Point Lobos completed

Ok, it's a wrap!  This painting was a workout.  I enjoyed the trees, the view, the colors, the small stuff.  It was a test to paint this.  Overlapping branches, tree trunk reflections, shadows - and their nice cool colors, just a lot going on.  At times tedious.  But each day rewarding when something got solved. 

Not sure what is next - possibly another painting from my trip to Point Lobos, possibly a painting from a trip I just returned from to Zion, and Bryce Canyon, Utah.  Happy Easter everyone - HE has Risen Indeed!  Mark

Point Lobos Update

This painting is a bit more challenging than I expected.  Lots of overlapping tree limbs, shadows, etc.  Anyhow, I'm not as far along as I had hoped.  Here's an updated photo of my progress...

I'm going to be away from my studio for the next 5 days - taking canyon land photos in Utah!  Hopefully some good painting subject material...so it's going to be 10 days or so before this painting looks much different.  Thanks for coming by - have a great week.  Mark

Point Lobos

Next up is a painting from a walk I took a few weeks ago down at Point Lobos.  For those of you not familiar with this place, PL is a national park on the coast a couple of miles south of Carmel.  I snapped a bunch of photos that day, and today the one that appeals to me for painting is a photo I took looking through some trees toward the ocean.  This picture of my painting is the earliest stage I can get and still have paint on the board....

Please check back in a week from this post, and I should be well along.  Have a great day!  Mark

Mitchell is a wrap...

I worked furiously over the weekend and progressed much more quickly than I anticipated.  This was a very enjoyable painting.  The photo was interesting to me...I liked the pose, the setting...the memory!

Not sure what is next...hopefully I'll have something up and going in a few days.  Thanks again for dropping by.  Mark

Something different...a Human being

You haven't seen a portrait or any thing close to one so far on this blog.  Well, here you go...my son Mitchell.  I'm in the early stages of this work.  Our family was in Ecuador last summer, and one day we were hiking in the Cajas National Park, just 20 minutes northwest of Cuenca.  It was a cold windy day and we were at about 13,000 feet elevation.  I snapped this picture of Mitch as he was contemplating the beauty of this place.  I'll hopefully have this completed in about a week.  Thanks for checking in....Mark

Banner Peak complete

This is my 3rd painting of this mountain and lake.  Probably my last for awhile.  1000 Island Lake and Ritter and Banner Peaks are my favorite spot in the Sierra's.  So, I had one more photo from my last hike there and I just had to commit it to paint.  Here you go...  I'm now working on a protrait...I'll post my progress in a few days...thanks for stopping by!  m

Banner Peak...again

My favorite high sierra lake is 1000 Island Lake.  Located on the eastern side of the sierra's at the base of Banner Peak, and Mt. Ritter to its south.  This is my 3rd landscape painting of this area.  This painting is different from my previous two in that the photo I took was taken one afternoon when clouds were gathering and rain was going to fall.  Even though what you see in this early stage of the painting is pretty monochromatic, there is going to be more color as I get to the center of the scene where there is green and gold grasses, and some blue sky reflection at the bottom.  This painting is progressing slowly- lots of tiny brush strokes, so maybe a week from now you'll see an almost complete painting - for sure more color.  Thanks for checking in...Mark

Made some progress today, thought I'd post some color.