Cuban Moon

December 19, 2018

I've never been to Cuba, but I found it in this glass.

Wet and full of moon, I can hear the Buena Vista guys on their guitars. With cigars sending blue ribbons upward, the men croon in mahogany tones, bringing us the song of life through a glint of light.

5" x 7" oil on panel  $195    Art in the Morning special

Bach 'n the Hood 2

December 12, 2018

Bach is known for his brilliance, of course.  And for creating calm. I'm not sure what that's about, but it sure works on me.

After spending several weeks in the studio disappearing into Hilary Hahn playing Bach's partitas and sonatas, I've been spending consecutive weeks painting to Yo Yo Ma's Bach's suites for solo cello. Ma has made three solo recordings of these works over some decades. Bach speaks to us with beauty and humanity at every stage of life.

I love how Yo Yo tells of beginning his learning of this music, and its feeling, at the age of four. Learning one measure each day. Rather like learning to paint. Rather like learning to live.

16" x 16" x 1.5" oil on canvas    $830    Art in the Morning special

Quiet Autumn River

December 5, 2018

Change of season brings a change of temperature and a change of color temperature, too.

Sometimes it's a comfort to walk into the warm room of the last season. Like lighting a candle, it brings a glow. In the golden light, let the quiet settle over you for a bit.

9" x 12"  oil on linen panel   $370    Art in the Morning special

Bach 'n the Hood

November 28, 2018

After a recent production of Robin Hood, I couldn't help but appreciate the power of community theater.

A stage full of kids had spent a week throwing themselves into auditions, learning their lines and choreography, striving to inhabit the role of a character who, just the week before, was a stranger to them. They needed to feel and animate that character so that we, the audience, would believe and invest in the outcome. Talk about a fast track to empathy!

Theater forces one to imagine another life, in ill-fitting shoes, walking a different path.

Back at the studio... I painted to the rich, dark tones of Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach. The room was filled with another kind of empathy. Beautiful.

16" x 16" x 1.5" oil on canvas    $830    Art in the Morning special

Autumn Reflection

November 21, 2018

Nature's mirror. A good place for reflecting.

10" x 12"  oil on panel   $460    Art in the Morning special

Deep Turn

November 14, 2018

The ridiculous number of layers I wore were worth it to be in a world of no noise. Only sound. As in the sound of ice melting, birds dipping, grass in the wind, my brush on the canvas, a hawk calling as it circled overhead.

As the day warmed the trout rose and jumped. The dippers swam. A coyote went by like a blade of grass.

At the end of the day I had a pile of clothes next to my easel, some work in my paint box, and the calm of having spent time without voice in a place of wonder.

 6" x 8"  oil on linen panel     sold  

Backlit

November 7, 2018

With my paint gear on my back I'm deep in a canyon by the river scouting for a scene to paint. I turn my head and, presto! There is the subject. Light. In all it's hot-edged brilliance.

Its glow highlights the season and transforms the familiar into something that stops me in my tracks.

6" x 6"  oil on panel     sold   

The Cloisters

Octoberber 31, 2018

A quiet moment of sketching in the cloisters at my Lake Garda workshop.

Creating is a process of learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, with not knowingthe answer but embracing discovery. It is not always easy.

Being outside our comfort zone can lead to new discoveries. And the occasional cloister to contemplate them in.

5.5 x 5.5 sketchbook    nfs

Shadow River

October 24, 2018

What a dramatic way to discover the power of lighting! Big swaths of  swashbuckling orange and gold race over the land and through the woods.

Along comes a dark cloud and you suddenly have drama on the high seas! (Something the theater lighting crew knew all along.)

I am rapt. Can't wait to see what happens in the next act!

11" x 14"  oil on panel   $660    Art in the Morning special

Clear and Present

October 17, 2018

There is so much to see in a face, one of the great landscapes that largely goes unseen in the real sense. Dark and light, curve and crevice, tone, sheen, shadow.

I crave the process of discovery and correction with the paint. The bony underlayer, the warm and cool, the sometimes reveal of culture. I love that it takes all of my brain.

9" x 12"  oil on linen panel

Clear: Sideways Light

October 10, 2018

Glass is my vehicle for space and light. I love the way that splash of sideways light draws you in and back. Like a flashlight beam, it lights the way as it glints and plays, leading us around the next curve and through the spill of shadow.

8" x 10"     oil on linen panel   sold 

Flamenco Sketches V

I've learned a lot about color and light, density and open space, and the melody of pattern, from jazz.

I did a suite of paintings based on Coltrane's solo in Flamenco Sketches with Miles Davis. It is full of tenderness and ebullience, caress and celebration, "singing" and contemplation.

