Friday, June 19, 2009

Perk Pond

You can see these trees from the other side as you cruise down Highway 17. This part of the park follows the freeway for about 1 mile.


I really liked the green pond scum in this scene. It's more vivid on the actual painting. Lots of detail in this one. I really try not too get too carried away with detail. I think it's best to capture the mood and feel of a scene and let the viewer supply the detail from their imaginations...

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Path by the Pond

Another one I painted in late April/Early May. I really liked this scene and the painting came out well. I've noticed that I get pretty attached to the paintings. This becomes real evident when I'm showing a piece to somebody and it's clear I'm not going to be giving them the painting...


I should be more giving I know but like I said I'm attached. Funny enough the universe got me on this one. I took this piece down to my sisters to show her. She of course proceeded to look for spots on her walls she could hang it. I said no way sis I'm too attached then I lean it against a wall and continue chatting with her.

Well, what happened then sucked because I moved quickly or something and the painting in it's it's frame went crashing to the floor. The frame was new and I was actually concerned about it and not the painting. So I inspected the frame and saw no damage and was relived. However I eventually noticed that THE PAINTING had got cracked right in the middle! So that's what I get for being selfish I guess...The crack is not that noticeable fortuately and I've since given the painting to my Brother in law Bouke

Campbell Perk Pond

This was painted last month and not posted... I've a few like that that I'm salting in here and there. There's a few more on my camera too that I need to get uploaded.



This was painted on a Luan panel like most of my stuff but this is the first one that I gessoed before painting. I like clear acrylic gesso because I love to use the natural wood tone as my ground. This ones surface was not great in that the paint layed on top of the gesso and I prefer a bit of absorbtion. Still the painting came out pretty well and I've since started sanding the gesso before I paint and that works well.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

View from the Bridge

There's a bridge in Los Gatos Creek Park.... I knew aout the bridge but for some reason I'd never rode over it.


This is the view from that bridge looking down on a...pond! There's a scene I'm working on now that greets you afterward. The mountains in this are a touch contrasty so I'll probably be toning them done a bit...

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Deep Pond

Hey... What can I say I'm on a pond kick... I may paint 100 pond paintings!

I'm very happy with this painting... It was a challenge. Actually their all a challenge but this had many elements that I wanted to portray.

I especially like the orange flowers (featured in the foreground) they're dead now but they were abundant the day I captured this scene...

This painting is notable also because I fully embraced the sable brush here. Sable allows me to execute far more detail. I'm definitely trying not to do to much detail especially as all these paintings are only 6 x8 inches but a bit of detail is nice once in awhile...

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Campbell Pond

I like the shadowed area in this one.


Behind this pond you can see another bathed in late afternoon sunlight. Yes it's the Los Gatos perk ponds... I'm not tired of painting this area yet... There's more paintings to be posted in the next few days BTW so stay tuned....

Monday, June 1, 2009

Cloudy Day Pond

Hey!

Two posts.... One day... What gives?

Painted last week.



Ponds, I know.... I love painting this place. BTW, I just discovered an area of this park I'd not seen, last Friday...Working on a painting of that area now...