach tones I used in other areas, while not completely obliterating the green underneath. I also loosened up some of the shadow edges, and added some fall leaves to give it  extra depth as well as a few more colour notes to key the whole palette together.

One of the reasons I don't particularly care for alla prima paintings (single session painting) is that fact that I always want to go back in (or over) areas of a composition later to create a better outcome; this is partly due to the effects I prefer that cannot be accomplished wet-into-wet. Working into wet paint of course affords immediate gratification with blending, etc., but there are textures that can only be achieved when the initial foundation layer is at least tacky on the surface. More time between sessions on a painting also lends sufficient time to contemplate the work thus far, and decide if it is indeed time to stop or not. 

As a famous artist once said,  "A painting is never finished, just abandoned"....of course as painters our goal is to abandon them at the optimum time~