Every time I hear it, it sounds like pure love to me.

9" x 9"     oil on wood  panel    $370  Art in the Morning special

Sunlit Portal - Alcazar

September 26, 2018

Architectural arches are like fountains for me. Portals to another place. Softening the edges and rounding the corners, they feel like a doorway and an invitation.

10" x 12"  oil on linen panel   sold  

A Kiss of Sunlight

September 19, 2018

We all shine brighter when kissed by sunlight.

The literal and the metaphorical kind.

6" x 6"  oil on panel  sold    

Sid's Ahead

September 12, 2018

The title may not refer what you think. I named this after the Miles Davis tune I was listening to while painting it. (One of my many favorite Davis recordings.)

Sid's Ahead, on Milestones, features Miles on trumpet and piano! Swingin' and surprising. Good features in any art form.

And yeah, it's cool, baby.

5" x 7" oil on panel  $195    Art in the Morning special

Lamplight - Lake Garda

September 5, 2018

The setting of the sun, and the rising of the moon, made everything glow in the magical misty alpine atmosphere. Massive vertical rock walls rose straight up out of the water on the northern tip of the lake, "foothills" to the Alps.

I felt small in nature's grandeur. That's good.

More nature. Less man.

10" x 12"  oil on linen panel   sold    

Reaching

August 29, 2018

Her countenance indicates to me a thoughtful reaching, a leaning toward something in her mind and attitude. She seems self-contained even as she seems inclusive.

Each time she resumed her pose she would pause, close her eyes, and exhale, letting everything go.

We could all use more of that - to pause, and lean toward something.

9" x 12"  oil on linen panel   $290    Art in the Morning special

Cool Big Fountain Peace - Alhambra

August 22, 2018

Walk in to cool dappled shade and light. The surround of music from water aloft for a moment, then landing in a bubbling, burbling pool. Sparkles dash about on the water in shadowy sunlight. A welcome respite in a silent space. That's what I wanted this piece to say.

I revisited this fountain painting to increase its "aboutness." It was beautiful in a place of green. But I wanted it to say something more specific - about the fountain, the water, the light, the quiet.

By making the piece darker, it glows more. By simplifying, it is more focused. By adding more moving water, we hear the silence.

Come, let's sit in the quiet.

24" x 30" x 1.5" oil on canvas    $1370    Art in the Morning special

Kimono

August 15, 2018

I love this jazzy bit of abstraction and floating deep space. I love what I have learned from the art of Japanese woodblock prints. Their innovative use of space. Their glowing graduated color.

The sense of stillness even as it shimmers invites us to linger.

9" x 9"     oil on wood  panel    $370  Art in the Morning special

Green Thumb Salad

August 8, 2018

Zesty and refreshing, full of scintillating color - how could we resist the benefits of vitamin C hydration, folate, and lots of the super-food nutrients when they come dressed in colors of spring and sunlight.

Fun fact, I learned asparagus is also called sparrow grass. I like the sound of that.

Who knew painting was a good source for your major food groups?! We feast the eye. Then, we feast.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel    sold   

Big Sky, River Valley

August 1, 2018

Today I will be that river and roam over the land, expanding across the valley, watering the grasses and the birds that stop for a drink. I will harbor the croaking frog and the dragon flies that dance upon my surface.

Now and again I will turn my face upward, to brush the cheek of downy clouds that shade me.

Come nightfall I will rest under lunar light and thank the stars for their sparkling invitation to a larger world.

9" x 12"  oil on panel   sold  

Churchill Came to Tea

July 25, 2018

We talked painting and brushstroke, watercolor and oil, light and contrast... the value of friends and allies, the strength of pragmatism and diplomacy, how the yoke of editing can be a clarifying pressure.

And, how a tea cup can be a fine snifter in a pinch.

6" x 6"  oil on panel    sold    

Dream

July 18, 2018

Built on dreams...Whether it's community theater or a play on Broadway, driving past a family farm on a country road or walking into a small business, ordering from Amazon or picking up an i-Phone, I am struck by the fact that we are a country started by, and made up of, dreams - and the hard work it takes to make them a reality.

Dream on baby, and dream a little dream for me.

9" x 12"  oil on panel   $290    Art in the Morning special

Take Five

July 11, 2018

Seeing the familiar in unexpected ways. I love that. That's what the arts do.

Often part of the process is the question, how best to reflect things back at us in a new light - literally or metaphorically.

How best to make things pop and sizzle with surprise rather than fulfilling expectation.  Often we can be pushed a bit off center so we pause and  say, "Hey wait a minute. What?!"

The unfamiliar can be a good thing.

Plus, it's pretty dang fun to embrace the unexpected.

