Carmel Bay Shimmer – beach seascape marine oil painting

Carmel Bay Shimmer
8 x 10 inches, oil painting on plein air panel
Carmel Bay, Monterey County California

 
This new painting features one of my favorite ocean scenes – Carmel Bay on the Monterey Peninsula. This viewpoint is looking southward across the bay toward Monastery Beach. The Carmel River enters the bay on the left. I’m not sure what kind of rocks these are – they seem harder than sandstone or I think they’d be more worn away … but they are certainly rounded into interesting shapes via wave action. There’s something about them that reminds me of Henry Moore sculptures.

Yosemite Awakening sunrise snowy winter oil painting

“Yosemite Awakening”
18 x 18 inches
Oil on Canvas

A year ago, we had the opportunity to visit Yosemite Valley in the midst of a beautiful snowstorm. We stayed for four days at the Yosemite Lodge and enjoyed seeing the park at its most magical. One morning, as we were hiking around, we came upon this scene where the sunlight had just come over the towering granite peaks to strike the new fallen snow. A soft mist began to arise and drift across the ground, while the bare trees glittered with frost. It was truly unforgettable, and something I’ve been waiting for awhile to paint.

Interested in this painting?
Click this link to write me.
See more of my paintings on my website

You can see more of my Yosemite Paintings at this link: Yosemite Paintings

More Sierra Nevada paintings here

December Dawn, Bishop Sierra winter oil painting

“December Dawn, Bishop, Eastern Sierra”
15 x 30 inches, oil painting on canvas
SOLD, now in a private collection.

The inspiration for this new painting came one frosty morning on December 27, 2016, on our way home from a Christmas vacation with our family. My husband and I promised each other that as long as the sky was clear, we’d get up before dawn to see the alpenglow on the Sierra range. We were not disappointed. It was about 19F outside, but we were bundled up, and it was worth the effort. Ducks and coots were skimming over the water where it was not icy. We learned today that some eastern Sierra areas, namely Mammoth Lakes, received 18-19 feet of snow, to the joy of skiers. I’m glad that the mountains were not totally snow-covered when we were there. I like the way the sun turned the granite pink in contrast to the white of the snow.

Interested in this painting?
Click this link to write me.
See more of my paintings on my website

More Sierra Nevada paintings here

Newport Beach Sailboat Sunset – seascape oil painting

“Newport Beach Sailboat Sunset”
12 x 16 inch oil painting

This fine sailboat was spotted in Newport Harbor, Newport Beach California, cruising into the sunset, with irridescent colors showing on the sails. Perhaps it’s headed for the Yacht Club.

See more of my Newport Beach oil paintings at Newport Beach Paintings

California high desert Valyermo oil painting “High Desert Color”

“High Desert Color”
9 x 12 inches, oil painting on plein air panel
Valyermo, California
Antelope Valley High Desert area

After our welcome rains that came a few days ago, my husband and I saw the sky was still filled with beautiful cumulus clouds – the kind we see around here too infrequently. So we decided to take a drive up to the high desert to see the wide open spaces. It was a picture perfect day and we found ourselves in the small community of Valyermo. Although the wind and rain may have taken away some of the glory of the cottonwoods, there was still some color left, and the paint brush took care of the bare spots.

This is a view of one of those cottonwood groves. I liked the contrast of the yellow golds against the blue violet mountains in the background. Those happen to be the San Gabriels, the closest range to our home. So now I’ve painted them from ‘both sides, now’.

Interested in this painting?
Click this link to write me.
See more of my paintings on my website

Batiquitos Mist – miniature California lagoon landscape oil painting

Batiquitos Mist
5 x 7 inch oil painting on plein air panel

Interested in this painting?
Click this link to write me.
See more of my paintings on my website

This miniature oil painting features a part of the Batiquitos lagoon near Carlsbad, California. The mist was hanging around the water on this cool day, and I loved the atmosphere it created. Miniatures make great Christmas presents.
See more of my small works miniature paintings here.

California vineyard landscape oil painting – A Taste of Sonoma

“A Taste of Sonoma”
Original impressionist oil painting of a Sonoma vineyard
18 x 24 inches
SOLD

Interested in other vineyard paintings?
Click this link to write me.
See more of my paintings on my website

This is another in my series of vineyards from around California. This time, Sonoma is the featured area. Some time this fall, I’ll be traveling to the mother of all beautiful vineyard-covered countrysides … Tuscany. And yes, I’ll be bringing the easel. I can hardly wait.

Norfolk Terrier Dog Pet Portrait

“Jack and Lucy”
Norfolk Terrier double portrait
12 x 16 inches, original oil painting
SOLD

These adorable dogs were the subjects of a recent portrait commission for a long-time client and friend of mine. Her two dogs are getting up there in years, and she thought it was a good time to have their portraits done for posterity. Lucy, on the left, is the younger of the two. Jack, on the right, is eleven, I believe. Jack had already had his summer haircut, but Lucy had not.

Now, there’s no way you can get two dogs to pose and hold a pose with the light on them “just so” … so every portrait begins with a photo session. That involves a fair amount of crawling around on the ground to shoot them from the right angle. My husband and I were shooting simultaneously, to maximize the number of reference photos we’d get before the dogs ran out of energy or patience with us. The next step was to edit the pictures in Photoshop to put together a composite where the light and direction of their gaze was consistent. After client approval of the reference composite, it just comes down to the painting, which was very enjoyable.

If you’re interested in having a portrait done of your favorite pet, please write.

Click this link to write me.

Maui Hawaii oil painting, Napili Bay Waves

Napili Beach Waves, Maui, Hawaii
16 x 20 inches
oil on canvas
Available

This painting comes from our vacation in Hawaii last year, where we enjoyed some time on Maui as well as Kauai. Napili Bay is a lovely lagoon on West Maui, a little north of Lahaina. It features a beautiful soft sandy beach, tide pools, shallow water for wading and excellent snorkeling. Across the bay you can see the island of Molokai, which I featured in this painting. I’m guessing that this is a popular wedding destination, it’s so beautiful.

What attracted me to this scene, other than the gorgeous turquoise water, was the huge thunderhead which was building up over Molokai.

Interested in this painting?
Click this link to write me.
See more of my paintings on my website

Japanese Spitz dog portrait painting

SOLD
“Japanese Spitz Dog”
12 x 16 inches
oil on canvas

Interested in having a portrait of your pet? Please write.

See more of my animal paintings here

When we were in Arizona not too long ago, and visiting a beautiful lake, my attention was suddenly diverted from the sparkling water by the dazzling fur of this little dog, who was being treated to a walk. I asked the owners if I could take some pictures of her, and they happily agreed. I explained that I was an artist, always on the lookout for an interesting subject. I almost always paint animals from photography (they aren’t the best at holding still) so I worked on this portrait when I got back home. More than a year later the painting found a new home with the owners of a dog who looked identical to this one. The Arizona folks called it a Japanese Spitz dog, but it greatly resembles the American Eskimo dog, an AKA breed.