Peeple's Valley

Peeple's Valley  5x7  Oil on Paper  $90

Peeple's Valley is a small town just  outside of Prescott Arizona.  It is full of cattle and horse ranches. This place is always a treat to drive through because there is so much beauty to be seen in the land.

My latest trip through Peeple's Valley was just after Thanksgiving 2016.  Yep, just a couple of months ago.  I had dreamy thoughts of stopping a few times along the journey to paint en plein air.  It didn't work out so much this last trip though.  It was cold this day and after such a dry summer this place looked kind of sad, being all brown and desolate looking.  The horses and cows must have been tucked away down in the ravines to keep out of the wind.  I drove around the dirt roads a bit and took mental notes on places to paint next time.  I did stop and paint this scene.  It's not my best piece but I do think I captured the desolated feel of the place though.

Tomorrows painting will be of Peeple's Valley too.  But it is based on my homeward journey.  It land felt completely different just a couples days latter.  It's a studio painting but... Just wait till you see it!

I don't know if you noticed, but I didn't post yesterday.  And.. I don't know if you noticed but I indicated above that I painted this picture en plein air (outside, on sight), which would have taken place last November.  Yea, I got a bit side tracked the past few days.  I have been painting, but nothing got completed.  I worked on a couple of Abstract paintings, a drawing and a partial color comp for a commissioned piece of art, and I applied color to a personal painting of a world war 2 airplane.  I had some business items to take care of because my state sales tax is due this month and such.  I also chopped fire wood and had a barbecue and fire to celebrate.  All worth a couple of days, right?  I've got to keep my sanity in check some way.

Take care,

Larry

Beauties Path

Beauties Path  5x7  Oil on Paper  $90

January 8th

Just over the hill is something so wonderful, so great, so, so, beautiful...

You need to see it to believe it.

I have spied laughing kids, laughing grandmas, good friends, blooming flowers, plum berries, vast lands, stormy skies, wonderful sunsets, soaring birds, soggy wetlands, and tall trees.

But the best part...  this path leads back home.

Hope you all have a beautiful Monday.

Larry

A romantic beach Sunset

Beach Sunset 5x7 oil on paper $90

I wish I was on the beach watching the sunset.

I spent the day trimming trees, chopping trees, cutting firewood, stacking fire wood, and pulling weeds.  Holy cow, I'm warn out!  I had to wait a bit to paint because my forearms were so sore my hand wash trembling.

Yea, the beach sounds really nice right now.  Maybe stop by the LA Art show.  Have a nice dinner.....

I need to go to bead now.  Hopefully I can get up in the morning and still walk.

FYI, this was written late Saturday night for Sunday's blog.  I try and keep a day ahead.

Take care,

Larry

Trials, tribulations and the dark mountain.

Dark Mountain 5x7 Oil on Paper $90

Welcome to the Dark Mountain on this 7th day of January.... When I saw this scene I was visiting my son, who's name is Seven by the way, and I remember thinking - what made this mountain so dark?  It not only looked dark but it felt dark too.  I was reliving this all as I was painting it.  After I had painted it but before I had written this blog entry I heard an interesting story.

Kind of off track but what the hey.  Not sure who said what so I can't do quotes but the story kind of went as this----

There was a lady who was in despair.  She sits next to a preacher on a plane and they begin to talk during their flight. Their talking eventually leads them to tell each other the sad, wrong, trying things that have happened to each other in their lives.  Both stories are crazy tragic.  The preacher was happy but the lady was so sad.  In the end, the lady asks the preacher- What makes bad things happen to good people?  

I think we have all felt this way before or at least known someone who felt like this, right?

Here is the preachers response - No body is perfect, we are all in fact sinners.  So what you must ask is -why do good things happen to bad people?

Oooohhhhhh.  Kind of makes you think, huh?  Yes, I am far from perfect.  I know it can be hard but don't dwell on the bad stuff, seek the good in all.

This story kind of moved me a bit.  It was also much more detailed when I heard it but I am a slow typer so I need to share the brief version.

So now back to the art...       This painting is about a scene I saw near Prescott Arizona.  I was drawn to the dark mountain and the few trees that grew there.  I wondered if they felt lonely and this thought made me sad.  But then, I saw the sun rising behind it and my sadness lifted.  I asked earlier what made this mountain so dark?   Wrong question.  I should've asked - What made everything else so bright?