9" x 9"     oil on wood  panel     sold      

Alpine Spring Stream

July 4, 2018

The best way I know to celebrate being independent and alive...  be kind, be present, be in nature, be the music.

22" x 28" x 1.5" oil on canvas   sold  

A Night in Tunisia

June 27 , 2018

We spent a fantastic evening at the San Francisco Jazz Center listening and learning about the music and life of pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams. She was way out front for her time. Inspiring! Full of intelligence, feeling, and swing.

Tammy Hall on piano, and her group of highly-charged musicians (all women!) brought Williams' music to life with power and subtle nuance - scintillating.

I've always enjoyed the tension of pushing flat abstraction up against "realistic" deep space.

Like the musicians, I wanted to introduce "accident" that I could improvise off of. Soon I was pouring paint with a bit of intent. New challenges, new discoveries.

~ I named it after a Dizzie Gillespie composition. He was a good friend of Williams.

36" x 40" x 1.5" oil on canvas   $3765   Art in the Morning special

Boats at Harbor, Lake Garda

June 20 , 2018

Adventure awaits!

Buon Viaggio.

5.5 x 5.5 sketchbook    nfs

Under Observation

June 13 , 2018

Marcus Welby?

Father Knows Best?.

The Age of Wisdom?

11" x 14"  oil on linen panel   $290    Art in the Morning special

Radiant Storm

June 6 , 2018

Spring rain to wash the sky, water the wild flowers, and clean my brain.

Splish splash said the little bird.

6" x 6"     oil on panel     sold     

Fruit Jar 4

May 30 , 2018

Orchards of blossoming trees dash their billowy blooms of color about like so many Impressionist painters swinging a paintbrush. I see Monet, Manet, and Bonnard out there.

Today it is a glass to raise, filled with orange or cabernet. Tomorrow it is a jewelry box filled with gems from the field.

A toast to those who bring in the bounty.

5" x 7" oil on panel    sold    

Varenna Train Station

May 23 , 2018

What better way to wait for a train than to sketch its tunnel and the surroundings.

I am always surprised by how much more I experience about a place in the process of seeing to sketch. It's like observant research. Time slows way down.

Imagine how different we and the world might be if we all sketched what we saw, to send to others - instead of taking a picture of ourselves facing away from it.

Instead of facebook, it could be called Sketchbook. Hey! I like it!

5.5 x 5.5 sketchbook    nfs

Blackbird / Young Man

May 16 , 2018

As he designs his future, I hope it includes a benevolent empire.

A swingin' jazz soundtrack.

And random acts of poetry.

9" x 12"  oil on linen panel   $290    Art in the Morning special

Bobbing Bellas

May 9 , 2018

The breeze that blows away winter's darkness sets their heads bobbing.

Like a kiss good morning, they turn toward us with the promise of pink lemonade, the bright melody of robin song, and the warm-honey smell of sunlight on skin.

With intermittent suprise snow storms, spring can be a state of mind.

Peace.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel     sold    

River Gold

May 2, 2018

As the golden hour comes around the bend, the contrast of light and shadow heightens the fiery radiance of early fall. Cool darkness in the foreground brings a close intimacy between me and the land. The distant glow pulls us deep into the painting.

At times like these the light seems to move extra fast, telling of the speed the earth is turning. It reminds me to do my best to seize each day.

11" x 14""  oil on linen panel  sold     

Agua Nuevo

April 25 , 2018

Sunlight and water,

Movement and calm,

Contrast and brillance,

Alleys, and valleys, and scenic overlooks.

I love the way a painting can take you on a trip to a different space - in the quiet of your mind.

Happy travels.

36" x 40" x 1.5" oil on canvas   $3695   Art in the Morning special

Autumn Slow Turn

April 18 , 2018

The white of snowcapped mountains is yeilding to the blue of fast-moving streams. Until the green of spring appears in the Sierra, here is a chance to visit late autumn's glory of color.

I've never had a bad day painting in nature, just different weather. Rain or shine, song and silence, it all refreshes.

8" x 10"  oil on panel   sold    

For Whom the Pen Barks

Writers write.

Painters paint.

Here's a painting about writing. Like writers, painters try to tell a story, directing your eye through the piece with line and plane, light and shadow.

We strive to keep our side characters interesting, but in service to the story and in support of the main character. Strokes should always advance the plot.

Just as in writing, when in doubt, leave it out.

4.5" x 7"  oil on panel   sold  

Anti-gravity

April 4 , 2018

Anti-gravity, in all its forms.

It's hard to take life too seriously when faced with such a colorful delight. Especially when it comes with a French accent.

