Five Watercolorists Exhibit at Epperson Gallery extended to August 15th

There has been strong interest in the watercolor exhibit at the Epperson Gallery, so it has been extended through August 15th. If you are interested in seeing some of the most accomplished watercolor painters in Northern California ,I recommend that you make time to travel to Crockett to see it. Artists in the exhibit include Dick Cole, Linda Sutton  Michael Reardon and me.
Here are some of my paintings at the Epperson Gallery

 Mount Diablo, Northern View 14 x 14

Spring Tapestry 16 x 12

Here is a link to the Epperson Gallery in Crockett for hours and information

Sneak Peak of New Publication "Splash 11" on Amazon.com and Five Watercolorists at the Epperson Gallery

Northlight Books Biannual Publication series of the Best in Watercolor has just published the latest edition " Splash 11 New Directions". I am pleased that my painting "A Tangled Place" is included in this book which includes only  111 Artists who entered the competition.

 I usually paint panoramas and began looking in a new direction, directly in front of me as I tackled the challenge of abstracting a foreground. Amazon lets you look inside  and my painting is in the samples  selected.

 A Tangled Place 14 x 14 

Carpet of Flowers 12 x 16 Available at the Epperson Gallery


One of the reasons I was able to succeed with this new direction is that I was interested enough to create a series of the same theme and explore variations.
Another painting in this series, Carpet of Flowers, is a part of the five watercolorists exhibit at the Epperson Gallery, Crockett, on display now through July 11th , with an opening reception June 5, 5 to 7.
Other watercolorists in this exhibit include Linda Sutton, Dick Cole and Michael Reardon who all do some of the most beautiful and accomplished paintings in watercolor I have ever seen.
I am thrilled to be a part of this exhibit and hope to see you at the reception.

Valona Paint Out

The first week of November there was a paint out in Crockett sponsored by the Epperson Gallery. It was a good thing we had a whole week because the weather switched from warm and sunny to cold and rainy a couple of times. I got to paint three of the days. I did two paintings I am happy with and one flipper. Here are the two keepers:
McEwen's Jewels 14 x 14 
Painted on McEwen Rd on the way to Port Costa on a sunny day. I presume the ranch there is McEwen's Ranch and the black cows were persistent in trying to get me to give them food. I suppose my white SUV looked like a rancher's truck. It was interesting that when I brought this painting to the gallery, I realized my interpretation of eucalyptus trees owes much to those mop- headed trees in the Dr Suess books.
Crockett Roller Coaster 11 x 8
As an experiment, I decided to try something very different, a Wayne Thiebaud inspired scene looking up at the steepest hill in town. Sort of the opposite of Valley Vertigo, looking up instead of down. It was fun to try to get the atmosphere of the light reflecting on the pavement and to push the colors but not too far. From a design standpoint I wanted to see how large the road could be and how little of the stuff around it I could include and have it still read road. It reminds me of taking the girls into San Francisco and taking them up and down the hills for thrills when they were MUCH younger.
This sold one during the reception. The exhibit lasted only two days, but there was some really fine work by Leslie Wilson ( First Prize) Tim Horn (Artists' Choice) Linda Sutton (Honorable Mention) Mamie Walters (Second Prize- I think ) Mary Lou Correia and Tara Keefe.The Epperson Gallery is done with a major remodel and looks good. It is located at 1400 Pomona Street in Crockett and the web site is http://eppersongallery.com/

Valona Paint Out

Atmosphere

Canyon at the Reservoir

Eucalyptus Hill

The paint out took place the first week of August in Crockett and was exhibited on Saturday and Sunday August 4 and 5 at the Epperson Gallery. There were so many artists, it was a good thing they asked us to paint small. I am still working on getting comfortable working in smaller sizes.

Atmosphere was 9 X 11. I just couldn't make myself do anything smaller. The other two are 10.5 X 13.5. I found a great place to paint about 2 miles out Carquinez Scenic at a reservoir . There was an egret I could watch while waiting for paint to dry. Atmosphere was done at the top of DUPERU . It was a challenge because the wind was strong , but it was fun to see Mt Diablo in the distance thru the coastal haze.

Many artists stayed in town and took advantage of the hills to paint rooftops, the bridge from below, nocturnes of the neon, and the old cars. And even though the show was only up a day or so, I sold Atmosphere and got some practice for the Sonoma Plein Air Event coming up in September. There were so many good paintings , it would be hard to pick favorites or even drop names. .....here is the web site for the paint out.

http://www.eppersongallery.com/paint_out.htm