View while wading up Aravaipa Creek in the Galiuro Mountains, Arizona.  This is a 24 x 36-inch acrylic on canvas board.  A larger version is in the gallery.

Cottonwood trees shining brightly in the sun along Aravaipa Canyon in the Galiuro Mountains of Arizona.  This is a 9 x 12-inch acrylic study on watercolor paper.  This is truly a spectacular canyon for a hike.  See the gallery for a larger version.

Romero Creek provides a good reason to visit Catalina Park near Tucson, Arizona.  This is a view at the first creek crossing on the Romero Canyon trail.  Though not a roaring torrent like many streams in Washington, Romero Creek provides a welcome relief to hikers in the desert.  A larger view may be seen in the gallery.  This is a 24-inch x 36-inch acrylic on mdf board.

I found this view from the northern edge of Grand Park, Mt. Rainier National Park, to be especially striking.  Mt. Rainier is truly "in your face" at this location with its immense size emphasized by the large open area of Grand Park. A larger view may be seen in the gallery.  This is acrylic on  24-inch by 48-inch mdf board.

As I have said elsewhere, my favorite painting surface for acrylics is watercolor paper.  For plein air work I now prefer to bond a piece of 140 lb cold press watercolor paper to a 9 x 12-inch piece of 1/8-inch MDF board using gesso.  This works great for acrylics here in the northwest, but it remains to be seen if I will be successful this winter in the dry climate of Arizona.  Though I haven't used them yet, the Golden Open acrylics (long open time) may prove to be my salvation for using acrylics en plein air in Arizona. I also plan to try bonding a piece of canvas paper to 1/8 inch MDF and use with Open acrylics in Arizona - stay tuned.

This is a scene along the Mokelumne River in the central Sierra Nevada Mts of California.  This grouping of weathered logs immediately caught my attention.  This is a 29 x 21-inch acrylic on watercolor paper. A larger version is available in the gallery.

This scene is looking across Lake Colchuck towards Aasgard Pass, the gateway to the Enchantments.  Aasgard Pass is a particularly steep (2,200 feet in one mile) and rocky hike to take into the Enchantments area near Leavenworth, WA. The intense blue of the lake is caused by fine glacial rock flour in the water.  This painting is a 24 x 36-inch acrylic on watercolor paper. A larger version is available in the Gallery.

It's springtrime in Sabino Canyon.  The Poplars and cottonwoods are all leafed out and there is still a good flow of water in the creek.  These pools are a great place to take off your shoes and relax in the sun.  This is a 21 x 29-inch acrylic on watercolor paper. A larger version may be seen in the Gallery.

This weekend I joined with the Tucson Plein Air Painters for a paintout at Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains, Arizona.  It was a gorgeous day with a large turnout of painters.  I opted to try my hand at painting a small waterfall and pools along Madera Creek.  This is the result, a 9 x 12-inch oil painting on masonite.  Though I still find painting with oils in plein air a bit foreign compared to acrylic and watercolor, I'm beginning to have more success and generally enjoy the experience. Good things about this approach is that it is possible to capture the essence of a scene in about 1-1/2 to 2 hours and all the necessary equipment/supplies easily fit into a back pack.  This makes the approach ideal for doing on-location paintings at remote sites. A larger version may be seen in the Gallery.

Here is another view in Sycamore Canyon in the early morning. 21 x 29-inch acrylic on watercolor paper.  A larger view may be seen in the gallery.

This scene is at our lunch stop on a recent hike to the Romero Pools at Catalina State Park near Tucson, Arizona.  The main area of pools was crowded with kids on spring break so we instead hiked farther up the canyon to this set of small water falls.  21 x 29-inch acrylic on watercolor paper.  A larger version may be seen in the gallery.

Here is another painting of Elephant Head.  This time right after a snow storm just as the sun is coming out in the late afternoon.  It doesn't have as much drama as I had hoped so its likely I'll make some changes later.  This is a 21 x 29-inch acrylic on watercolor paper. A larger version may be seen in the gallery.