16" x 20" x 1.5"  oil on linen     sold   

Work Ethic

March 28, 2018

There is something about tools that give us peace of mind.  They suggest clarity, integrity, hard work.

Tools conjure a different time - when most people still made stuff, when one's word was their bond, a handshake was a contract, and people looked you in the eye when they talked to you.

People do still make stuff. Like the home we live in.

I think I will shake hands with a tool, build something, and reflect.

6" x 6"  oil on panel    sold    

It's a Beautiful Morning

March 21, 2018

Here's wishing you a sunny day.

... Made even better by queuing up the soundtrack by the Rascals.

8" x 8"  oil on panel   sold    

Theater

March 14, 2018

Painting portraits is kind of like making theater. Every angle of stroke, every change in light and shadow alters the emotion, the expression of the face, and hence, the content of the story.

Of course, one always hopes the play ends well.

9" x 12"  oil on linen panel   $290    Art in the Morning special

Aquarium

March 7, 2018

Oil paint is a lovely, juicy, buttery sensation. The oily color is something you can see into. I love the surprises.

The right color combinations create radiance - the glow. Others create surprising depth.

Take that glass bubble, for instance. I was painting along, and bam! Suddenly I was scuba diving around this underwater fantasma-magical thing that appeared out of the watery depths. So cool to explore it in my face mask and flippers as the air bubbles rose around me.

I can't wait for my next adventure.

20" x 22" x 1.5" oil on canvas   $1275   Art in the Morning special

Unfinished Business

February 28, 2018

Like anything, the only way to improve is practice, practice, practice.

If you look at early works by Cezanne one can see why history books often speculate that more accomplished guys like Manet may have befriended him out of empathy, and some sympathy.

But Cezanne had chosen a pursuit that he didn't want to be free of. He sketched and painted anywhere and everywhere. Not out of ease or talent, but because he was driven - to learn, to improve, to find his voice in what he wanted to say.

If you find yourself with the dubious honor of being family or friend to someone with sketchbook in hand, here's the deal...

Consider that now is not the time to make like a dutch windmill and go all kinetic energy. Perhaps now is the time to channel your inner haystack and be still so they can finish. Who knows?! Maybe you can get a tax write-off for supporting the arts?!

5.5 x 5.5 sketchbook    nfs

Tropic Heart

February 21, 2018

Art takes us somewhere else.

I feel like I'm in an old movie, thick with atmosphere being pushed around by the slow-moving fan overhead. Over by the piano, a dewy-eyed dame is ripping some guy's heart out, as he stoically leans in to let her mess up his shoulder.

The scene inspires us to find our own such gallantry. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of our lives. 

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel   sold   

Palm Song

February 14, 2018

Every tree has its own song. It moves in rhythm to the melody that rides in on the wind.

The palm sways its grassy skirts in the breeze, accompanied by the dry whispering of a little soft-shoe on sand.

Gusts bring percussive cracks and the clacking of broad fronds brushing against each other in a fan dance of green and gold.

8" x 10"  oil on panel   $290    Art in the Morning special

Late Summer Silver

February 7, 2018

I love the way you can see the seasons change even on the water. The late September sun slid sideways, skimming across the surface rather than penetrating from high above.

Tucked under the trees, I painted with cobalt blue skies overhead.

Just when I needed them. in rolled the timpani, bringing clouds and drama to pop the silvery light.

9" x 12"  oil on panel      sold   

Morning Breaks

January 31, 2018

Morning ritual meets a still life meets a sculpture meets a stage set.

To paraphrase Yogi Berrra, we can observe a lot just by looking.

8' x 8"  oil on panel   $320    Art in the Morning special

Curve

January 24, 2018

The colors make me feel like I'm in Greece.

Okay then! Let's go get some fish and feta by the sea.

6" x 6"  oil on panel   $190    Art in the Morning special

The Philosopher

January 17, 2018

Something tells me he takes the long view. Sees the big picture. And reads a fair bit of poetry by the fire.

11" x 14""  oil on linen panel   $320    Art in the Morning special

To all of us

January 10, 2018

A sparkling bit of bubbling light to wish you a year of Peace and possibility, Optimism and opportunity, Comfort outside your comfort zone, a Kaleidoscope of Kindness.

May we celebrate Sense and sensibility, Nature's nuance, and of course,

Music in all things.

8" x 10" x 1.5" oil on canvas   sold   

Quiet River

January 4, 2018

The quiet river has a lot to say.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel   $290    Art in the Morning special

Star Crystal

December 27, 2017

Stars fill the universe. Luminous, their brilliant points of light inspire us. We stare up into the sparkling deep and feel small in its presence.

That's a good thing.

