What I've been working on

Sunset On Civic Drive
9"x12" pastel painting
I made this in about 10 minutes. It was hard because the sun was setting fast. It's weird how time can pass so slow when you're not doing anything, and so fast when you're racing against it. The light constantly changed like somebody had with remote control on the sun was pulling the sun down like a dimmer switch on a dining room light. I didn't have time to show every detail. My main objective was to capture the way the light effected the street and the general street scene. I feel that I was highly successful in this painting. One of my finest works yet.
This one on the left here is the overlook on Muir Beach. I used a photo reference that my wife provided from her wonderful photography that she does on our romantic getaways. The painting is acrylic on canvas 18"x 14". Painting is something that comes naturally to me. I don't have to think too much about it. I just mix the colors and brush them on. I like to paint because it's exciting to create an imitation of life, or even to invent something purely fantastic from my imagination. Sometimes when I paint things don't go as I expect them to at first. Then something happens by accident that I like. I think, wow, I really like what's happening here, and I'll just try to create more of it. I like to move my body and have music on when I paint. I like to feel excited about what I'm doing and make it a fun enjoyable experience that will show long after I'm finished within the painting. Can you see the fun I had with this Muir Beach painting?

A month or so ago my mom asked me to paint something for her bedroom. She gave me a bag full of fabrics I could use as references, so that I could see the colors of the room. I wanted to make sure that I got all the colors in the room in the painting. Originally she wanted me to paint a Japanese Geisha sitting by a cherry blossom tree, but by the time I got the sunset in over the water with the land form in the foreground, it seemed that including a Geisha and a cherry blossom tree would make the painting too busy. I'm going to bring this painting over to my parent's house tonight. They will hang it up, and see how it feels in the room. If you need a custom painting for your house send me an e-mail, and we'll talk about it.