"Not Another Bluebonnet Painting."

Another Bluebonnet Painting
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
6 x 8 in/15.2 x 20.3 cm
Copyright  2013

This week I decided to paint something I said I wasn't going to do--another bluebonnet painting. If you live in Texas, you probably just cringed.  If you don't, then you don't get it.

Bluebonnets are the cliche of cliches of paintings and painters in Texas. Why, I don't know, other than they are ubiquitous in the springtime, the paintings I'm talking about, as well as the bluebonnets themselves. Every painter of any genre in this state has felt the compulsion to try it at least once.

I'm sure the contemporary and cool artists are rolling their eyes, assuming they're even reading this. But for us representational impressionists, it's a hard habit to break.

Anyway, here in the depths of late summer, I had to paint one, sort of an homage to spring. I hope you appreciate my candor.

Paint a Small Still Life

I've been painting in the studio this week.

Although plein air painting seems to be an appealing way for painters to capture their surroundings, the reality is that when the temperature is more than 100 degrees F for a good part of the day, it's just too hot to paint outdoors.

You can't concentrate on anything at all, and it's not safe. Even in the shade.

So, as I said, I painted inside this week. But rather than painting from a reference photo, I decided to paint a very simple still life with two plums I had on hand.

I used alizarin crimson and cad red light for the plums against a backdrop of complementary violet and yellow.

It said summertime to me. I hope you like it.

The Look of Oil with Acrylics & A New Look for OrbisPlanis

Laguna Street
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
5 x 7 in/13 x 18 cm
Copyright 2013

You may have noticed a new look for OrbisPlanis. I updated to one of Blogger's newer templates. After five years, it was time for a new look and because it better supports more of the applications and functionality available on Google, such as Google+. Or so I was led to believe. I'm trying this one out, although the old template is history, as you cannot go back to it. You may see a few more tweaks in the coming days as I discover new gizmos. Anyway, I hope you like it. My goal was to keep it as simple and easy-to-read as possible.

Today's image is a small acrylic I completed last week. It's from my photo taken in Santa Barbara of the view across the street from the Old Mission. I also have lots of photos of the mission, but for some reason, I thought this view across the street of several old Spanish-style homes was a better motif.

I am using acrylic as loosly and impressionistically as I am capable of painting. I'm on a quest to see how closely I am able to achieve the look of an oil painting with acrylic. Hope you like it. What do you think?

Paint a Beach Scene to Cool Off

Beach Day
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
8 x 8 in/20.3 x 20.3 cm
Copyright 2013

The dog days of August are upon us in North America, and I thought a beach scene would be an appropriate way to celebrate the season.

Here's a small acrylic I did recently from a reference photo on a trip to the beaches of Santa Monica, California, USA. These are some of the best beaches in the country, if not the world, especially if you like the cold Pacific waters this or any time of year.

Mixing the correct blues for the water and for those hazy skies over Los Angeles was the painting challenge. The same can be said for mixing believable colors of the sand, not to mention the challenge of painting waves breaking on the shore which, if you paint much water, you already know.

I hope you like it and that it inspires you to paint one, too.