The Day After

The Letter D

The boys were reunited on a road Dominated by a Dandelion-colored D.  Wilson was Delighted by a Dragonfly hovering over the Daffodils but Cole was more interested in Divining what he would find next.

The Letter C

Cole, meanwhile, wandered onto a field Containing a Cyan-colored C and a Camel.  But it was the Cat, looking at a Cardinal perched on a Chrysanthemum, which caught Cole's attention.  "Be Careful!" Cole Cried to the little bird before leaving to find his brother. "You don't want to be that cat's supper."

The Letter B

A Bear suddenly appeared Bearing Balloons.  Remembering the little Bird's warning in A, and not wanting to Bother the Beast, Wilson quietly sneaked away from the land of the Brown-colored B.

The Letter A

When the Taylor twins arrived in the land of the Apricot-colored A, Wilson was surprised to see a little plover on the nose of an Alligator.  "Beware of the bs, the little bird chirped."  Cole was too intrigued by a giant Acanthus to hear the warning so Wilson ran on by himself to find out what lay Ahead.

Part A of The Taylor Twins in Alphabet World.

The Messengers

The fishes, seahorses and turtle bring a message for the new year.  Love where you live and keep it pure.
Photo composite and digital painting for Illustration Friday.

Solana Beach

Some nice things about winter in So Cal:  clean air and beautiful sunsets.  Other recent San Diego County north coast photos are here.

Spoonbill is a Gregarious Bird

New oil painting on stretched linen 28"x22."  The Spoonbill is one of my favorite birds, although we don't have them in California that I know of.

Crow Has a New Shadow

I did this oil painting a few years ago but it still needed something.  Art teacher extraordinaire Chester Arnold helped me see where to put Crow's shadow.  Now the bird is more grounded (always a good thing!).

Pelican Flying Over North Beach

It was beautiful at the beach yesterday.  No wind.  Clear sunny sky.  Big waves.  Heaven!

Climbing Out of a Hole in Greece

Playing around with some of my art and photos Kathleen Price took in Greece in 2010

Shadows

Rainy Sunday

It's raining today but I'm warm inside thinking about family and our trip to Texas in 1958

Yellow Road

Another, recent oil on stretched linen painting 22" x 28."  This one is based on a photo I shot of a farm road in Petaluma earlier this year, combined with a mother of pearl cloud shot near Oslo, Norway I found in an old book "Clouds of the World," by Richard Scorer that I bought in a used bookstore in Hawaii.  The rest is imagination.  I always like pictures of roads.  They symbolize, for me, the endless possibilities in life.

Roman Arch Pink Tree

Here is a recent 28" x 22" oil on stretched linen painting.  I first went to Spain in 1969, for my junior year abroad at UCSD.  When I wasn't studying at the University of Madrid,  we took field trips and/or I hitchhiked all over the country.  I took this picture somewhere in Spain on one of my trips - although I remember nothing about it.  By googling "roman arch," I found another more recent photo of this same scene indicating it is in the village of Medinacelli in central Spain.   Looking for new material to paint last month, I rediscovered my old slide, added a scan of a beautiful pink tree watercolor painted by Samuel Palmer in 1829 called "In a Shoreham Garden," and did a few other manipulations in Photoshop CS5 as a guide.  My perspective is a bit off but the new painting is quite soothing in a fantastical kind of way - and it brings back nice memories.

Portrait of Jenny

New oil painting 8x10 is from a 1977 sketch of friend Jenny Paradies.  Above composite includes a head & enlarged heels.  Seems a perfect picture for Halloween!

Distressed Wood with Bugs

Nature, even when it is decaying, can be simply glorious.  The wood is from the side of a building in decline in Pt. Reyes Station, California

Contraption

Done for Illustration Friday

La Jolla, California 1973

Photo taken in the backyard of the house Ilene O'Malley lived in in Bird Rock in 1973.  People identified:
1.  Herman Rumper
2.  Craig Lorenz
3.  Richard Becker
4.  Unknown
5.  John Lyons
6.  Marcia Wheeler
7.  John-Paul Carrere
8.  Jenny Paradies
9.  Ilene O'Malley
10.  Martha Kuhl
11.  Tom Peifer
12.  Unknown
13.  Betsy Jaffe
14.  Dean Altizer
15.  Raoul Contreras
16.  Kathleen Price
17.  Chris Baer
18.  Nancy Hoagland
19.  Unknown
20.  Greg Becker
21.  John McCarthy
22.  Tom Baer
23.  Unknown
24.  Joe Peretz
25.  Annie Peretz
26.  Unknown
27.  Barry Wayne
28.  Nancy Hancock
29.  Marty Baer
30.  Valerie Hans
31.  Robin Anderson
32.  Anna Price
33.  Barbara (then girlfriend of Rob Hillcrest)
34.  Bill Haverland
35.  Griff Stokes
36.  Paul Seaton
37.  Tom Moran
38.  Lucy Autrey

