The code of the Northwest

In order to maintain a lively business I feel that I must attempt to keep up and experiment a little with new technology.   So I decided to create a QR code for my sandwich board that I display at the entrance door to my upstairs studio here in Port Townsend.  These codes are nothing too new, you see them everywhere, but I rarely use them so I thought that I would try it and see if anyone would actually use one to retrieve information about my studio. You have to have a smart phone and an app (you can download one for free) to read the code.  Mine takes you to a short,  fun video that we put together.  So get your smartphone out and scan this code and give me your comments!

I have only had the board in place for a couple of days but I am pleasantly surprised by the response so far.  I think that this will be a successful endeavor and now I am kind of hooked on checking out other QR codes to see if  they have better ideas for using this "new" technology.
And......if you are ever in the neighborhood,  please do "come on up" and visit me in my studio!

Drawing what you see

My wife Jolene is also an artist and we have made a commitment to plein air paint or sketch together at least once a week during the spring and Summer months. We enjoy living in Port Townsend because there are endless subjects to fascinate us and no matter where you you look a vista craves to be painted.   These are pencil drawings of the sail loft at Point Hudson and the Pope Marine building as interpreted by Jolene.....

Here are my depictions of  the sail loft and the Pope Marine viewed from the same vantage point...  

It is fun to draw or paint together and see how novel each of us captures the same subject .

Back in the studio

I have been able to put in some studio time recently and I have been finishing up a few canvases that I stared late in March.  I previously posted pictures of  three in the very beginning stages with just the first layer applied.  here are  two of that group that  I have finished.

I also finished a couple of others that I had started.  Here are the final results.

Plein Air Convention and Expo

Wow!  We just returned from the 2nd annual Plein Air Convention and Expo  held in Monterey, California.  We had a great time taking in all the marketing seminars and most of the artist demos.  We packed light and didn't take our painting supplies but we really enjoyed watching all the outdoor painting.  It was fun to watch the artists pick a location and a subject and then proceed to make a great painting within an hour or two. It was pretty windy and I felt very intimidated by all the talent but I managed to sit still long enough to do a quick sketch of Fisherman's Wharf.

Here are a few of  my convention highlights!

This is one of my favorite painters, Ken Auster doing one of his demonstrations onstage.  This picture was taken from the huge screens they had on either side of the stage.  Very easy to watch.

This is Ken's finished painting.  He paints large (love it) and completed this San Francisco trolley car scene in less than an hour.  Impressive to watch!

This is Russian painter Alexey Steele drawing a likeness of another great painter Scott Christensen.  Alexey is very animated and great fun to watch.  He will keep you fixated with his accented commentary.

John Crump, Another of my favorite painters is shown here painting on the windy beach.  He also paints larger than most of the others so naturally I am interested!

This is John's finished painting that he created for his demonstration the day before.  This 24"x48" painting was executed in about an hour. Amazing!  I missed his demo but sought him out on the beach and got to talk to him in person.  Great guy!

This is Don Demers doing a demo on the beach.  He is a great Maritime painter and always draws a huge crowd.

And there were plein air painters everywhere!  They came from all over the world to be here for this event.  Spectacular!

Why is the sky blue?

As I am painting I find working with cloud colors and sky colors very intriguing so I went to the Internet for some information.  I found some very interesting reading and scientific explanations about scattered  light waves and spectrum analysis.  This was all very enlightening but as an artist I think the main thing I need to remember is that atmosphere has no color.   If I am trying to influence the mood of a painting with atmosphere I need to be aware that weather conditions and pollutants influence the color.  Water vapor and solid particles affect visibility and the amounts are a good indication of weather conditions and determine which colors we will see in the sky............now my head hurts.



Storm on the Horizon  36"x36" acrylic



Prairie Sky 40"x60" acrylic



Prairie Heat 20"x40" acrylic



Storm Chaser 20"x16" acrylic

In the studio

In my stash of canvases I found three 16"x20"x1"  that I had primed with venetian red gesso.  There are times when I like to work on more than one canvas at a time and do a series of similar subject matter.  I can use the same colors on each one as I proceed through my layering and glazing process and it is fun to watch three paintings evolve at the same time.  On these three I have started with a simple composition of shapes and line.  I have blocked in the shapes with opaque color that I will glaze over with many transparent layers as the paintings progress.

I will post photos of the completed paintings when I finish them.  It will be interesting to compare these preliminary images with the finished product.  In my canvas stash I also found six 11"x14"x1" primed with black gesso and I will be doing a series of tractors as soon as the drawings are complete.

Random Thought 4

In my search for serenity, I have found that I  must be at ease with who I am, where I am and what I have today.  On the days that I am not comfortable with any one of these things I find it much harder to produce good art.

"Tree Line"  acrylic  12x12

Let's make good art today.......