My group, the Tehchapi Plein Air Painters spent a day in our quaint little town to see what fascinating subjects we could find to paint.

The Gallinger House

Walking down the street, a bright yellow home caught my eye. How could I resist? That yellow seemed to call out “paint me!” Turns out the house is a historic home built in 1880 by a gentleman named Joe Gallinger. The plaque near the front of the house gave us a few more details about what our town was like in the 1800’s.

My wife, always the social butterfly, went to knock on the door of the current owner and mentioned how much I would like to do a painting of her historic home. She was happy to oblige, and thus the “Gallinger House” painting came into being.

The Artistic Eye

It was just the right time of day, and the shadows danced across the wooden fence. But it was the warm glow surrounding the yellow house that really captured my imagination. The challenge would be to approach this painting in a way that captures the light and emphasizes the shadows.

Artists often see things through different eyes… we notice how light and dark, nuances of color, what something could be, etc.

What Makes for Great Art?

Have you ever stopped to enjoy a beautiful sight in nature and just taken in the details of the moment? What did it look like, how did it feel? What were all the elements that came together to make it beautiful? You may have snapped a picture in that moment to capture the beauty…but often that photo falls short of capturing what your eye was taking in and your senses were experiencing. Even professional photographers often edit their pictures in order to best depict what their eye captured that the lens could not.

An artist does much of the same thing. Our paintings attempt to capture the beauty and nuance of something the common eye (or the lens) may not quite be adequate to convey. We see things with an artistic eye. An imagination and senses that take in details that make a subject or a moment beautiful.

So the next time you are out looking for inspiration for art, spend a moment absorbing the beauty found in unique details. The way the light hits the subject, the warmth or vibrance of something, the intricate patterns or fun details. Then push the envelope when depicting those things…and don’t be afraid to push the limits past what the naked eye can take in. Go ahead and emphasize the beauty you see.

Plein Air Painting In Public

Painting in town is always an interesting experience. People would walk by and stop and look, and one young women on her way from school stopped to ask questions and chat about art.

As I was painting the kind owner came out several times to take a look and view my progress. Her grandchildren came out once and gathered around asking “is it done yet, is it done yet?” Then they would excitedly go back and report to the grandmother.

They all seemed to love the process of the painting. However, ultimately it took two trips back to the Gallinger house and some time in the studio to finalize it.

I still haven’t shared the final results with the home’s owner. The one downside of plein air painting? The people who take such an interest don’t always see the end results. It is my hope that what they do see inspires their creativity!

The Dorner vineyard is a gorgeous wedding venue in our hometown of Tehachapi, California. It makes quite the picturesque view for an outdoor barnyard wedding.

You wouldn’t believe it to look at it, but that barn is actually a facade! It was built from reclaimed wood milled in the late 1800’s. Between the sunflowers, the barn in the background, and the mountains in the distance, something about it caught my eye.

The Challenge Of Painting Flowers

The sunflowers were the first thing to capture my attention. I thought, I must be crazy…those sunflowers will require a ton of detail work and be quite involving.

Which means, the real trick is how to capture the essence of the flowers without going into tons of intricate detail. I used an impressionistic approach to acquire detail without working every little petal and stem.

The next challenge was how to keep the sunflowers from making the painting appear busy. It is a balancing act to know just how many to add, and how loose to keep it. After all, the flowers would be the key element the eye is drawn to most.

The Importance of The Background Settings

While the flowers were the subject of this painting, I still wanted to push the colors a little with the barn. The barn is part of the charm of the scene, so knowing when to dull colors and when to infuse with more vibrancy for visual interest is part of the skill an artist must develop.

When it came to the background in this painting, I confess I struggled a bit. The mountains didn’t fade into the background quite in the way I was envisioning. I tend to be a detail oriented artist, and I’m always working to push my interpretive side.

Our Time At The Vineyard

It took a total of two trips to the Dorner vineyard and some time in the studio to complete this painting, but I enjoyed my trips to this lovely venue.  I believe my accompanying plein air painters enjoyed the trip as well. A special thank you to Mike and Michelle Dorner for letting us come and paint!

Part of the highlight of being there was in spending time with the Dorner family.  I first met Mike and Michelle when I spoke at the Tehachapi Hospital Art fundraising event as the keynote speaker.

I hit it off with Mike as if we were old friends. You could say he is an artist in his own right! His hobby of taxidermy is truly skillful. It takes true craftsmanship to capture the little details that make the animal appear so lifelike. I asked him if he would allow me to photograph some images in case I ever needed an animal reference…maybe a closeup of a bird flying!

My plein air group and I hope to go back to the Dorner vineyard again in the future, perhaps when more varieties of flowers are in full bloom. If you are ever in the area, give them a visit…and even better, come with us when we go for another visit and paint with my Tehachapi Plein Air group!

Santa Cruz Inspiration

There are several small islands off the coast of California. Catalina is one of those popular tourist island you are probably familiar with, while Santa Cruz was once a privately owned island that was less popular. As you can imagine, being largely untouched by tourists it was quite beautiful with loads of inspiration for any artist!

One weekend a co-worker friend of mine from Disney planned a day trip for a group of us to this little paradise.

Unlike Catalina with all the buildings and tourism, this secluded island was mostly in it’s natural state. The only exception was the owner’s house and buildings. Nothing about this place shouted commercialism, and nature was able to flourish in all it’s beauty and uniqueness. There are even species of plants and animals unique to this island!

On our hike we came upon this road in the middle of nature, and something about that gracefully rustic gate caught my eye. I couldn’t resist snapping a few pictures as artistic reference for the future. You never know what will become your next great painting!

Some of the Eucalyptus trees had a droopy almost weeping look to them while their boughs were so full and heavy. Everything about this place lent itself to a more romantic styled. I was especially captivated by the incredible shadowing and light when the sun broke through the trees.

Turning Reality Into Visual Interest

The painting itself is actually a color interpretation from the original. I decided to give it a warm colored sky, as if at eventide rather than the bright blue sky that graced us overhead. The addition of the reddish tint to the bushes adds a  visual pop of color.

Finally, I thought a lamp post might be a sweet little addition, again for interest and to lend itself to the dreamy quality of the space.

In this painting you can see my love of detail work. While my painting style is definitely not realism, it isn’t quite impressionism either. I like to see a marriage between the two, and I tried to accomplish just that with the look and feel of this painting.

You’ll notice some detail work in the foliage of the trees while still maintaining simplicity and looseness. I wanted to show the distinct tree variations so I emphasized the weeping quality with a bit of detail work.

The Original Painting

You may have seen the print for Old Shadow Road in the shop, but I recently donated the original to our local hospital Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley. 

I’m so thrilled that this hospital knows the value of art for their hospital. The space would be cold and sterile without some of the finer details such as artwork to brighten the view for their patients.

Because they need  help gaining funds for art, they asked several artists to donate pieces for auction. The funds will then go to purchase the quantity and quality of art required to fill the hospital.

It was such an honor to be part of raising funds, as well as to be the keynote speaker at the fund raising event. I hope Old Shadow Road is well loved by it’s new owner.

Shop | You can own your own copy of Old Shadow Road by buying the print here