Too Hot in the Painting Workshop

Because oil painting can be messy, I paint in a workshop building with a swamp cooler instead of inside my real studio with its more effective air conditioner. We had some of those 100+ degree days, and the swamp cooler was not up to the task of keeping me comfortable. Heaven forbid that a Central […]

Quail Confusion

Mountain Quail are different from California Quail. One is in the mountains, one is in the lower elevations. I don’t know the specific elevations. Both are in California, but one is the state bird and one is not. I painted a California Quail working from a photo that I took right out my studio window. […]

Selling Makes Me Happy

Selling makes me happy because it validates my worth as a business person. As brash as it sounds to say in words, I am a business person and my product is art and art related services (painting murals, teaching people to draw and occasionally to oil paint, putting together books, cards and reproduction prints of my […]

Oil Paintings, Completed!

“Oil Paintings, Completed!” with an exclamation point, because it feels like an accomplishment to have a finished piece. (Currently I have about 6 pencil commissions, all on hold while people ponder their options.) Backcountry Lake, 10×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $150 Mountain California Quail, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $60 You can click on the […]

Long Way There

(Happy Birthday, Melissa!) Anyone remember the Little River Band? Does the song “Long Way There” do anything for you? I loved it in 1978, and I still do. Many people think of “Long and Winding Road” when it comes to driving to Mineral King. That is probably a more accurate theme song, but I used […]

Wildflower Oil Paintings

Remember these wildflower oil painting beginnings? First, I drew them with my paintbrush. Stage two was to get the first layer of color down. The real fun was putting in the detail. It isn’t often that I get to paint with these colors, and it just makes my heart sing. Lalalalalalala! LALALALALA! Excuse me. Got […]

Ambiguous Oil Painting

(Ambiguous: unclear or inexact.) There’s this 10×10″ oil painting that has been collecting dust and spider webs in my painting workshop for awhile. I’m unclear as to when I began it. It just hangs there, and after awhile, I stopped thinking of it as a painting. Instead, it was just another thing that the spiders […]

Non-commissioned oil paintings

So much to paint, so little time. These are new paintings, begun for the joy and challenge of the subjects, in addition to the confidence that they will sell.   Mountain quail are shy. We are so fortunate to have 2 pairs feeding in our front yard in Mineral King. Because of the way the […]

Oil Painting Commissions

Commissions – orders to make a custom item, following the wishes of the customer. I’ve been asked to do 3 custom flower oil paintings, each 6×6″. Three makes it easy to find a place to hang, either vertically or horizontally. Or, they can be set here and there without having to locate wall space. This […]