Humility helps us see each other and ourselves more clearly.

 6" x 6"  oil on panel   sold    

Curve Ball

December 20, 2017

Take a break.

Leave off the ly.

See the world different.

6" x 6"  oil on panel   $210    Art in the Morning special

Rodeo Sky 3

December 13, 2017

Your very own picture window.

Aaron Copland invites us to soar.

Just say yes.

 20" x 20" x 1.5" oil on canvas   sold   

Crystal Color

December 6, 2017

'Tis the season...

When you and Santa, or your fellow turkey, sit down for a breather with a gem-colored something, I recommend kicking back with Ray Brown and Christian McBride. Let their basses take you for a walk.

Soon you'll be tappin' and swingin', and doing some call and response of your own. Their invitation is as big and warm as the bass. With a smile.

That's love.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel   $215    Art in the Morning special

Big River, Gold Land

November 29, 2017

Oh to be a fish that swims within the blue, careening around the river's curves and skimming through its shimmering - to push against the current and feel the bubbles pop against my side.

Or, to be the leaf that turns gold in autumn and quakes in the sunlight to celebrate my glow.

I would like the anonymity of the grasses, whispering in the breeze. Rippling like a squall, now gold, now rust, now turning my hints of green. Without me the river wouldn't look so deep. Without the river, I wouldn't look so gold.

Or to be the river, and flow like water, baby.

9" x 12"  oil on panel      sold   

Quiet Muse

November 22, 2017

I like the way the blurred edges and low value contrast create an atmosphere of veiled light, and a sense of intimacy.

I wish I could paint her every week.

11" x 14""  oil on linen panel   $360    Art in the Morning special

Gold River Autumn

November 15, 2017

It's a gift to soak up nature's beauty, its calm, its integrity - to feel its mass, its weight, its breeze and warmth against my cheek. I never don't love it. Ha! 

It's fun to ask myself what I want to say about it in my painting, and how, so that you can feel it, too. 

I like to push the radiance of the sky to set off the sculptural planes that say "mountain" - even as I ask them both to lie quietly back. 

I always listen for the music in the water. It's a melody that balances my compass needle and helps me find true north. I let the sky dance on the water. I can't help but smile when a fish comes up to kiss the light. Making a little "bloop," it leaves rings in its wake.

9" x 12"  oil on panel     sold

Rodeo Sky 2

November 8, 2017

I think I may have to take up bronco riding.

I sure do love Rodeo Skies!

Don't forget to queue up the Aaron Copland.

20" x 20" x 1.5" oil on canvas   sold   

Big Fountain Peace

November 1, 2017

Peace you can walk right into. Let's go.

24" x 30" x 1.5" oil on canvas    -  please see Cool Big Fountain Peace  

Firewater

October 25, 2017

I needed a huge dose of nature. It delivered! The Valley of Hope in Fall Color.

I made a break for it last Thurdsday ~ high winds with gusts to 45. Holding onto my easel umbrella while I worked had me thinking I was channeling Hemingway, wrestling the fish of a lifetime.

With fiery light and reflected color, racing squalls and occasional calm... it was hilarious and ridiculous.

I just had to laugh at the absurdity, embrace the abstraction, and pretend I was windsurfing with a paintbrush in my hand.

9" x 12"  oil on panel      sold   

Summer Sundae

October 18, 2017

Summer classic, with fall color.

18" x 24" x 1.5" oil on linen   sold  

Strait Green

October 11, 2017

You're always looking for the language of marks. How to speak of atmosphere and light, space and flatness, that which dissolves between here and there - and that which suddenly appears as the sun moves through its day.

The desire to paint pulls me up hillsides unfamiliar, in places I've never been.

One of the rewards is a spectacular view. Another is turning around to find a herd of peaceful beasts munching on the green.

One moseys up to check out my painting. I think I passed muster.

9" x 12" oil on linen panel   sold  

Rodeo Sky

October 4, 2017

Like nature, Aaron Copland's music is transcendent. It soars with grandeur. He surprises us with expansive space, the snap and crack of clashing temperatures, golden light that is metaphorical and real.

He takes me someplace else, and I am always better off for it.

20" x 20" x 1.5" oil on canvas   sold  

Paradise Cove

September 27, 2017

Nestled in this quiet rocky cove, I put my brain in a little boat. I made sure the mast was true and the sail tight. Then I pushed it off from shore and settled back under the shade against the tree.

Watery periwinkle lit up the sand while waves tossed turquoise into the sky. The horizon rolled blue into the beyond.

After hours or days or weeks or years, a little white triangle emerged from the edge of blue. I watched it grow into a sail and then a boat. When it bumped onto the beach I put my brain back in its place and we all went home, happily ever after.

