Paintings in Progress

Ranchos Church 6x8

Adobe & Old Truck 6x8

Bench 6x8

The Cross 8x10

These are all works in various stages of progress. I'm certainly impressed with the painters who can finish a painting in one go - but for some reason I don't seem to be at that advanced stage yet. Sometimes I get to a certain point and then don't know what to do - or rather need to look at it for awhile until I figure out what's missing.

I'm not complaining, I enjoy that time of painting inside my head, thinking about what I have and trying to figure out what to do next. I always think that other artists know exactly what they're doing and where they're going when they start - but I'm guessing that since we're all human they must have moments of doubt or feeling like they've taken a turn and don't know quite how to get back to the right road.

The first painting is another version of the back of the Ranchos Church in Taos - I don't know why but I'm drawn to painting these shapes. Usually can't stand the thought of painting the same thing over and over but this subject keeps calling to me so I'll keep answering until it's out of my system.

The second is my first attempt at an old pick-up truck. If you had told me a few years ago that my "dream" car would be a 1950's pick-up I would have said you were crazy, but here I am - totally in love with these old things. How can you resist the wonderful round shapes? :o)

The bench in shadow just appeals to me, I liked the hard shadow underneath - it's a very simple composition but it works for me. I think I'll lighten up the color on the foreground wall - it seems a little too dark and is calling to much attention to itself right now.

The last one is coming along. In the picture I took that I'm working from half the wall and the cross is white, but I've got to color the white somewhat or else it looks like it hasn't been painted - the way it does now. This is pretty much the block-in stage - don't know why but it reminds me of the Texas State flag.

So, this is what I've been doing. I apologize for the week long gap since my last post but as you can see I didn't have any finished products to show so I waited until I had something at least semi-complete. Hope you had a good week and are having a good weekend. It's extremely hot here in southern CA right now - much hotter than usual at this time of year - according to the TV news were having an especially bad heat wave which will hopefully give us a break sometime soon.