Picture of the Month
November 2012
Oregon Coast Trail south of Yachats, Oregon
Year in Review Calendars
Click on picture or year to view that years calendar.
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 2009 |
 2008 |
 2007 |
 2006 |
 2005 |
 2004 |
 2003 |
 2002 |
 2001 |
 2000 |
 1999 |
 1998 |
Background
I'm going to try to post a new painting on this website every month. It shouldn't be a great challenge because I make a calendar every year, so I can just post the picture for each month. All the pictures are watercolors that I have painted. I got into painting when I was 62. I explain the reason in the section, About Me.
I don't do my painting by the book. Typically, I never make a "sketch"
or preliminary version of what I paint. I always work from photographs.
The reason is that I'm a big fan of lights and shadows. When the lights
and shadows are right, they stay that way for a few minutes. A photo
freezes them so that you don't have to rush the job.
When I start a painting, I spend about ten minutes looking at the photos
that I will use as the basis for the painting, I make a few pencil marks
to show the outline of important details of the scene, like where the
horizon is, but I'm most concerned with the composition of the parts.
After I have some composition marks, I paint it. It usually takes 10
-12 hours to complete a painting. My style has been dubbed a mixture
of pointillism and primitive conventions (the background details are
treated as important as the main subject). The goal is generally to
create a good interpretation of a place I'd like to be. Most of the
paintings are 18" x 24" or 15" x 19".