Elephant Head is a well-known small peak just across the valley from Green Valley, Arizona.  I have long been interested in this as a subject for painting.  First I tried a plein air painting in oils on a 9 x 12-inch masonite.   The first photo is my prochade box with the painting in progress; the second is the finished item.  I'm still trying to get the hang of using oils. 

Here is another view of Pusch Ridge, this time late in the day.  The nearly white Catalina granite gneiss that makes up Pusch Ridge glows a brilliant yellow orange in the fading sunlight.  This is a 22 x 29-inch acrylic on watercolor paper.  A larger version may be seen in the Gallery.

Hukou Falls is a large waterfall located in Jinxia Grand Canyon on the middle reaches of the Yellow River between Shanxi and Shaanxi Provinces, China.  The Yellow River is named because of the yellow brown color of the water from the high silt content. The wide river is constricted into a narrow deep gorge making this very dramatic waterfall with a drop of about 50 to 60 feet. This extends from the head of the canyon and also pours laterally from the canyon sides into the gorge making a series of U-shaped falls.  Though the water is not clear, sun shining on the exceeding fast moving river  produces intense yellow-brown and reddish brown colors. This scene is based upon review of many photos and videos taken by various people visiting the site.  The location of the scene appears at the start of this YouTube video .

The painting is acrylic on MDF board and measures 49-inches x 25-inches.  A larger image is located in the Gallery.

One of the properties of acrylic paints is their ability to stick to nearly any surface that is free of grease, oil or wax.  I've painted on a variety of surfaces with acrylics including regular cotton canvas, fine mesh cotton canvas, canvas board, smooth MDF board, mat board (all primed with acrylic gesso) and watercolor paper. I find that time and time again my best results happen using unprimed cold pressed watercolor paper.  Watercolor paper provides both a small amount of "tooth" on the surface as well as some absorbancy that is not offered by any gesso primed surface. This allows me to do very thin gradational wet on wet washes as well as having intense vibrant thick colors produced using a painting knife. I also can mix watercolor and acrylic paint on the same surface so long as the first layer is watercolor.  Since I do  a lot of painting of water scenes I find that I can get the illusion of wet surfaces far more easily by painting wet on damp using watercolor paper. I've tried using absorbant ground on my gesso primed surfaces, but the resulting surface still provides insufficient absorbancy. Acrylic placed onto a gresso primed surface has to be put on thick in order for the color to "stay put" on a brush stroke. The underlying surface is just too slick.  This results in very amateurist looking blocks of solid color unless one works very rapidly to blend in differing colors before the paint sets up. Generally I prefer to make many thin layers as opposed to a single very thick layer. I suppose this comes from my background as having first been a watercolorist.

When plein air painting I prefer to use gesso primed surfaces, either mat board or MDF. In this case I need to work very fast to keep ahead of the changing lighting conditions. I don't have time to wait for multiple layers to dry. Instead, I make a quick underpainting of the major value blocks then apply very thick paint and blend colors on the panel as I go, more like an oil painting approach.  I should add that acrylics work only as long as the air temperature is low and I'm not working in direct sun, especially in the Southwest. 

I thought this was an appropriate name for this jumble of logs in Coquihalla Canyon gorge near Hope, British Columbia, Canada. This is a view from the Othello Tunnels that were cut through solid granite to allow a railroad to navigate the 300 foot deep canyon. The Kettle Valley Railway was built here between 1912 and 1918 to serve the bonanza Cariboo mining district farther north in BC.  Nowadays it is a hiking trail. Yes, the water is this clear, beautiful and wild. The painting is a 22 x 28-inch acrylic on canvas.  A larger view is available in the Gallery.

This is a scene on Denny Creek near Snoqualmie Pass, Washington.  This area is a popular spot where kids congregate on hot summer days to play in the shallow pools and algae covered slides on the smooth granite outcrops. This is a 21 x 29-inch acrylic on watercolor paper.  A larger version is located in the Gallery.

