Complementary framing and shipping sale ends Saturday
Free gallery quality frame and free shipping on any painting or study available through my studio.
On the easel (or it would be, if it fit.)
Detail of value block-in on 2nd painting
I’ve gotten started on a big project. Four paintings, each 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide. (That’s 96 square feet of landscape painting!) I spent several weeks sketching and planning, and last week I started the block-in phase. I decided to start laying in values on a sunrise painting first. Getting the color notes right seemed like a good challenge to start the project with.
I have a source photo of a sunrise that I am loosely using because the colors are beautiful. But I suspected that the values are not right.
I’ve heard that cameras compress dark values and wanted to see if that was happening to this photo.
Last week I started going out on the porch at sunrise and taking a couple pictures with my camera and phone, and then taking notes on the values of the sky and the trees and ground. And then I compare the photos with my notes.
This is the first time I have really looked for the difference in values from a camera to real life – and it’s substantial! I’m hooked on the process now. And I’m feeling really good about the values on the sunrise (shown above).
I think this whole process sums up a lot of what the act of painting is all about: Meditating on something until new truths about it emerge, and then expressing that with paint. And hopefully, through that, my art says something real.
Thanks for looking. Your comments are welcome.
More on the Sale
Here are a few paintings available through my studio. To get the complementary framing and shipping, just purchase any painting(s) through my web site or through email by the end of the week.



