Great moments in 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (I hope)

Merry Christmas

                                                
                                                  Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre - Nativity
                                                   French painter in the 1700's

Time Magazines Person of the Year

Backlit Trees

We live close to a wildlife sanctuary which has a small stream going through it with several trees and bushes with cattails growing along the stream. Here is a sample of the trees with the afternoon sunlight.
watercolor pen and ink

Monterey Pines

A friend asked me to paint a mural on his living room wall so I've been working on a few studies of the coastline and those famous Monterey Pines. I've never painted anything bigger than a 20"x30" canvas so this will really be a chalenge. I wonder which study he'll pick for the mural. These are all watercolor on 140lb. Arches paper.

Ding Dong My Twinkie's Dead

One of my favorite treats since I was a kid, killed by the unions greed. I think some unions act responsibly but others are just, plainly, run by idiots that think they can keep picking the pockets of the company and the company will pass along the new costs to the comsumer.
I remember when Twinkies cost 35 cents a pack, last time I looked they went for $1.00.
I'm sorry to see them go along with Ding Dongs, cupcakes and Wonder Bread.

White House Re-election Celebrations

34th St. and 8th Ave. - watercolor

I decided to re-paint the New York City watercolor I posted a couple of weeks ago. This is a larger and I think, a bit more finesed version (12"x16"). I'm still trying to capture the hustle and bustle and colors of the city that doesn't sleep. I think I like this version better.

Obama's Benghazi Debacle

                                             Bin Laden's dead and al qaeda is alive and well in Libya.
                                          That about sums up President Obama's foreign policy record.

Biden - Ryan Debate

Empire State Building on 5th Ave. N.Y., N.Y.

I was browsing through the photos from our trip to the East Coast two years ago and liked this of the Empire State Building. The Big Apple is an amazing city with 8 million people during the day. Most of the people in Manhatten go home after work to the surrounding areas of New Jersey, Brooklin, etc. and come back the next day. This is my take on the crazy busy-ness and colors of the city.
Watercolor on 140lb. Arches paper

Painted Lady - 2

                                   Another Victorian Painted Lady on Alameda Island, Ca.
I'm  not sure if this is a Victorian or was built after 1901. The later ones were called Queen Anne's .

Plein air in Davis, Ca. at the Great California Paintout

This past Saturday I went to Davis, Ca. to paint with at least one hundred other artists during the "Great California Paintout". There were people all over the town with their easels set up painting away, and I was one of them. This little house on First Street caught my eye so I gave it my best shot. I'm not used to painting outside so it was a challenge to me. I really enjoyed my self and will paint "en plein air" more often.

This weekend is the KVIE Art Auction for our local PBS station. My watercolor painting "The Ant and the Grasshopper" will be auctioned on Sunday at 4:00. The auction is on TV as well as online at
http://kvie.org/artauction . The action starts on Friday night at 8:00 and continues through Sunday.
This is a real honor for me to have my work picked along with the other fantastic artists.
Take a look and brows through the art.

Painted Ladies (Victorian)

                                                                  Victorian Painted Lady

The "Painted Ladies" term was coined in 1978 in a book about the colorful Victorian houses of San Francisco. The houses were built between 1846 and 1901 during the Victorian era. After Queen Victoria died in 1901 the the Eduardian era continued the style until about 1926.
Many thousands of these homes were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake of 1905 but many more in the areas south of the city survived.

Obama's On The Road (again)

I posted this cartoon in January and I think it's still relevant. Lots of show and no go but, everybody likes a good show right? Snake oil and magic too.

Grapes and Pears - oil on canvas

For some reason I really like painting fruit. I like the simplicity of the shapes and the challenge of getting the colors and shadows right. Some people say I have a gift for drawing and painting but that sounds like I don't have to work at my art. I have worked many years on improving my art and still work at it every time I paint or draw. Not all of my paintings turn out well either, in fact I think my average is about 50%. I guess that's why it's called art "work".

Revenge of the Nerd

Remember the nerds in high school? You know, the guys who always had their heads in a book and ink stains on their shirts from leaking pens. The jocks and surfers and tough guys made fun of them and called them dorks, right?

               Well, the jocks and surfers and tough guys are probably working for them now.

 

Success is the best revenge.

Rhode Island Red

Still painting chickens - watercolor 8"x10" on 140lb. Arches paper. www.billsartshop.etsy.com

SOLD

The words out! Harry likes Chick-fil-A!

Obama's Fund Raising Tricks

Esperanza

I named this boat "Esperanza" which means "Hope" in Spanish. Obviously this whole scene is a fantasy, completely made up from memories of my youthful years spent on Guam. Although the locals speak Guamanian, there are many people from the Philipenes who speak Spanish, hense the Spanish name since I don't know the Guamanian language.

16"x20" acrylic If your interested in owning this painting please visit www.billsartshop.etsy.com

Big Red - watercolor

                                                     Big Red - watercolor on 140lb.
                                                     Arches cold pressed w/c paper.