This is another scene on Icicle Creek near Leavenworth, Washington. This is a spectacular wild river that is supplied mostly from melting glaciers in the Stuart Range.  The contained glacial rock flour provides a pale blue color to the otherwise clear, cold water.  It was near this scene where I slipped on an algae covered rock while taking reference photos in the middle of the stream.  In I went camera and all.  I managed to keep the camera dry by catching one leg of the tripod as I headed for my chilly dip,  then swam ashore with one arm while holding the camera tripod by one leg above the churning water. This is probably the closest I'll ever get to a mid-winter polar bear club swim. The painting is a 21 x 29-inch acrylic on watercolor paper depicting the rapids just before sunset. A larger version is located in the Gallery.

Snoqualmie Falls near Snoqualmie, Washington is a popular tourist sight for those visiting the Seattle area.  It's a large falls dropping about 268 feet.  The luxurious Salish Lodge lies at the lip of the falls on the left.  This is a 24 x 36-inch acrylic on masonite painted largely using a painting knife with limited brushwork. A larger version is available in the gallery.

This is a scene along the trail to Twin Falls on the Snoqualmie River near North Bend, Washington.  I was drawn to the play of light filtering through the trees onto the rocks. This painting is a 21 x 29-inch acrylic on watercolor paper. A larger version is available in the gallery.

I'm planning a hike later this summer into the Enchantments area of Alpine Lakes Wilderness in Washington State.  This scene of Prusik Peak at sunrise in the fall is something I probably won't see as I'll be doing the long climb up Aasgard Pass through the morning on my way to this area.  Plans are to do the grueling 18 mile hike in one day so we don't need to obtain an overnight permit (difficult to do with the lottery system now used by the Forest Service).  At least the painting will inspire me to get in good enough shape to complete the hike.  The painting is a 21 x 29-inch acrylic on watercolor paper.  A larger version is located in the Gallery.

I prefer to paint on a totally flat surface for both watercolor and acrylics, and my preferred surface is 140 lb watercolor paper.  Usually stretching will provide fairly flat paper but doing large areas with wet on wet will still cause some ripples on 140 lb paper.  Although 300 lb paper eliminates this problem it is very expensive.  One way around this is to bond a sheet of 140 lb paper to a piece of mat board using rubber cement.  Like most painters I have lots of scrap mat board as center cutouts so the only additional cost is for rubber cement.  Coat both sheets with rubber cement, assemble while still wet then weight it evenly for several hours to get a tight even bond.  Then, voila, you have 300 lb sheet for very little cost.

You must be careful to get an even bond across the paper,  otherwise large local bumps will form when the paper becomes wet.

Last weekend I met with several other artists from the Tucson Plein Air Painters Society at the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Nature Preserve.  This a beautiful piece of real estate along Sonoita Creek owned by Nature Conservancy.  It is a real haven for bird watchers.   I was able to block in a nice scene while "off trail" on a sandbar along the creek before being runoff for not "staying on the trail".  The original plan was to paint plein air but I had to go to plan B and limit my on-site work to blocking in and taking photos for later use.  It would be really tough to stay on a trail as there are many walkers.  Here is the result as a 10 x 14-inch acrylic on mat board. A larger version of this is available in the Gallery.

For an easy to use palette for acrylics, especially for plein air painting, use a piece of window glass taped to a white matboard backing.  I use a piece of glass 8 x 10 inches  and spring clip it to my French easel. The white backing allows me to see the true colors of each mix.  Just let the acrylic dry on the glass then scrape off with a razor blade for easy cleanup.  This tip is based upon usage by Rodger Bansemer.

Last week we hiked at Cochise Stronghold.  It was a gorgeous day with many sites that could serve as a model for a good painting.  This one I was especially taken by as it illustrates why Cochise, the Apache Chief, was able to elude the US Army so long by hiding among the large granite boulders in this area.  The painting is acrylic on watercolor paper and measures 21 x 29 inches.  See the Gallery for a larger version.

