Fishing Line

There are many serene, idealized, beautiful paintings depicting fishing. However, in this painting, I decided to show a moment all fishermen have shared at one point or another...untangling a snarled fishing line.

Bluebonnets

It is that time of year again... The bluebonnets are starting to bloom and are begging to be painted. Each spring I teach a Bluebonnet Plein Air Painting workshop. When I paint outdoors, I start with a rough sketch of the area to be painted. I then move immediately into a more careful approach. After the sketch is completed, I carefully place each stroke taking care to check for correct value, color, placement, shape, etc. Of course, the painting is rarely finished when I leave. I usually bring it back to the studio to finish with the help of reference photos that I took when painting.

If you are looking for a good place to paint bluebonnets near Houston, they are usually in abundance around FM 390, FM 1155 between Washington and Chappell Hill or anywhere near Bovay Scout Camp.

Sweden

I love this section of Stockholm for the interesting color, rooflines, reflections...

Rebecca and Adam

I completed this painting of Rebecca and Adam some months ago. I generally block in the entire painting and then work from back to front and dark to light. However, when I paint a portrait the method varies slightly in that I block the painting in and go to work immediately on the faces. I like to establish the important facial features before continuing. This allows me to achieve a certain level of finish in the painting early in the game. Then I return to the back to front, dark to light method to finish the painting, otherwise the edges are unnecessarily difficult.

Although I love the softness of the couples expressions, my favorite part of this painting is the wonderful crushed velvet texture on the top of the chair contrasted with the polished wood detail.

Her First Shoes

Her First Shoes is a small ( 5"x6 1/2") and simple painting but each time I look at it, it brings back memories. The child who wore these shoes would turn one foot over the other in just the same way.