His and Her Mallards

Just started a painting of two ducks.  Male and female mallards.  Not sure if they are a couple, but they seemed to follow each other around while I was doing my photography, so I think they're at least good friends.  If you wonder what the blue tape is all about, I taped down some protective paper so that I don't accidentally splash paint on the background.  I'm not sure how I'm going to finish the painting after I have painted the ducks - but however it happens I want a clean background to start with.  By the way - this is painting backwards and a lot dangerous.  Normally the background is laid down first then the subjects are painted.  Check in again to see how this gets handled - maybe there won't be a background - we'll see.

....further progress...

Hallstatt, Austria

A couple of weeks ago I was thinking of my wife Elke's German heritage so I thought I'd paint a landscape from that part of the world.  Hallstatt, Austria is close enough, so this fairytale town got the nod.

I'm not sure what's next.  If anyone has any recommendations I'm all ears!  Thanks for checking in.  Mark

Santorini, Greece

This was a challenging painting.  Solving some of the issues of shadows, and bringing out some dimension in the hillside was a test.  The results are, I would like to go there.  A friend went, took this photo, and I hope this painting will be a pleasant reminder for a long time of his traveling there.

Next up:  from travels of Elke and mine, a Austrian village that is about as picturesque as it gets -Hallstat.  Hope you've had a great summer - hope you made some memories.   Thanks for coming by, Mark

English Market

For an artist who likes to paint details this was a lot of fun.  If it was possible to count brush strokes I'm sure this painting would contain more of them than anything I have ever done.  I'm glad my wife suggested this photo from a trip we took.  It's just the sort of subject material that brings back fond memories and reminds me why it's good to travel.  I mean if you want a bottle of Wobble Juice, you gotta go get it!

Next up a commissioned painting from a friend who happened to travel to Santorini, Greece.  Somebody had to go, and somebody needs to memorialize it.  Thanks for checking in....Mark

Still Life Almost

So, I've never painted a still life scene.  And technically, I probably still haven't with this next painting.  But this close up photo I took in front of a English market comes pretty close.  If you squint your eyes maybe it will look like a bunch of fruit bowls, and wine bottles.  Wa-La a massive still life.  Or maybe not....

Well, anyhow, still life or not it is incredibly complex.  I'm going to be here awhile, so please come back in a week or so and see if I'm making progress.  Thanks for checking in....Mark

1930 Duesenberg

This painting was a lot of fun.  The chrome, the paint, the highlights - never a dull moment.  Often in a painting there's a place or two that is a bit boring.  Places where you trudge through to get to the good stuff.  Sometimes it's hard to pick up the brushes when you get to those places.  That was never the case here.  It was hard most of the time to put the brushes down.  I'll definately be painting more cars down the road - sorry pun not intended.  Who out there has a cool car needing to be painted?  Ok, thanks for checking in - I'm not sure what's next, but whatever it is it will be on my table in a day or 2 - any recommendations?

Concours Beauty

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Palo Alto Concours D'Elegance.  The vintage cars were fantastic.  It was a great reminder of what beautiful design can be.  What's gone wrong the past 60 years?  I digress...so, how about a painting of one of these?  I haven't painted an automobile before so here we go.  I've chosen a 1930 Duesenberg - what a car!  Hopefully I'll get it right and have something to frame in another week or so.  Thanks for coming by....Mark