This painting is another result of my trip to Catalina Mountain Park with the Tucson Plein Air Painters Society.  In the afternoon I took off for a hike up Montrose Canyon and spotted this great view of Pusch Ridge.  With the recent rains it just so happens there was water in the wash to make the view even better.  This is a 21 x 29-inch acrylic on watercolor paper painted in the studio.  See the Gallery for a larger version.

I attended a plein aire paintout with the Tucson Plein Air Painters Society.  I've not been a big fan of plein air painting because the lighting changes so fast.  This time I tried a smaller painting, 10 x 14 inches and it worked OK. This painting was done in about 2 hours using acrylics on mat board.  The rapid drying time requires that I paint very fast and use a misting bottle a lot but otherwise it was an enjoyable experience.  I met several other good folks who are old hands at plein air painting with oils.  Although it's difficult to show much detail while working so fast it's facinating to be able to quickly capture the essence of a scene in such a short time.  I plan to do a lot more of this.  See the Gallery for a larger version.

Sycamore Canyon provides a delightful oasis in the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona.  This scene is a lunch stop on a recent hike down the canyon from the Ruby road.  It is acrylic on watercolor paper 21 x 29 inches.  I was especially intrigued by the many irregular cavities in the cliffs composed of Atascosa rhyolite tuff as highlighted in the mid-morning sun. See the Gallery for a larger version. 

The five most important elements in painting or drawing regardless of medium are: shape, value, value gradations, placement and edges. 

Our visual perception of three dimensional objects on the picture plane is controlled by the shapes and placement of various blocks each having differing color values from those adjacent to it. Whether we perceive the shapes as being flat or curved depends upon the gradations in value within a given shape and the nature of its boundaries with adjacent shapes. An abrupt edge signals a sharp break between two blocks whereas a gradational edge signals a curved boundary.  Another element is texture which is really a type of value gradation that is repeated in some way.  By proper manipulation of these elements masterpieces have been created without any concern for color.  Making use of the additional color properties of hue, intensity and value certainly adds to the interest of most paintings and provide still more challenges for the artist.

Pencil drawings are particularly useful for new painters as they provide some simplification of subjects in that they only have to worry about  shape, value, value gradations, placement and edges.  Drawing is really just monochrome painting in shades of gray, so extensive drawing practice makes for better painters.  I will repeat what has been told by many good artists - If you want to paint well then DRAW, DRAW, DRAW.

This portrait was inspired by a photo we had taken several years ago.  It was always one of Lynne's favorites so I thought it would be a good start for a portrait.  I have avoided doing people portraits for many years because they require exteme attention to detail in order to achieve a good likeness.  Lynne was sufficiently pleased with it that it will grace the wall of our master bedroom.  It is a 20 x 24-inch acrylic on canvas board.

I was impressed with the way the low angle sun was shining through the clear water in these rapids on Icicle Creek near Leavenworth, Washington.  I took several photos but they failed to show the brilliance of the sun on the water.  The first painting is a quick study to see if I could improve what was displayed in the photos. 

This is a 11 x 14-inch acrylic on watercolor paper created in about 1 hour.  It fails to show the wildness of the water and does not have enough contrast.  In the full scale painting I really want to emphasize the three main places where the sunlight shows through the water, and the turbulent water. 

The sun shining through the pale blue milky glacial meltwater provided an amazing array of colors for this 21 x 29-inch acrylic on watercolor paper.  I darkened the background and removed the distraction of the trees.  A larger view of this painting is in the gallery.

A beautiful bright fall day on the Methow River near Winthrop, Washington, provided a very simple but interesting scene for this painting.  The river channel is filled with well-rounded granite cobbles and boulders which make a startling contrast with the clear bluish green water of the river.  This is a 22 x 28-inch watercolor.  A larger version is in the Gallery. 

