Prairie Hillside

This painting is an 8 x 10 inch oil painting on gessoed hardboard. It was fun to paint these rolling prairie hills with their sparse greenery and minimal trees.
Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Prairie Hills

Nisqually Delta

This painting is 5 x 7 oil on gessoboard. It is a brief glimpse across the grasslands of the Nisqually Delta between Olympia and Tacoma in Washington State. It is a beautiful natural habitat for numerous birds and wild creatures.
Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Nisqually Delta

Oak Tree Prairie

Painting this 6 x 8 oil on canvas panel was a pleasure. It reminds me of the oak prairies that used to exist in the area where I grew up. Many of those prairies are now gone, replaced by "progress."
Art Original American Oil Painting Landscape Prairie Oak Tree

Poppy Fields

Yesterday morning I had fun painting this little 5 x 7 oil landscape on gessoed hardboard. This is not strawberry fields forever, but it poppy fields as far as you can see.

Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Poppy Fields Red Green

Morning Tree

I've been tinkering around with this painting and several other tree paintings for the past few days. I keep tweaking the leaves and branches. I'm not sure that I'm finished, but this is where it stands now. It is a 6 x 8 inch painting on canvas panel.

Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Tree Foggy Morning

Highway Trees

This little 5 x 7 oil painting on a gessoed hardboard panel is one I started quite some time ago and abandoned because it wasn't going where I wanted. This morning I put it back on the easel and touched it up. I like it a much better now. These two trees are growing at the foot of a highway on ramp. The one on the left was unusually bent which is what drew me to paint them in the first place.
Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Trees Green

Apple Duo

Here is my work from yesterday, a 5 x 7 on hardboard.

Art Original American Oil Painting Still Life Food Kitchen Apples Green Blue

Sunlit Trees

It has been raining for over a week now. Today is supposed to be the turning point for summer weather again. This little 5 x 7 study is from a photo I took before this current rain episode. I like it because it reminds me of the beauty of summer foliage and gives me something to look forward to after the rain moves on.
Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Summer Trees Green Yellow

Field Trees

This 8 x 10 oil painting is focused on a field and a beautiful grove of trees. It is one more practice in my quest for the perfect tree painting. It was fun to paint and reminds me of the loveliness of summer vegetation.

Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Tree Fields Green Vegetation

Apple on Pottery Dish

Yesterday it poured rain again. We're having a record-breaking summer. First we suffered through days of excessive heat, now were having day after day of record-breaking rain showers. It feels like winter again. I guess that's why I am back to painting still life. My inspiration seems to change with the weather. My effort yesterday was an apple on a Pottery Barn saucer. Painting the saucer was the most fun. It appears to be a simple stonewear saucer with a sienna colored edge, but that light colored plate had many more colors than one would first imagine--blue, yellow, violet, sienna, green. It was a delightful challenge. This painting is 8 x 10 on Gessoboard.
Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Still Life Apple Pottery

Tree Road

This painting is an 8 x 10 oil on Gessoboard. I enjoyed painting it. I'm experimenting with the best colors to use for the dark part of the foliage. The tree folliage in this painting was created using Gamblin's Asphaultum, Grumbacher's Green Oxide, and Grumbacher's Cadmium Yellow Medium. I really like the way the asphaultum blends with the green. It is a nice transparent brown that doesn't get muddy like other browns.Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Tree Road Green Asphaultum

Lunch

5 x 7 oil on Gessoboard

I couldn't help it; I painted my lunch. Yesterday it rained and rained. Seattle broke a record for rain, so I was inside most of the day. This beautiful nectarine helped to remind me that it really is summer in spite of the wet weather.

Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Kitchen Food Fruit Red Yellow

Summer Daisy

5 x 7 oil on recycled Gessoboard

My backyard is full of these beautiful summer daisies. I couldn't resist bringing one in to paint. Putting it in a little medicine jar and setting it on my work table brought the sunshine into my studio.

Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Still Life Daisy White Green Yellow

Hospital Tree

Today's tree practice is an 8 x 10 oil on canvas. It was inspired by a tree in front of Alenmore Hospital in Tacoma, Washington. The weather was beautiful and the colors jumped at me as I drove by. I had to attempt to recreate this luscious tree that stood so proud in front of the hospital.
Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Tree

Stormy Mountain

5x7 oil on Gessoboard

This little painting is reminiscent of a trip my family and I took last spring to Bellingham, Washington. The weather stormed almost all the way. The hills in the Skagit Valley were shrouded with fog and mist. Thinking of that cool weather trip is a relief during these hot days of summer.

Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Skagit Valley Green

Tree Practice

5 x 7 oil on Gessoboard

Tree practice.

Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Trees

Burning Bush

5 x 7 oil on Gessoboard This is a little practice of a scrub tree with brilliant orange leaves.

Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Orange Tree Landscape

The Lake

This 8 x 10 oil on Gessoboard concludes my walk at Ft. Steilacoom Park. It was a beautiful evening and the sun was dropping, creating beautiful shadows on the grass. The backlit leaves sparkled. That's the way to spend a summer evening. Today I'm going to start working on a large still life; I'll try to fit in some small studies, too, and keep up my daily posting. Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Lake Trees

Park Road

I'm back to painting Ft. Steilacoom Park again. After leaving the barns and the old cemetary, there is a road that leads to Woghop Lake. It is a beautiful road flanked by huge trees. I love the way the sunlight flickers through the trees that act like an umbrella over the road. Although this painting only shows the road, there is a lake off to the left. Perhaps tomorrow I will paint the lake. This one is 5 x 7 oil on Gessoboard.
Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Forest Road Blue Green Yellow

Cottages at Gray's Harbor

This little 5 x 7 painting is based on a view of several little beach cottages on the north shore of Gray's Harbor in Washington State. With temperatures soaring into the upper 90's today, this is where I'd like to be.

Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Seascape Harbor Blue

Steilacoom Barns

These barns are to the left of the tree I painted yesterday. They are what is left of the old work farm that used to be run by patients at Western State Hospital. This painting is an 8 x 10 oil on Gessoboard.
Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Red Barns

Shade Tree at the Cemetary

This is the final product of today's efforts. 8 x 10 oil on Gessoboard. This tree is on the edge of the Pioneer Cemetary at Ft. Steilacoom Park. The cemetary is just to the right. On the left is one of the barns that was used by the patients at the old Western State Hospital work farm. A rode runs between the tree and the barn. It is a lovely park.

Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Shade Tree Green

Three Trees

5 x 7 oil on hardboard

Last week was a very busy week, but I was able to squeeze in a little tree practice.

Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Trees Green Blue

Gourmet Beets

8 x 10 on Gessoboard

My sister-in-law is the best cook ever. On the 4th of July, she gave me these orange beets. Who ever heard of "orange" beets? If there is anything gourmet, I can depend on her to find it. I wish she were here to cook them, too.

Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Still Life Food Gourmet Orange Beets

Foggy Morning Trees

5x 7 oil on hardboard

Although it is a little out of season, I enjoyed painting this foggy landscape this morning.

Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Landscape Foggy Morning Trees

Final Touches

Here is the Pear on a Dish again. I couldn't leave it alone--added some final touches. Still 5 x 7 oil on hardboard.
Art Original American Daily Oil Painting Pear Food Yellow Violet Dish Still Life