Painting in Spain

My Wife and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary in Spain earlier this month. It was an amazing time and I had a lot of good sketching and painting opportunities. Here are a few of the paintings, I filled a 60 page sketch book on the trip but still have to water color quite a few of the sketches, more to come.

Santa Maria Cathedral - Cadaques  Spain

San Juan de Luz, France

San Sebastian Spain

Pinxto Hopping - San Sebastian Spain

Plaza - San Sebastian Spain

Parte Viajo - San Sebastian Spain

Beach San Sebastian Spain

Plein Air in Central Oregon

Last weekend we went on a family camping trip to Lake Billy Chinook in central Oregon. While the weather was not great but I did get in some quality sketching and painting in. I love painting the colorful cliffs around the lake and spring is a beautiful time of year in this area (before things get too dry) This was my first outing with my new Plein Air Pro Travel easel outside of Portland.

" Coffee Talk"

This is Dragon Fly Cafe a little coffee shop on NW Thurman its a great place to stop on your way to  Forest Park. I really like painting and sketching Cafes and here in Portland there is an endless about of coffee shops one of the main reasons I love living here.

"Coffee Talk" 11"x14" $225.00

In the Shadows

This scene captured my eye riding into work this week. The whole street was in shadow and the sun was lighting up the corner of the old building. The more I paint I am discovering that scenes with good light and shadow and contrast make for the best paintings, and the area with the most contrast should be the focal point of the painting.

"In the Shadows" SW Taylor and SW 1st Ave  8"x10" $150.00

Wet Streets - SW 2nd and Yamhill

I recently purchased Ron Stocke's new book Watercolor en Plein Air. I really like Ron Stocke's work and approach to painting. I am trying to apply some of his principles in my work, this one below uses mainly gray hues with a punch of color in the blue awnings. I think this is appropriate for the winter weather here in Portland. This was done in the studio but I plan to do a lot more Plein Air painting as the weather improves.

"Wet Streets" SW 2nd and SW Yamhill 11x14  $225

PHIPPS

This cool old building on North Mississippi Ave houses one of my favorite coffee shops in the neighborhood - Fresh Pot. The building use to be a Rexall pharmacy I like how they kept the original signage on the exterior, the interior of the coffee shop also has the original soda fountain counter its a a nice piece of historic Portland.
I accidentally started painting the awning green when it is actually orange, but overall I like how this piece came out.

"Phipps Drugs" Mississippi ave, Portland - 8"x10" $125

Max train - Portland Street-scapes

Recently I have switched my focus from ink and watercolor sketching to doing more studio watercolors (no ink). This is due to the colder weather and shorter days, there is just less time to sketch  outside. I have been working off of reference photos taken around my office in downtown Portland. With this switch to more traditional studio watercolors I am concentrating on simplification, composition, values and color harmony with less focus on details.

I am finding the local light rail "Max" trains are a good focal point for these street-scapes because they add a nice element of movement and interest to the painting.

My recent inspiration has been the watercolors of Andy Evanson and Chien Chung Wei both have a great loose approach to painting street scenes.

These pieces are available for purchase, email me if you are interested.

Thanks for looking!

Slow Crossing - 9"x12" Watercolor on 140# arches rough paper
-$175

SW Alder and 2nd Ave- 9"x12" Watercolor on 140# arches rough paper
$175

Morning Coffee - 8"x8" Watercolor on 140# arches rough paper
$125