This weekend I finally got back to painting after several months layoff.  We recently went to Green Valley, Arizona, and purchased a townhouse in which to escape the wet Seattle winters.  The back yard of the townhouse is a desert wash filled with native plants including many varieties of cactus, and lots of Gambel's quail.  The quail are particularly cute to watch as they are very family oriented.  My latest painting is from a scene in the back yard where the male quail is watching out while the family feeds upon seeds in the wash.  I titled this The Sentinel.  This is a 22 x 28-inch acrylic on canvas board. A larger version is in the Gallery.

Mt. Shuksan, in the Baker National Forest of northwest Washington is one of the most photographed mountains in the US.  Generally the photographer takes it with Picture Lake in the foreground to produce a spectacular reflection.  I chose to use a view from the Chain Lakes Trail about 2 miles to the west.  I was impressed with the interesting shapes of the large rocks in the foreground, especially the large boulder of volcanic breccia that serves as the focal point for the painting.  These boulders and the nearby ridges are composed of recent volcanic rocks from the active Mt. Baker volcano that lies a few miles behind the viewer.  Mt. Shuksan itself is much older consisting of Jurassic (150 million year old) Shuksan greenschist derived from submarine volcanics and sediments.

I took several photographs of the area on a hike a year ago that served as the basis for the painting.  Initially I made a quick watercolor 14 x 21 inches to test how the clouds would work partially obscuring Mt. Shuksan.  I was dissappointed with this (see below) in that it hid too much of the mountain and glaciers. 

The final painting, a 24 x 36-inch acrylic on watercolor paper, shows Mt. Shuksan much better.  Here is the final painting - a larger version is in the Gallery.

This painting depicts a foggy sunrise at the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall of China.  The Jinshanling section lies between Miyun county of Beijing and Luanping county of Hebei Province, 140 km from Beijing. It is a World Heritage Site and a National Priority Protected Site. It is an important architectural treasure of the Ming Dynasty (1368 –1644 AD).  The Jinsanling Wall is 6.3 miles long and is joined on each end by other sections of the wall.   It has six cols (gates), 68 dilous(towers) of varied form and two FengHuoTai (high watch towers).  The wall is the main body for the whole system. It has a stone base. The wall itself is a brick shell filled with stone and earth. Where the landform is even, the wall is about 15 to 17 feet high. The width at the bottom is about 17 feet.   This section of the Wall has had less restoration than others such as the heavily touristed Badaling section. 

The various sections of the Wall were constructed at different times starting about 220 BC in the Qin Dynasty up through the Ming Dynasty and have differing designs.  The wall was constructed to provide defense from the "barbarians" in Mongolia to the north.  Subsequent to the Ming Dynasty Mongolia became part of China so the Wall no longer was needed.  Bricks from the Wall had been scavanged by peasants to build houses, pig styes and chicken coops before the Chinese government enacted laws to protect it in the 1980s.  You can download the following interesting report that includes numerous photos and an assessment of work needed to restore certain parts of the Jinshanling section at the link below.  

Jinshanling Report2005-08.pdf (5.88 mb)

The painting is acrylic on  1/4-inch masonite and measures 24 x 36 inches.  A larger image of this appears in the Gallery section of this web site. 

For my approach to watercolor I need absolutely flat paper, ripples from expanding wet paper are not acceptable.   When wet, watercolor paper expands mostly in one direction (about 3/4 inch in 36 inches) so if it has not been prestreched you get ripples as soon as your watercolor dampens the surface.  These really create havoc with obtaining nice smooth graded washes.  The secret to making a good stretched paper is to use a somewhat flexible substrate like 1/4-inch thick masonite.  Wet the WC paper thoroughly for about 5 to 10 minutes then lay it on the masonite.  Let it set for a few minutes while more ripples appear then pull them out and follow with gummed tape and stapling every 2 inches on the edges.  the tension developed as the paper dries will bow the masonite somewhat so that the dry paper becomes like a drum - taught and smooth.  When the paper is again wetted by the watercolor the bow in the board will flatten somewhat but still some tension will be retained on the paper - no ripples form though.  The key is that the board must be somewhat flexible so the spring of the material keeps tension on the paper whether wet or dry.  Using a very stiff board  or an old hollow core door only results in partial release of tension as the paper tears slightly at the staples.  With these substrates I generally had problems with ripples when painting wet with 140 lb paper.

