Hummingbird and Feeder

Hummingbird and Feeder 5"x7" oil  $50.00

This feeder is on our front porch and when the sun sets the feeder is backlit and seems to glow from within.

Charcoal sketch to oil painting

My brother Chris, his son Eric and I planned on doing charcoal sketches this morning. When I saw this cloud bank getting ready to cover the sun I suggested to Chris to quickly sketch this scene before the sun dissapeared behind the clouds.

This was the scene Eric was working on at the same time.

The sun was gone now but we had our value sketches to work from.

This is Erics painting and our sketch from when the sun was out.

Chris with his painting

Eric with his painting

We learned the importance of value sketches before you paint. If we hadn"t sketched we would have lost the sun before we got the painting finished.

Morning painting session

8x10 oil            (SOLD)


Went out at dawn this morning, I had a couple of hours to burn so I went to Core Creek Park to see what the morning would bring. After looking around a little I settled on this spot. I wanted to try to capture the early morning hazy atmosphere. My brother Chris and his son Eric are going to join me at sunrise tommorrow,we are going to get an early start before Mother Nature turns up the heat.

Spring Morning 11x14 oil

Spring Morning 11x14 oil

Plein-air study for Spring Morning 7"x5" oil

The idea for this painting came from this small 7"x5" study one early spring morning two years ago.

I was at Core Creek Park painting a grove of trees but the painting was not working out (which happens sometimes on location). I happened to turn around and saw this scene of a lone fisherman in this brilliant light with the mist rolling across the lake.

I turned my easel around grabbed a small panel and dashed this study off before the light changed. Its no work of art but it provided me with the information to do a painting a couple years later.

When you paint or draw on location you are forced to look more closely at your subject and you end up retaining the important aspects that made the scene look the way it did.

I switched the couple for the fisherman because I felt it would portray the feeling of getting out after a long winter in a more pleasing way. Everyone can idenify with these feelings after the winter we had.

I hope it was interesting seeing what happens when you paint on location and the thinking process that goes into a painting.

I want to thank everyone who takes an interest in my art and takes the time to read this blog.

Sketching Trip to Valley Forge National Park

My brother Chris and I went to Valley Forge Park Saturday morning to do a little sketching.

This would be his first time working with oil paints so it would be a relaxing session learning how they can be handled.

We were hoping for the early morning sunlight but it never showed except for a minute it peeked out while I was doing a demo for Chris (top picture).

We did a little searching around the park looking for a spot that would provide a range of values (lights and darks) for his sketch. On an overcast day the values are closer together so you have to look a little harder to see the differences in value and color shifts.

The second picture shows Chris working on the scene in front of him. And the third picture is his completed sketch,which turned out pretty good for his first attempt at painting on location.

I wanted him to get used to seeing values when looking at scenes to paint.

We took a drive to Marsh Creek State Park to look around and Chris did a sketch of a point of land sticking out in the lake.

Chris's son Eric couldn't make it today because we started out at 5:00am, but he has been going with us on our sketching trips. Eric shows alot of enthusiasm for art and a desire to learn everything he can about painting, not bad for an 8 year old!