Testing the water

"testing the water"  8"x10" oil/board

After a trip via ferry to the new SF Exploratorium, ( which is just amazing) I started seeing a new series of paintings in my minds eye..Not quite sure how to go about creating it, but this is just a small study of color and style very early in the process. Lots of unknowns but I have a plan.. 

Very exciting to be so inspired. Hope it stays!  One of my favorite quotes by e.e. cummings: " between conception and creation lies the shadow" or something like that. Ah, yes.

Heart and Soul

These past weeks, I have enjoyed paddling out and watching the backlit waves tumble forward in front of me.  Because of the fog and nature of the water in the Patch, often a bunch of sediment in the water gives the waves their grey brown color. I NEVER get tired of seeing this moment, and every morning in the water is another opportunity to see more and begin to understand just what it is I am seeing.  And when the fog is gone and the sun is shining low on the horizon, the color changes completely. ( maybe will paint that later? ) As with previously posted "Freefall" this moment touches something deep inside..   Which is why I keep painting.. 

"heart and soul"  18"x36"  oil/canvas

It's like this....

"freefall" 8"x10"  oil/board

My eyes have been glued to the color of the transparent lip of a wave the second before it falls over. Color changes, this view is on a clear sunny day. Backlit.

"line-up" 12"x36" oil/canvas

Have been meaning to get this image out of my head and on canvas for a long time. Figures in a landscape.  Again, I never get tired of seeing this.

"lost at C"  16"x20"  oil/canvas

Long story behind this, but here's the short one: I wanted to paint a "camera lens" view- half submerged. What image, if any, should be below? Diver? Octopus? Shark? Fish? Somehow this is what appeared. Why it is a ukulele is the long part of the story...

Surfer's bling!

"sea diamonds"  12"x24"  oil/canvas  2013

I can never get enough of the visual delight of traces of foam left behind.. Usually means a wave has broken in this spot or nearby.. Good thing to pay attention to when in the water and also a reminder of impermanence.  Won't go into my usual " this is just a quick shot for my quick blog and I wish I had a better shot because this one is a bit soft, as in blurry" so I won't. Still.... 

Moving swell

I am always so mesmerized by the movement of energy in water, especially when that energy comes from so far away.. The idea of it circulating, moving as it crosses the ocean to end up as a wave as it nears shore.. I love watching the swells passing by as i sit on my board..a difficult feeling to put on canvas, better suited for video.. but I can still try.. Will this wave tumble forward? Keep on moving?

"traveler" 20"x20" oil/canvas  2013

Big TWO-OH

"foam # 20"  image 12"x18"  charcoal on 19"x24" paper

Just finished the 20th charcoal in this series of Foam drawings. I have written about them in past blogs and you can see all 20 on my website, link on right "drawings"

Turbulence ll

In finishing this larger and in color  ( many shades of green grays ) version of "Turbulence"( which was grey and white)  I remembered something I had forgotten.. Almost every image I paint, I choose because I have some emotional  attachment to some aspect of water... In the beginning I was just trying to understand what light and movement do to water/waves.. Now I see something and gasp. And the feeling stays with me.. Then comes the task of trying to convey that feeling in paint..

So I was really excited to hang this on my wall today... It replaces a calm wave painting that left for a new home at the end of last year. Now I just want to sit back on my sofa and stare at it... ( As if I haven't been staring at it for the past 2 months...)

Celebrated with a great morning paddle in Bo, sun shining through the fog, calm and glassy, Pelicans, Brandt's geese, seals, loons, fog show, good conversations with a surf buddy and to top it all off, rideable and fun small waves appearing out of the flat sea...

"Turbulence ll" 36"x36" oil/canvas

In place/scale

Turbulence

Just finished!  The reference for this photo came from a stormy day at Fort Point.. I was watching the waves and wishing I had my camera, then realized I was holding my iPhone.  Shot lots of waves but when I noticed the frothy water right next to the wall, that really caught my attention..

I had intended to paint this in color, but used an oil paint put out by Gamblin art materials once a year called "Torrit Grey" It's the color they mix together when they clean out all of their equipment from a year of making oil paint. So this is recycled sludge, so to speak.. Appropriate in many ways. 

On a personal note, I notice that sometimes my life is reflected in the paintings I end up working on.. 

"turbulence" oil/canvas  20"x20"

step 1 

step 2