Seek the light my friends.

-Larry

January 6th

Dry Heat  5x7  Oil on Paper  $90

A new day, a new painting.

There are places in southern California where the trees usually don't turn brown because it's autumn, they turn brown because it's 115 degrees in summer.  There's a reason why we are called sunny California, even in winter.  With this title comes the long, dry, hot summers.  Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, the high desert, these are the places I am thinking of.

They are nice places to visit once in a while but I prefer rural farmlands, mountains or even the occasional ocean beach.  The latter two are popular with many.  Sometimes too popular.  This painting I wanted to express the heat in these lands.  When I showed my wife the painting she said it looks dry. - Bingo!

One of the struggles of being an artist is finding storage for all your works.  Yes it's always nice to sell the paintings, but even the crazy accomplished artists have "things" they are working on that do not go out for sale.  Last year when I decided to try painting smaller I soon realized how quickly these little guys can add up.  I was using small stretched canvases, cradled wood panels or just plain sheets of wood.  These add up quickly in cost at the initial purchase and also in physical cubic inches when storage is concerned.  Last year I painted 77 paintings - thats actually right on target with someone who does this full time.  But, I had to find a way to keep producing the art but also get the profit margin higher, reduce storage needs, keep quality high and also give me the peace of mind and freedom to play.  That's why I'm painting on paper.  I'll explain more in my future blogs.

Take care,

Larry

January 5th

Retreating Mist 5x7  Oil on Paper  $90

This is almost the weather we are having in Southern California this past week.  It's been absolutely beautiful!!!

This painting is actually a scene from middle Oregon, to be exact, just north of Dallas Oregon.  Dallas is a small town outside of Salem that I love to visit.  I especially love the people there.  Dallas is surrounded by farmlands and farmlands are my favorite landscapes, by far.  I enjoy them because they are open areas with obscure access roads that tend to lead to small hills with an outcrop of trees or blackberries.  There is stuff growing and signs of life but they are scarcely populated.  The crops that are grown make for fun color patterns that are always changing.  There seems to be deer everywhere in the mornings and evenings, I'm sure the farmers don't get such a kick out of them as I do.  The tractors are cool too, I just haven't painted any yet. On my next road trip I'm going to start looking more closely at the barns, tractors, and other large things that are used on this type of land.  I don't know if anything will come of it but there is interest.

Did you notice I used even less of the paint daubing thing on this painting.  This is a good direction for me.  On larger paintings I tend to scrub my paint in.  It's harder to do on such a small scale as these but by changing to a softer brush I am getting less of the paint to lift off.  Hard to explain - just one of those little things to work the kinks out of.

Here's some pictures of work in progress:

In the final painting I changed the clouds, lightened back mountain to left and signed it of course.

Have a good Thursday!

Larry

January 4th

Prescott Family of Three  5x7 oil on paper  $90

Hello Wednesday.

This is a small view from Prescott Arizona.  I was just there a couple days after Thanksgiving.  I was kind of disappointed because everything was so brown.  This is my fault though, my senses are so out of whack from living in Southern California.  I still found the beauty and had a wonderful visit with my boy.

For this painting I wanted to get away from the paint daubing I started doing on the first couple of paintings.  I attempted the same thing with the second Basking in the s
Sun painting but the brush work still got out of hand.  Since I'm doing a painting a day I'm painting them Alla Prima - or wet into wet.  I'm also using oils so there is not much chance of correcting unless I want to scrape the paint off and start again.  With larger works I leave the painting setup over night and them "fix" things the next day.  Not so with these little guys.  They are what they are.

I think I nailed what I was after in this painting.  What do you think?  Give me a score from 1-10, 10 being the best painting, 1 being the worst.

Thanks,

Larry

January 3rd

Basking in the Sun 2      5x7  oil on Paper  $90

3rd painting for the year!!

Painting small has some advantages.  One of the advantages is there is so much less surface area to cover on these little guys so it takes a lot less time to complete one.  Knowing this helps me be more willing to paint an image over again (also makes it easier to toss the ones I don't like).  This is what I have done here, again, remember January 1st's painting was a redo too.  For this second go around I wanted to play with color and it's application.  I didn't quite get what I wanted so I might even do it third time.  We'll see.