9" x 12" oil on linen panel   sold  

Eyes Wide Open

September 20, 2017

I like her innocence and optimism, her youthful anticipation. I like that she knows life is her library.

I hope she loves the map that will become her, reflecting the globe she travels and her world of experience.

9" x 12" oil on linen panel   $260   Art in the Morning special

Garden Fountain

September 13, 2017

Agua musica en Espanol

11" x 14"  oil on panel   sold   

Jazzin'

September 6, 2017

Jazz celebrates beauty. It is full of swing and brilliance. Even its shadows are luminous.

20" x 20" x 1.5" oil on canvas   $1170   Art in the Morning special

Sky Meadow 1

August 30, 2017

It's good to take your brain outside and let the breeze blow through it. Ahhh.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel     sold    

Unconsoled

August 23, 2017

When painting anything, we're after more than a likeness. Whether it's plein air or portrait, still life or complete abstraction, we want to evoke as well as tell.

Some days I so get this guy.

12" x 16" oil on linen panel   $320   Art in the Morning special

Blooming Meadow

August 16, 2017

Don't you just love nature's bouquet?!

9" x 12" oil on linen panel   sold  

 Gusher

August 9, 2017

Balanced at the edge of the path above the river's roar, it filled my senses. I sought to tell the story of the water's speed, the power of the turbulence, the slash of yellow light that suddenly cut between the cliffs above and broke rust and sauterne through the water.

I kept the plot simple and focused on nature as it surged. Leaving me excited and breathless its wake.

8" x 10"  oil linen on panel     nfs

Sculpted

August 2, 2017

Painting human "sculpture" means measuring and checking proportion while diving into beauty. It's been a wonderful new challenge working from live models. With no muscle memory, it takes my entire brain. The world falls away. I love it.

Plus, you meet some pretty wonderful, often stunning, people!

They too add to the pursuit of creativity, honing their craft and artistry - while they consider drape and pose, light and shadow - so that we can pursue ours.

11" x 14""  oil on panel   $290    Art in the Morning special

Expansive Spring

July 26, 2017

Ripples, whispers, plops and pops,

Trickles, tangels, twinkles, and laughing waters,

Burbles and burps, babbles and bubbles,

It's the best talk therapy I know of.

9" x 12" oil on linen panel   $290   Art in the Morning special

Spring Green

July 19, 2017

Seek and ye shall find. I don't know who said it, but it sure works for me.

Following that bird wasn't such a bad idea, either.

9" x 12" oil on linen panel   sold  

Amber

July 12, 2017

The subject is not the thing. The subject is what one is trying to say, the thing or the scene or the figure, is the vehicle.

When choosing a scene or setting up a still life, or observing the model, I get to be playwright and director, choreographer and stage lighting expert. What I want to say influences my choices in what I choose to paint.

Once I do that, I make myself slow down and ask, What is this painting about? How do I determine the focal point of the message? How do I marshall my tools - the composition, the light, my color choices. What strokes are blurry and which are crisp. What can I eliminate. Everything is to serve the painting.

On this piece I had orchestral assistance from Duke Ellington's "The Beautiful American."

20" x 20" x 1.5" oil on canvas    sold  

Sparkling Spring

July 5, 2017

Find yourself a river, a creek, a watery patch, a sea of grass. Watch the light bounce. Find the abstraction. Play in its patterns.

Seek the life that it supports, in sound, and in movement. Let's sit down together and spend some time there.

Let's listen and breathe, and just be silent.

9" x 12" oil on linen panel   $290   Art in the Morning special

Luminous Spring

June 28, 2017

I love the unpredictable that is plein air. You never know what gift nature will give you. It usually comes with a challenge to make it that much sweeter. Whether it's cold, rain, snow, ice, bugs or bats or snakes in the grass, grizzly awareness in the Tetons or a moose drawing a bead by a pond... or simply just too much visual information to make sense of, the beauty and the beast keeps me coming back.

As my thoughts develop, so does the day. The sun climbs, frozen ground begins to thaw, streams move from ice to flowing blue.

Today's gift was the clouds moving in to catch the bounce of light off the backside of this mountain, creating a room of light. Luminous and glowing.

I understand why birds break out in song.

9" x 12" oil on linen panel   sold  

Quiet Cup

June 21, 2017

The longest day of the year, it's a good thing.

It's the launch of the season of road trips, maps spread out on the table, and coffee a in classic diner along the way. Early dawns and late sunsets, sand in your toes, big books balanced on your stomach. Evening brings the cooing of doves and nightshade plants scenting the night.

Happy Summer Solstice.

