An Image Flies Into View!

Copper Convergence, 9 1/4" x 21 1/4"

I was standing at the kitchen sink one afternoon looking out the window, when a robin flew down for a visit to our birdbath. It was one of those moments when everything seems to align to create a beautiful image - there was the red-breasted robin on the copper birdbath against a backdrop of the rust colored twigs of a fall shrub - truly a convergence of copper hued elements! It begged to be painted! Naturally, I ran for my camera and managed to get several photos, with the birds being amazingly cooperative! This was the most complex painting I'd done thus far and though it was challenging, I was pretty pleased with the result.

Another Vineyard Scene

 

Vine and Roses, 21 5/8" x 14 1/4"

I spent a couple of years studying architecture and my wife and I also designed our home and  several remodeling projects.  We both have an attraction to architectural design and beautiful spaces which shows up in many of our travel photos as well as in my artwork.

The tasting room at Amador Cellars vineyard (also near Plymouth, CA), with it's concrete and timber construction, and tall wainscot and clerestory windows had a bit of a European flavor to it, and it inspired me to do a painting of it - so here it is! I thought the perspective of the view emphasized the building and made for a nice composition, along with the roses creating a rhythm and drawing  your eye into the scene. The shadows cast by the deep eaves were really fun to paint in at the end!