If we don't try things and practice  new things then we will never learn new things, right?

Which version do you like best?

Happy Tuesday - Larry

January 2nd

Basking in the Sun    5x7  Oil on Paper  $90

Second painting is here.

As I mentioned in my last blog, last year I did this same challenge but my goal was different than this years.  Last year I wanted to concentrate on small works and the dynamics of creating them.  My goal this time around is to REALLY dive in and get to know landscape painting.  So yes, this is what I plan on painting everyday this month.

All the paintings will be places I have visited and enjoyed.  I'm working off of my photographs and or memory of these places.  In some instances I may do Plein-Air paintings.  I want to capture the feeling I had while visiting and the beauty as I remember it.

Todays painting is from Oak Glen, California.  I was set up here one morning painting on site and took some extra pictures to bring back to the studio.  I don't know how many times I have driven by this tree but it's just one of those places I really enjoy.  I hope you do too.

Take Care,

Larry

January 1st 2017

Morning Commute 2  5x7 oil on paper  $90

A new year with new goals.  Here I go again.

Last year I kicked off the year by painting 30 paintings in 30 days.  I blogged about all of the paintings last January so you can easily scroll below and find them.  I painted them on 6x6 inch wood panels.  My goal for last years' paintings was to find inspiration for smaller paintings.  I painted landscapes, abstracts, some portraits, and a couple of surreal pieces.

Some of you have seen my work in person and you know how large I have painted in the past.  Here's a link to my "Obsessions" as well just incase you want to see more  http://www.larryreinhart.com/my-obsessions .  A 3 foot by 4 foot painting was kind of my starting point and I usually went larger.  The problem with the large paintings is the countless hours it takes to produce them, the cost of the supplies and then trying to find a home for them.  Not everyone has room for a 3 foot x 4 foot or larger painting in their homes and then there is the cost of such a painting.  If I factor in five dollars an hour I still need to sell the large paintings for at least a thousand dollars.  For an artist starting off on a new path of their art career, this is hard.  I just cant raise a family and purchase new supplies on  five dollars an hour.  Sad but true.

Painting small is problematic, at least in my eyes.  The things I paint at  3 foot by 4 foot I just can't be painted in the same style at only 6 inches.  On the larger paintings I moved my body when applying paint.  I'm also scrubbing, wiping and scraping the paint.  I can also get a lot more color variations and textures in a one foot area but I can't do the same in a one inch area.  It's a whole new world at this scale.  So, within last year's goal, I wanted to teach myself to paint - small.

It worked!  I now have a grasp on it.  Not only a grasp but a love for it.

So please follow along with me as I push myself further into this new, smaller art world.

The painting above might look familiar to you.  I actually painted the same scene a couple of months ago. But I wasn't happy with it so I painted it again.  I'm happier now.  Here's the older version:

Morning Commute 5x7 oil on paper  $90

Which version do you like better?  

You can find this scene on the way down from Oak Glen heading towards Yucaipa in southern  California.

If you enjoy what I do and wish to support me you can always contact me to purchase a painting or even make a donation.  All of the paintings will all be for sale.  The best part is they are not thousands of dollars - yet.

Take care,

Larry

My Trusty Little Companion

Say "Hello" to my trusty studio companion.  This is my painting cart.  This little beast started as a set of Ikea storage boxes and has grown into what it is now.  Originally I just wanted something to set my pallet on when I painted on the studio wall.  For this I added the sides and a fourth drawer.  The trash can found a new home under it soon after.  Then I wanted a place to store items and sketchbooks so it got wider.  I wanted it more mobile so it got some wheels.  About a year ago I added the toilet paper roll holder.  I use T.P. for wiping brushes, pallet knives and my nose.  My last change on it was about three weeks ago.  It was a minor addition but an important one, I added a bar to keep the brush cleaners from sliding off the edge.

This cart been in my studio for about 15 years now.  The glass pallet originally had a cover and a handle and it is the same pallet I used to carry into Art Center for painting class.  So this pallet has been around for maybe 20 or more years.  Crazy Huh?

Here's a view from the other side.  I have sketch books, my goal organizer, misc. business books, a portable print portfolio, some magazines, brushes, paint cleaner, and such on this side.