6" x 6"  oil on panel   $190    Art in the Morning special

Alpine Brilliance

June 14, 2017

I loved being out in freshly fallen May snow. The old humps of meadow grass cracked with ice as I walked. Birds weren't warm enough to sing until late morning. Cloaked in a whole lotta layers, I was prepped for wind and a high of 41.

The mountain sang its own song. Brilliant morning sun on that new snow told me the "about-ness" of this painting. The cold temps helped me cut to the chase with clear and telling shapes of form and value, light and shadow.

Jumping jacks and running in place to keep the blood in my fingers had the birdies wondering what strange creature had come to roost.

9" x 12" oil on linen panel   $320   Art in the Morning special

What If...

I love the balance of this composition and the way it heightens her sense of stillness, as she wonders, What if...

11" x 14""  oil on panel   $230    Art in the Morning special

Waterplay

May 31, 2017

Fountains are a means to a meditative calm. I love that in Spain you find fountains everywhere. They are part of their culture.

Tucked into garden corners, on pathways and major boulevards, in plazas and private courtyards, they change the space and temperature around them. The simultaneous music and sense of quiet invites one to sit. (Or, paint!)

They sparkle in the blazing Spanish sun near refective pools, and burble quietly like cooing birds in verdant shade.

Feel the calm.

11" x 14"  oil on panel   sold       

Weather Report

May 24, 2017

Palm fronds play percussion as clouds roil above. I like the bit of theater they create as a backdrop to the weather vane and cupola.

I feel like I'm in a tropic novel and wonder what's about to unfold.

Plus, I just really like that weather vane against that sky.

8" x 10"  oil on panel   $230    Art in the Morning special

Turquoise Surf

A study in contrasting textures and light, I set up in the wind-shadow of a tree.

Turbulent waters whipped by the wind crash against gritty volcanic rock. Birds of white toss about overhead. Turquoise breaks clear on the sand as the far shore holds the warmth of golden sun.

9" x 12" oil linen on panel   sold  

Tulip Blaze

May 10, 2017

Birds of the flower, they spread their wings and take flight.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel   sold  

Tropic Tapestry

May 3, 2017

Roll out of bed, walk out the door, and start painting. Bliss.

Who knew lizards were so curious. They investigate everything I do. Backlit by the sun, their hot-orange throat bellows in and out before they impress me with their push-ups. Wild chickens worry their way through my scene.

Night brings a pile of stars spilled across the sky.

Stop the world, I want to get off? You betch'ya. Right here.

9" x 12" oil linen on panel   $290   Art in the Morning special

Volcano Sunrise

April 26, 2017

Morning. The world is splashed in unfamiliar color and sound. Jungle on all four sides and no muscle-memory for these surroundings. Terrific!!

Please, Mr. Bill. Don't make me go home.

9" x 12" oil linen on panel   sold  

Spring Melt, River Wide

April 19, 2017

I threw my gear in the car and drove out of the mountains of white stuff  surrounding us in the Sierra. It was good to see it in liquid form as it rushed and gushed and stretched out across the land.

Under pearly light, the powerful currents plowed over islands and swirled into eddies. The air was moist and verdant, hinting of green buds about to push through and brighten the day.

Red-Tailed hawks fed two little heads in their nest. A humming bird did vertical drops, only to soar straight upward, making sure that I wouldn't even think of pitching a tent on his ground.

Egrets and Great Blue herons flew by in origami grace. As I looked up from my painting, a Merganser and I shared a startled expression as he whizzed by at 30 miles an hour, afloat on the watery autostrade.

8" x 10"  oil on panel   $240    Art in the Morning special

Raw

April 12, 2017

Hatch an idea cracked sunny side up over easy yolk on you egghead which came first hardboiled... wait, why did you cross the road?

Seeing things fresh.

6" x 6"   oil on panel    sold   

Haiku Orchid

April 5, 2017

Orchid under roof

blooms break against winter moon

Snow walls, silent, rise

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel   $295    Art in the Morning special

Imagine

Wonder.

Conjure.

Magical.

What isn't... What if.

5" x 8" sketchbook    nfs

Winter's Glow

March 22, 2017

Snow creates its own language of light.

Stab a ski pole in on a sunny day in the Sierra and you see a pool of clear watery turquoise. It could be your portal to the Bahamas. The high-altitude light is brilliant as it bounces around in there.

When there is a storm, and it subsides near end of day, the skies remain pearly in their overcast. The light is a cooler, purple-gray, with a peach wash across the snow.

Clouds parting to clear, set the forest a-blaze in backlight from the retiring sun. And the snowy floor flashes with bits of hot color like ember glow.

I love that, like with any language, the more you use it, the more aware and fluent you become.

