The Volvo

One of the reasons I went to Art Center College of Design was their strong Automotive Design department. They would sculpt, draw, paint, and design futuristic versions of all types of vehicles. To this day, I critique the shapes, lines and colors of them. This is a friends wagon parked at the beach with the boot open and his favorite stick on the roof. 8x10"

This is another view of the volvo at the beach. i like the contrast better and the feel for the summer day I painted it. The owner had another view in mind, thus two versions of the same old car;)

Garden Street

It's my belief that you can make a good painting from simple, ordinary subjects. Sometimes, I step outside my door and set up the easel without any subject in mind. In this case, I walked fifty steps and set up looking down Garden street. I used an old credit card for the straight lines on the street and light poles. Don't leave home without it. 8x 10"

Hot Dog Stand

Here's a sketch of the local hot dog vendor at the paid parking lot at the point near C St.
I used some of my typical devises to compose the painting; diagonals, values, warm and cools, contrast, people. I used a palette knife quite a bit. 10 x12"

Morning Sunrise

This is a painting I revisited today and spent another half of hour fine tuning some of the drawing and tones. It is a desert landscape and has been pushed to create a mood.

Studio Sketch

This is another 10 minute sketch of a chef painting in the studio. I limited my color choices and tried to match the values. I used the end of my brush to draw back into the wet paint.

Karen Reading In Studio

This was done with available light in the studio. I draw and paint at the same time. The colors are keep in relation to others in the same family.

Interior Studio

This is the back of my painting. These are compositions that explore what I intend to paint.

On a stained canvas, I roughed out the interior of my studio. This time I chose to use graphite

 The next stage I have blocked in the darks and left the light areas. This was done in about 30 minutes. I intend to go back to the painting and work on it after the paint has dried.

Here is another hour of painting on the 10x20" interior of me working on the wheel in my studio. It still needs some drawing to clarify the shapes and details of the space, but I am working toward an overall balance of design and composition.

Mushroom Farm Gate

Here is a painting on gessoed board. I usually work on canvas attached to board and am not used to the soaking in of the oil paint and the way the brush skips across the surface. This is the first painting I used my compass to write down the specific location on the back.

The overall color scheme is off in the photograph, but I did work extensively on the palm trees, background and foreground

Freeway Palm

This is a quick painting I did of a palm near the 101 freeway. I left the warm ground color for the highlight of the trunk and explored use of ivory black, for a change. 8 x 10"

I made some major changes to this small painting in fall of 2019

Port Hueneme Naval Base

I like to paint planes. Ever since I was a child I was fascinated by them and their variety of shapes and purposes. This is a fighter jet sitting on the runway.

Morning Star Painter

Here is a painting I did while the lettering was painted on the boat while on dry dock. It is 10 x20"  and in oil on canvas. 

It seemed best to delete the lettering on the ship and have a gradation of warm to cool on the bow, thus the new version....

Morning Star On Drydock

This is a 12"x12" oil painting done from an elevated perspective. The dock master let me paint it from the office at Ventura Harbor.

Pumpkin Field Farm Workers

This is a small painting done at sunset near Olivas Adobe. The fields are filled with pumpkins and beautiful in the fall.

Beverly Hills Art Show

This is a painting of my setup at the Spring 2013 Beverly Hills Art Show. It was a fabulous event and I enjoyed painting while I was there. Here is an 8x10 study with my sign hanging out front.

1982 VW Camper

Here's a sketch of my westfalia vw van. 8x10"

Restoration Underway

Here's another car undergoing restoration. Since I painted this, the grill has been removed to be chromed. 8x10"

Bamboo Brush

When it rains, I work inside my studio under the skylight with my indoor brushes.

