Pacific Art League . . . 95th Anniversary Show

Christina

My entries in Art shows have been few and far between. But I decided that since the Pacific Art League was where I took my first art classes, I should submit something to the PAL 95th Anniversary Show. So I submitted three paintings - two pastels and one oil.

First one . . . "Christina", an 18"x24", pastel of my favorite
model. Expressionist, Impressionist - you decide.

The second one is an oil painting of a lovely model - Pigeon Plumtree. Very simple treatment since she had such an expressive face.

"Pigeon Plumtree"

Third one - "Taxi!!" A very short story!

All three of the paintings are on the wall of the Art League for the month of September. None of them won any ribbons.

BUT  . . .
this one was one of three Honorable Mentions!!

Winter 2016

My daughter loved the first rooster - see Spring 2015 - and wanted me to do another. So here he is. I have the feeling that a series of roosters (and chickens?) is in my future.  

 Rooster # 2 - with an attitude!

A 20 minute pose from a figure workshop done in oil 

with relatively large brushes. The goal- capture the 

essence of the figure and the sense of the pose.

Fall - 2015

Bounty from my garden . . .

                             Finally - bigger brushes  . . .

Microscopic Ocean

And abstraction. This was from a photo of Pseudomonas bacterial colonies a scientist friend sent to me. The painting is now hanging on the wall in his lab at Stanford.

Summer - 2015

Then in July, I was lucky enough to get into the studios at Cubberley - the Cubberley Studio Artist Program - for a temporary gig. I started with barns . . .

My daily exercise was to draw a barn in pastel. One a day. When a friend drew a simple barn sketch as an example of a particular concept, I realized it would add some some structure to the project. Her sketch became a set - in rainbow colors. And then the daily barns were based on one of those colors. Worked really well!

After the daily barn - I branched out - still pastel, but bigger.  And figures . . . 

Cold Toes

Roma

Spring - 2015

2015 was the year to experiment with being in a studio. I spent a couple of months in a studio in Redwood City, with the following results:

Waiting for Her Cue

Tibet

Last light in Jackson - photo by Mary McCarthy

On the wall of the Triton Museum

Small Ballerina

In Spring, 2014, as an experiment with abstracting a figure and a background, I did a pastel of my granddaughter in her ballet costume. When a friend suggested I submit something to the 2014 Salon at the Triton, a 2D Art Competition and Exhibition at the Triton Museum in Santa Clara, I thought why not? To my complete astonishment, it was accepted and will hang with the rest of the finalists at the Triton Museum from Dec. 6 to Feb. 8, 2015.

Summer - 2014

The first three of these little oil paintings are from a summer workshop - experimenting with broad brush color application. Really fun! All are from sketches or photos done on trips.  The last oil is of  a real persimmon.

Tuscany Hilltop

Kasbegi Church at Sunrise

The Guardian

I took a photo of this character at a fruit stand along the road on the way to Kasbegi, Georgia.  He kept a careful eye on everyone who stopped and it was clear he was in charge!

                   And for a friend who loves persimmons . . .

Landscapes, Summer 2013, Provence and New Mexico

These landscapes were done in Provence and in New Mexico, in the summer of 2013.  The paintings started as exercises in abstraction of hill town and lavender field patterns. They evolved over time to more recognizable images, although still constructed with massed color.






Provence Chimneys
            







                                                                Lavender Fields 1













Lavender Fields 2












                                          Lavender Fields 3

Street in Aurel, Provence














                             Cerro Pedernal, New Mexico














San Francisco de Assisi Mission, Taos

Still life, small landscapes in pastel and oil.

De Young Garden in Fall - oil
















     Dancing Trees in Provence, pastel

Chinese Jar - pastel















                                          Evening Tulips - oil








       
                                                                             





Number 7 - Plums

Beginning . . . experimentations

I've been experimenting with the figure drawings - wondering what it would be like to translate the black and white charcoal image to color with oil paint, developing an abstract background. One attempt, not quite finished . . .




















And here is a pastel from a photograph, with a stylized figure on an abstracted background.  All of these are 18" x 24".