On the other side (first photo) you can see where I store my mediums and varnishes under the T.P. holder.  Under the chemicals is the place I can throw reference material for the active paintings.  This space holds standard sized vanilla envelopes.  Each painting or series gets an envelope and all reference, sketches and notes get put in there.  This is held over from my commercial art days when I kept "job folders" for each project.

Here's a top view.  I have a coffee cup for a brush holder.  The cup is from Denali State park in Alaska.  I filled the cup with dried beans so my brushes stand up.  You can also see wells for pallets knives, a putty knife, paint sticks and larger brushes.  All the stuff up here kind of moves about depending on the painting and what tools I'm using.









Here's a peek inside the top drawer.  It is for extra brushes and some napkins for blotting brushes.  Lots and lots of brushes.  This drawer usually stays open so the napkins are readily available for blotting.  My pallet scraper is next to the napkins.  For oils, it's important to keep a clean pallet so the various colors do not get too contaminated with unwanted colors.  Sap Green can get into EVERYTHING if left smeared about on a pallet.




The Second drawer down is for the paints I most commonly use.  My basic pallet is Burnt Umber,  Raw Umber, Yellow Ocher, Ultramarine Blue, Naples Yellow,  Burnt Sienna, Ivory Black, and Alkyd Titanium White.  These colors are derived from what NC Wyeth used.  He's my all-time favorite artist and I studied his paintings all through college.  These colors are in the front of the drawer.  For the colors I use most often I purchase the large tubes.

Supplemental colors, located near the back of the drawer include Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Red Medium, Sap Green, and a few others that I hardly ever use.

The pliers are used to open the tubes. 





The third drawer from the top is for all my other oil paint.  These are extra tubes of the same colors as in drawer two or they are random colors that I just can't bear to give away but are never used.

Price range for a small tube of oil paint is $8-$25 depending on the color.  Brushes can carry the same price tags.   Yikes!!!!

 
The bottom drawer is for all the other "Stuff" that goes along with my oil paints.  It's a catch all.



Hopefully you found this kind of insightful.  I think it's always fun to see the behind the scenes stuff of someone's work space. Help gives you a glimpse as to what goes into a piece of art.


Take care,

Larry

The Final Killer

For me, most paintings develop and are finished pretty close to how I had expected from the start.  This isn't by accident.  I spend time developing the drawing, picking colors collecting reference and when it's time to execute, I'm generally ready to "get er done."  But with this killer whale painting, I just wasn't pleased with the direction it had gone.  I tried changing colors in the back buildings, I tried making the buildings lighter, I tried a few things but nothing was working.  I just didn't like it.  It had just too much information, your eyes wander around looking for something to latch onto and in doing so we lose the fact that the whale is floating.  I couldn't come up with a decent fix it plan so I left and went on a weeks' vacation.     

After my return I went back to my first few rough sketches.  Here's one to the left.  You can see in this sketch the back building are very meaningless.  They're just indicated with a few lines.  This is what I needed.  Let's start the buildings over - Auggggg!!!!    I either do this or I sand everything down and start a new painting.  I might as well try it, right.   If I don't like what I try I'll bring out the sander and completely erase this painting.  I've done it before and I'll do it again if I need to.      

     As soon as I put the first bit of sky color over the buildings I saw and knew what I needed to do.   As you can see the changes have been major.  The back buildings have changed dramatically, there is no more dome on the left building, the sign is getting filled in and there is a shape of a figure in the lower right hand corner.  The painting was crying out to me for these things, I just needed to listen.  I really love the new back buildings.  These where scratched in like a child's primitive drawing.  Here's a couple of close ups along with the figure getting fleshed out a bit: 

This idea of scratching the paint will be something I play around with more.  Below is the final painting.  What do you think?

Now I just need to come up with a name.
Killer Whale Painting?
Walking in the Shadow of my Gloom?
Checks in the Mail?
Walking the Dog?
Life is Good?

What's the painting about?  Well it changed from its original idea.  It's now about depression.  If a person is depressed they take this feeling with them where ever they go.  Some people think they hid it well, some pretend like it's not there.  I think the key to overcoming it is to acknowledge its presence and learn to walk outside of it encompassing shadow.  You'll never be rid of it, it will always be there so learn from it, deal with it, pray about it and press on.  A lot of time it's easier said than done, but just remember, Life is Good.  I know this from personal experience.

Take care,

Larry