Ventura Produce Stand

Even though it is my favorite produce stand, I cannot seem to get a good painting from it. Finally, I gave up sticking to what was there and painted it as if I were standing on top of my van and moved the grove of Eucalyptus trees forward two miles. It's working now! 8x10" oil

Circus Vargas Tent Raising

This is one of my favorite subjects to paint. Maybe because of my love for the movie Dumbo and the opening sequence when the tents are being raised by the elephants and men during a storm. I always look forward to watching and painting this tent, even tough I hate the challenge of the yellow design on the material that ruins the shape and form of the overall tent. This painting is in oil and about 11x14". Roustabouts and machinery included in the shadows.

Hillford Moving

Wow! I let this blog down by not posting for a long time. Oh, I've been painting allot, but for some reason I have turned to fine tuning older starts. Some of the blogs have been updated with the newer versions of the same paintings.
This is a painting session I did with a good friend from Disney, Brian McKim. It's an oil and about 9"x 12". In 2009 we moved from La Canada Flintridge to Ventura and used Hillford Moving company. My studio is a stones throw away from this very spot.

Dock Study

8x10 o/c

WAV Bldg View

8 x 10 o/c This is a painting of the back of the Working Artists Ventura building from Santa Clara Street. It was painted on a overcast day.

Studio K view

8x10 o/c Here's the view looking out from my studio on Arundell Circle in Ventura. The vw van is the best painting investment I have made because it enables me to travel and paint on location. The kiln is in front of the small door, while the large door is up showing the van.

I made a few adjustment in late  2019 and added a signature.

Ave Truck

8x10 o/c

Rail View

This is a view looking west of a railroad track bridge over the 101 freeway. Notice the Crown Plaza Hotel in the background and bougenvilla on the fences. 8 x 10 oil/canvas

Antique Stove Shop

This is a wonderful stove shop in Ventura that has an old stove out front. I made a simple 8 x 10 oil painting of the front entrance. I would love to paint inside sometime.

Stern's Warf

Just 30 minutes north of Ventura, California is a little town of Santa Barbara where this close up of Stern's warf was painted.

8 x10 o/c

S B Harbor

This is a quick little painting of some buildings next to the Santa Barbara Harbor.

8 x 8 o/c

Orchid Study

This is a very small oil sketch done quickly from the front yard. Signed bottom left.

8 x 8 o/c

Old Stamp Store

Front Street in Ventura has a few old homes and businesses. This is one I was told used to be an old stamp store. The gardens are well tended and it is close to the beach.

8 x 10 o/c

Ave Corner

Ventura Avenue is on the west side of town. The street is old and it runs toward Ojai, California. This quick study looks toward the hills.

9 x 11 o/c

I made  some adjustments to the painting in 2019 to the sky and signed the painting.

Kalarama St.

8x10 o/c

Hoosier's Carwash

This is a very quick sketch of the car wash behind the WAV in Ventura. I don't like the building and I see now it shows in the execution of the painting. 

8x10 o/c

Tool Yard

This is near the harbor an is an attempt to paint a tool yard under a old tree. The equiptment is fighting with the tree for focus. I don't care for this painting, but sometimes we need to try subjects that present a challenge.

8x10 o/c

Crowne, Ventura

This is a very simple painting. I painted it in a strong wind and put down the brushwork quickly. I noticed a fire near here and found out later it was started in the river by some homeless people.

8x8 o/c

Ventura Bungalows

This is another 15 minute painting with leftover paints from a work I did a few minutes earlier.

8x10 o/c

Ave Taco

With the hillside as a dark background, one of the many Mexican food places on Ventura Avenue.

8x10 o/c

Ave Salon

Looking east on the Avenue on an overcast day.

8x10 o/c

I worked on the painting again in 2019.

Ave Library

It's hard to make an old brick building fit into a landscape. I worked hard to frame it and keep it looking like it wasn't going to fall over. 

8x10 o/c

Ave. Carwash, San Buenaventura

Tin roofed car-wash on Ventura Ave in west Ventura. 8x10" This is in front of Green Art People on the Avenue in Ventura. 8x10"

Dry-dock View

Sunday at the drydocks in Ventura. 12" x 16" oil