One of the problems with painting in acrylics as opposed to watercolor is that it can be difficult to make your backgrounds appear to be distant (atmospheric perspective).  Items in the distance need to be somewhat out of focus, bluish, and show lower contrast than the foreground objects.  What I do is paint the background with somewhat thinner paint (mixed with medium) then when the rest of the painting is complete add several thin glazes of light blue thinned greatly with medium and water (containing acrylic flow release or just water with a tad of Spic and Span).  This adds the bluish tint and reduces the contrast in the background. 

Most of us use reference photos in making realistic landscape paintings.  Although making an exact copy of a reference photo really contributes nothing to the art world, a well composed reference photo can save you a lot of time composing the painting.  Take a little extra time with your reference photos to get the composition right.  Maybe you will still have to move a bush or rock and add a few things but it it will save lots of grief later when your painting doesn't have much appeal because of poor composition.  Digital cameras really make this a simple process so you can take several "well composed" shots of your subject from which to select the best composition as a starting point. 

Harvey was a wild peacock who arrived in our neighborhood in August 2005 along with his bride, Henrietta.  The two remained in the area feeding off the seeds they could find, sunflower seeds we had put out and other food by various neighbors.  They didn't seem to care whether it rained or snowed preferring to stay in the area and roost in the tall douglas fir trees.  Henrietta and Harvey quit getting along in mid summer 2006 and she left.  Harvey stayed on enjoying the easy life he had here.  In Spring 2008 while he was pumped up and aggressive he took on a passing car and lost.  During his stay he had become sufficiently domesticated to come when he was called for food and would eat out of our hands.  His entire time here he was a free bird, and his own bird.  We all miss him, even his springtime "YEOWs" in the middle of the night. His portrait while resting on our deck rail is a 22x28-inch acrylic on watercolor paper.

A low cost subsitute for acrylic flow release is to use a pinch of Spic and Span in a glass of water.  This is a surfactant like flow release which reduces the surface tension of water allowing the acrylic paint to spread evenly and wet the painting surface.

Ralph and Sue rescued Petey from the animal shelter two years ago.  When he arrived home Petey was a scrawny, scared little Yorkie who had been abused.  The little guy didn't know how to play and was frightened by any sudden movement.  Now he has developed a round belly and runs to get a toy when Ralph comes home from work.  His portrait is a 20 x 24-inch acrylic on canvas. 

Typically I use a flat metallic pan with a piece of greaseless baking paper over damp paper towel as a palette. This works great for mixing small amounts of acrylics but doesn't allow enough space or provide containment for larger quantities.   For large mixes I use styrofom egg cartons.  These are pure white, washable and do not absorb water based paint like the paper ones.  Just  spray the paint with a water mist then cover with foil to keep several days.  I usually cut the cartons into sets of 6 cups each to make a size that is more convenient to work with.

Prince's story began in 1996 when Steve brought him home as a frisky puppy for Dori on her birthday.  He was a lively little guy with huge feet that foretold how big this dalmatian puppy would grow to be.  As with most pups, Prince performed his fair share of messing on the floor and chewing the leather furniture, as well as harrassing the two cats whose home was here before Prince arrived.  Over the years Prince was a great companion and protector who loved to go for walks in the evening near his Arizona home.  Like most people who have dogs Steve and Dori considered Prince to be one of the family and their "child".

In November 2008, Prince passed on at a ripe old age of nearly 12 years.  As a rememberance of Prince I painted a portrait, 20 x 24 inch acrylic on canvas.  Hopefully this will help Steve and Dori deal with the loss of their best friend.