8" x 10" oil linen on panel   sold  

Tropic Glass

March 15, 2017

I keep hearing people say, "I gotta head to somewhere I can wear shorts and flip-flops."

Here's a bit of tropic, Gauguin color for you. Cheers.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel   sold    

Still Life with Books

March 8, 2017

A quiet day of reflection.

8" x 10" oil on panel    sold   

Stormy Winter Light

March 1, 2017

I had voices on my shoulder as I painted this. Usually when this happens it's some old-school master-artist type.

This time, it was an ornery Calvin, hurling opinions and gestures. "Really?! Painting isn't hard enough? You're going to try to paint that?!"

Meanwhile, a suave Hobbes, cocks his eyebrow and slips his arms into sleeves saying, "I like to say smock! Smock! Smock! Smock!"   

5" x 7" oil on panel    sold   

Unmoored

February 22, 2017

Art is my compass.

9" x 12" oil linen on panel  

Rose

February 15, 2017

Love. It's a communicable medicine.

6" x 6"   oil on panel    $190    Art in the Morning special

Stormy Orchid

February 8, 2017

How can a person not fall in love with paint. It's music in living color. Marks that crash and lick and kiss and stumble, caress and burn and shadow and scumble.

Discordant and melodic, like a musician, we know not where they'll lead. Beauty or mud, joy or despair. I have a picture of de Kooning in my studio. His face is snarling. His body is spent. He looks like he's been wrestling with a lion. But it was just his painting.

I love that during weeks of being snowed in, playing the part of a human shovel against mounting walls too high to reach, I can set up an impromptu studio in the middle of the living room, and paint my stormy orchids.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel   $230    Art in the Morning special

Wake-up Call

February 1, 2017

Lately, I wake up with more questions than I took to bed. Thank you for being a part of how I find meaning. Trying to create a little beauty and a moment of calm for others helps me find a way forward.

6" x 6"   oil on panel     sold   

Winter Morning Cup

January 25, 2017  

The morning sunlight on the ceiling always tells me if it's snowed. Cooler and bluer, the light comes in sideways.

Yellow dapples bouncing about, and bass drum thuds of melting snow, tell me if the sun is shining. The nuthatch outside trumpets reveille.

My socks of many colors hit the floor in pursuit of something warm to fill my cup.

8" x 8"  oil on panel   $230    Art in the Morning special

Noir- Lew Archer

January 18, 2017  

Lew Archer was Ross Macdonald's fictional solitary gumshoe. His detecting skills were applied to the fleshy underbelly of the west coast in the 1950s and '60s.

Against a soundtrack of new jazz and the churning oil pumps and bulldozers of land deals, water deals and oil deals, he tried to keep the weak from getting carved up along with the land.

Dark and moody and full of atmosphere, at the end of the day, there was always a bit of California sunlight in the bottom of his glass.

(Part of my series of glasses representing different fictional noir detectives.)

5" x 7" oil on museum board    sold   

Spanish Flower

January 11, 2017  

When I'm feeling snowed-in, metaphorically or literally, nature's simple beauty usually helps me find a source of light.

5.5 x 5.5 sketchbook    nfs

Calm

January 4, 2017  

Peace.

Three feet of fresh snow at our house makes the world a padded cell of silence and beauty. The calligraphy of Flickers and Chickadees, squirrels and rabbits tracks embossed on the snow, tells me what my neighbors are up to.

In the unexpected pause, I have a moment to reflect on the importance of kindness - often under-estimated and so easy to practice. We all know how much the smallest gesture can change our day.

I feel lucky to have you to help me spread my brand of kindness and color, and the chance to take a pause with peace.

8" x 10" x 1.5"     oil on canvas     sold    

Previous - Art in the Morning 2016

The Book!

"Art in the Morning" is my way to greet the day. What began as an attempt to make the world a kinder place through art, has turned into eight years, and running, of weekly paintings accompanied by my musings on nature, painting, life, and jazz. 

Once a week I send out an email with a painting, hot off my easel, for you to enjoy with your morning cup of coffee/ tea/ chocolate before you dive in to your work day. It's just a moment to relax. 

It's my attempt to make art a part of our every day lives. All of the arts should get out of the cloisters and into the moment. Any moment.

Share it with a friend. If they want to receive it regularly, they can just send me an email with "Please Add" in the subject line. I never share your address.

Email me: Kit@KitNight.com  (this is not a link)

Night has no "K".

Thanks and enjoy!

- Kit

For more book details, please visit my Home Page. Read reviews at Amazon. A kind book for the holidays ~ Fifty-nine dollars plus sales tax (CA) and flat-rate post.