Pink Beast

I was painting over a crummy earlier oil painting when this pink beast appeared!  Where he came from I do not know.  Under the beast are four bad portraits I did of fully, or partially, veiled Saudi Arabian women.  I'm intrigued why any woman would agree to cover up her entire body to the top of her head - especially when it feels so good to allow a breeze to softly blow your hair on a beautiful day.  Oil on canvas board 16x20

Blue Squares

It's raining today.  The 7 pale numbers in this new 8x10 oil on canvas painting, inspired by Bauhaus, spell out how I feel about the rain. The pale numbers are scrambled.  Organize them to find the missing word.
Hint:  A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4, E=5, L=12, O=15, V=22, Z=26

This is how I feel today

Fire and Water

New painting done in Chester Arnold's painting class as a 20 minute exercise.  Oil paint on wood coated with triple layers of marble powder & gesso 10 1/2" h x 12 1/2" w

The Spider and the Fly

"Come on over to my house," said the spider to the fly.

Laura

New oil painting 22"x28" on Belgian Linen.  This is the oil painting equivalent of this photo composite:  Laura in the Garden

Night Flight Electrical Storm

Just messing around with fractals and an old E.A. Autrey photo taken from inside an airplane

Cole and Wilson at the Sea

The sea has no boundaries, nor does my love for grandsons Cole and Wilson Taylor.

New 9x12 oil on canvas painting.

Repainted Back Garden 3

It was observed, correctly, that I tend to paint inside the box.  It's true - the mathematical side of my brain loves things to be neat and tidy.  I heard the artistic side of my brain crying out to be freed from the tyranny of my organized self and repainted this 24"x18" oil on canvas which used to look like this.  I like it better now.

Cotswold Dream

I had a mysterious dream in which I entered St. Edward's Parish Church in the Cotswold Wool town of Stow-on-the-Wold and was transported to another world.  New oil on canvas 36" x 36"

Disguise Revealed

I concur with the quote from Margaret Atwood:  "Everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise."  For more on this, check out the Illustration Friday website.

Surfing the Big One

This composite was done to illustrate the word "influence" for Illustration Friday's weekly challenge.  Most of what I draw & paint is influenced by nature.  This photo of the ocean, taken at North Beach in 2009, is superimposed with an illustration of "The Big Wave," done years ago using Saatchi on-line's digital painting tools.  Then a pen & ink drawing of a surfer, modeled after nephew Gregory when he was younger, was added.  The Big Wave was originally inspired by a series of nightmares I used to have in which I nearly drowned from tidal waves.  Happily those big waves seem to have receded and I have safely paddled out to where the ocean is a bit calmer.

Longbow Oregon Art

Two recent pen & ink & watercolor paintings done at the Longbow Organizational Camp in Oregon:  Longbow Bough and River Rocks

Rainbow Studies - Final Ibiza Painting

The painting "Life Map Rainbow" (top, pen & ink & watercolor painted in Ibiza July, 2011 ) is juxtaposed with the "Fractured Rainbow" painting done in Greece in 2010.  I was happier in Ibiza than in Greece when the paintings were done.  More important is remembering that even when things are bleak there are always rainbows!

More Ibiza Paintings

Two more watercolors I did on vacation in Ibiza in July:  Model in Red Leather and Ibiza Bird. 

Pool Views - Take the Heat Off

The Model and Elizabeth Taylor

Another vacation painting!  After capturing the view from our rented house in Ibiza a few times I reverted to fashion magazines as the source of some new inspiration. 

Tree of Life

This recent pen & ink and watercolor painting, done in Ibiza while on vacation, seemed an appropriate entry for Illustration Friday's word "Perennial."  The tree is not only a perennial plant, the subject of the tree as a symbol for life is a perennial subject.  One of my favorite Tree of Life paintings is by Gustav Klimt.

Nuri, Roy and Liz in Ibiza

The highlights of Nuri Barata's dark brown hair gleamed red/orange in the July sun while she posed in the pool.  It had been 6 years since my last visit to Ibiza in 2005 when I did quick sketches of Roy and Liz and 14 years since Nuri last modeled for me.  It's amazing how quickly time disappears when you go back and visit a familiar place.  When I was there it felt as if I had just been there the day before but now that I'm back home it feels like it was just a dream.

J.L. and Susan

Jean's Mumu

Circle Tree

Circle Tree is my latest oil on canvas, measuring 8"x10"x1".  At first I tried painting candy in the style of Wayne Thiebaud with no success so I painted over most of my crummy attempt and drew circles over the rest using my Kern mathematical instrument set. I then painted in some of the circles with Schmincke's Bronze powder, which creates a rich pale gold color that glitters nicely in the sunlight.  I've had the Kern set since childhood.  It must have been one of many odd items E.A. Autrey acquired at an auction or Bekins sale in Santa Barbara years ago.  The one I have looks just like the one manufactured between 1914 and 1926, as seen via the Kern & Co. link above.  It is amazingly useful as an artist's tool.