Houses on a Cliff

 18" x 24" oil on canvas. Thanks to everyone for the nice comments. It's probably the easiest thing in the world to answer the comments but I've never taken the time to figure out how to do it. As I've said previously I like a painting to read pretty quickly, and I think this does. Super simple.

 Detail #1. This part is fairly abstract...at least like I use the term "abstract". Many people use the term "abstract" to mean splotches of paint, which can be 100% accurate. But the way I use the term "abstract", although it can mean splotches of paint, it can also be very distinct paint areas. So all of the areas of paint here are very distinct but are are very different from each other.

 Detail #2. Nothing amazing...

 Detail #3. The redish color is slightly more intense in the distance (upper right) to flatten the image.

Detail #4. Cliff in shadow on left, and sky in the center and on right.

"Santa Ynez"

I know, I know, I haven't posted for a while. The summer was super busy at CalArts. However I finally got some time off. My wife and I got out of California for a few days and when we returned home I got the chance to paint. This is 18" x 24".

Detail 1. The shadow side of the house is more purple than it appears here.

Detail 2. The bright horizontal line is more yellow on the left, and kind of yellow-green on the right.
 

Detail 3. Usually I'll paint a light side of an object and a shadow side of that same object. Reading about light and shadow they'll write about things like core shadow, bounce light, rim light, highlight, etc. But I'm not into painting realistically.

Houses and Dinghies

 18" x 24" oil on canvas
Originally I wanted to see if I could make this painting fairly quickly. After all it's smallish, 18" x 24" and at first I was going to use fairly realistic colors and contrast. Also the composition is fairly simple. But as I got into it I could see that by changing the colors slightly, and boosting the contrast, it could be much, much stronger. Where the central house is now, originally there was a dinghy, but I could see that it was way too conventional. The colors and the contrast were actually very difficult. I would paint something, realize it didn't work quite right, change the color the tiniest bit (and I mean tiny), and then repaint it. I like a lot how the painting turned out but it was definitely a struggle getting it there.

Detail #1. You can see some of the original grass color poking through here and there.

  

 Detail #2. Here's a piece of the ocean and yellowish sky. Here again I wanted to see if I could make the ocean work with a graphic pattern.

 Detail #3. Although this painting looks like it was done fairly quickly (and I like that look) it wasn't. It drives me crazy when a painting looks like it was carefully done. You know, every color transition is smooth, every blade of grass is fussed over, every detail is carefully done, etc. It doesn't mean it's wrong for an artist to do that, it's just not my taste at all.

Detail #4. Here are some of the dinghies. To the left of the red one you can see that I ruffed out another, didn't like it, so painted over it.
Currently I'm working on another painting of the same size, and hope to finish it before classes at CalArts get going again...we'll see.

Houses on the Lake

18" x 24" Oil on canvas.
Sorry I've fallen off the map. Things at CalArts have been so busy I haven't had time to paint for quite a while. However it's the break at Christmas time so I've had the chance to get back to painting for the last couple of weeks. I decided to do a couple of small ones to get back in the swing. Even though this is pretty small I struggled and struggled. It finally came together but it was a pain. I kind of like a painting to look like a bunch of mistakes that go together to make an image.
Detail #1. The darkest area looks black here but it's actually a very dark blue. Like I said earlier I really concentrate on design, and feel that it doesn't just apply to size and shape but to values and even to colors.
To many, many people the more photographic an image is the better it is. The way I look at it is that if someone wants something to look photographic s/he can simply get a camera.
Detail #3. The darkest area is a reflection of the under side of the bridge. It kind of looks black here but it's really alizarine (sp?) crimson and a little thalo green.