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Last month, I had the good fortune to participate in the Maui Plein Air Invitational event, painting Paradise alongside some of the best plein air painters working today! The 23 invited painters are free to go anywhere on the island and paint for a week. There are a few scheduled paint-outs where we need to work in a specific area, but other than that, we can go all over the island, and work at our own pace.  At the end of the week, we have a big show in Lahaina and present our efforts. It's always great fun and so inspiring.   The [...]

Earlier this month, I had the good fortune to participate in this year's Laguna Plein Air Painting Invitational in Laguna Beach California. As you may know, this is one of the top-tier plein air painting events and it is an honor to be invited to be one of thirty artists coming together to paint the magnificent coastline, the sunny beaches, and the vibrant town life of Laguna Beach.   There is a long history of California Impressionist painting in Laguna Beach, going back more than a hundred years and it includes such plein air dignitaries as William Wendt, Edgar Payne, and Hanson Puthuff. [...]

  Last month (August 2019) I returned to the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to do a some painting with a handful of artist friends. This is I think my 7th or 8th year going up there, and it never gets old!    We had pack mules haul our camping and art gear up to Garnet Lake (around 10,000ft) and hiked in from Agnew Meadows (Mammoth Lakes). The hike was beautiful but strenuous, and took pretty much all day to cover 1o or 11 miles. But our destination, Garnet Lake, is just an incredible spot and the journey was totally worth it.   In today's post, I [...]

This painting was done during last month's Forgotten Coast en Plein Air event. I spent 10+ days in the North West part of Florida Coast with some 20 top-notch plein air painters and I think I ended up with 17 paintings. I started more than that - two or three a day, but I wiped quite a few, too. As far as these plein air painting events go, though, this was way beyond my normal pace. I guess there is something about this part of the country that compelled me to paint my Asphaltum off. Hanging out with my tribe and fueling with [...]

Early Summer, Port St. Joe, 12 x 24 inches, oil on linen | This painting is available   I don't know how many pieces I actually painted in the nine days I spent in the Forgotten Coast of Florida - sixteen? seventeen? It was a lot. Of course I started more than that, but as is the norm, several pieces didn't make it to finish. If  a painting isn't working in the first hour, it's very difficult to continue and often, it's better to start over. Paintings tend to fail because there was never a clear statement to begin with. If you don't know [...]

  Wailuku Blues, 12 x 24 inches, oil on linen sold     Maui Plein Air Invitational 2019   This is my best effort at this year's Maui Invitational. Again, I went looking for local flavors, away from tourists. I found a little town of Wailuku near Kahului, and it's just what I wanted; where local people lived their real and unflashy lives. There were older buildings and grittier alleys, and bars where beer is cheap.    I was actually looking for a small side street that I painted last year. I didn't remember where it was or how to get there, so I drove around and around - [...]

  Island Breakfast, 8 x 16 inches, oil on linen sold     Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational 2019   This is my Quickdraw. The scheduled timed paint-out was held at the Royal Lahaina Resort, where we also had the gala and the big exhibition. As you can imagine, many of the artists painted views of the beach with palm trees, or the beautiful sky over Lanai or Molokai.    I, again, being contrarian, decided I didn't want to paint beaches or palm trees or the ocean. I went to the hotel's restaurant and ordered a bowl of fruit and proceeded to paint it.    The manager of the restaurant was [...]

  A Short Commute, 12 x 9 inches, oil on linen sold     Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational 2019.   On a path to the beach where local surfers come and go. My paintings usually don't see this much blue in them. Even if I'm in a tropical place like Maui, it doesn't necessarily mean I'll use a lot of blue - when I look at my Maui efforts from last year, I wonder what came over me this year.    May be I was just in a more colorful mood? I dunno.    For you painters wondering what's on my palette, I had;  Ultramarine Blue Viridian (I see this as a greenish leaning blue) Payne's [...]

  Standing Tall, 16 x 24 inches, oil on linen This painting is available - please contact me for more information.     Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational 2019.   Standing Tall, is the largest piece I did during the 9 - day plein air event. In fact, I think it's the largest painting I've ever done en plein air. I usually only do small studies outside, so this was a bit of a challenge I set out for myself.          I do plenty of larger format paintings in the studio, so I wasn't worried about being able to do it if I had enough time. Painting outside, of course, means limited time because [...]

        Five O'Clock Somewhere, 12 x 12 inches, oil on linen This painting is available. Please contact me for more information.     Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational.    This painting was done during the second scheduled paint-out, (there were three) held at the Montage Kapalua Bay Resort. The 23 painters were spread out on the beautiful grounds, some painting the coastal views with iconic palms, and some sketched a beautiful Hawaiian model in traditional apparel.          I, of course, being a contrarian, decided to face my easel the other direction and painted the bar. I actually painted this bar last year, but with a different format, palette, and composition. Last [...]