Henney Penney - watercolor

I've been missing having chickens around since we moved from the mountains to "civilization". They're fun to watch and the eggs are great. A few towns in the Sacramento area are making it legal to have chickens in the back yard, but no roosters. Damn things are too noisy at 4am.
watercolor - 5"x7" on 140 lb Arches paper.

Doctor Obama

It's a penalty! It's a tax! No! Penalty! No! Tax! No matter what you call it, it's going to hurt.

Beach Morning

Trying to get that feeling of a morning at the beach with the golden colors.
16"x20" oil on stretched canvas. Check out my art shop at www.etsy.com/shop/BillsArtShop

Obama keeps digging

The first law of holes - When your in one, stop digging. - Denis Healey

Sanibel Island Lighthouse

Sanibel Island is on the Gulf Coast Of Florida and this is the oldest lighthouse in the state. I visited the island with my old friend Dan a few weeks ago and I thought this was really interesting so I painted it.
The lighthouse was built in 1884 and has been in continous use since.
8"x10" oil on canvas panel.  If your interested in owning this, please visit my Etsy store at www.etsy.com/shop/BillsArtShop

Bird of Paradise

The Bird of Paradise flower is native to South Africa, but in South Africa it's referred to as the Crane Flower.
This is my oil painting of our Bird of Paradise bush in our back yard which is in full bloom.
If you're interested check out my online store at www.billsartshop.etsy.com

Below is the real Bird of Paradise (bird).


 

Fish Stories

Stephen Magsig - Postcards From Detroit

Believe it or not, this is a painting by one of my favorite artists Stephen Magsig. He has a blog called Postcards From Detroit where he posts a new painting every day. His daily paintings are not this large, as this one is 42"x36", but they all have the color and super realistic look. I think the guy is amazing.

Tanning Mom

Is this what people look like in New Jersey? I think the tanning mom is trying real hard to get as tan or more tan than Snooky. Or is it Ooky?

Scarlet Tanager - watercolor painting

This is the female Scarlet Tanager found in wooded areas of the Eastern United States. A song bird like the Cardinal feeding on worms, bugs nut and berries.
Watercolor - 10"x8"    available at www.BillsArtShop.etsy.com

Ruth Bader Ginsburg - corel painting

I painted my drawing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with my COREL paint program and made a few changes to her costume, then superimposed her onto a copy of the U.S. Constitution for effect.
I think it turned out quite well. Hope you like it.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsgurg - pencil sketch

Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg is certainly the most liberal justice on the bench but, I like her face. She looks like Cruella de Ville from the Disney cartoon "One Hundred And One Dalmations". Now that's a character, not a very nice one but interesting for sure.

1936 Ford Coupe - oil painting

This is a 1936 Ford Coupe. The cost of this car at the time was $600, the average income was $1600.00 per year, a loaf of bread cost 8 cents, a gallon of milk was 48 cents, gasoline was 19 cents a gallon and the average house cost $6, 200.00.

Overcorrection

I rarely post stuff from other web sites but this article gave me some insight and thought it might help other artists struggling with color.

I remember years ago realizing that my colors were more muted or subdued than I wanted.  I consciously worked on brightening my color.  Sometime later, I had another realization: my colors were too bright for my liking.  And so I worked on graying them back down to realize sometime later that they were once again too subdued.

Many artists, myself included, will overcorrect when we realize improvement is needed in some aspect of our art.  It isn’t just with color.  It is with every aspect.

I had a discussion just today with one of my students about this phenomenon (which prompted this post).

If you suffer from overcorrection, don’t worry, it is part of the growth cycle and you will eventually find the middle ground.  As you move back and forth from the right to left of your ideal, you will find that your swings or overcorrections become less severe each time.  You are moving ever closer to the middle ground that you are seeking.

So take heart and be grateful that you realize the need to improve.  That means you are growing.  With growth comes some level of frustration.  But as you make progress, you will find joy in your growth.

If you are one of the few who gets it right without the overcorrecting cycle, consider yourself blessed…or blind.

Best Wishes,
Keith Bond

FineArtViews News Letter  www.fineartviews.com

Western Bluebird

This is a 7"x5" watercolor on Arches 140lb. paper  Check out my Etsy shop at www.billsartshop.etsy.com

Obama's open mic. gaffe

Green Obama

GET IN MY BELLY!

This chocolate eclair showed up at my door asking for directions so I told it to GET IN MY BELLY!
I had to paint it's portrait before it dissapeared so that I'd always remember how pretty it was.

watercolor 8"x10"

St. Petersburgh

This is from a screenshot I took from Google Street Maps of a place south of St. Petersburgh, Russia for the Virtual Paintout. Every month Bill Guffey appoints a certain city somewhere in the world and anyone who wants to join in can use the Google Street Views to tour around the city and find something interesting to paint. I found this building and kept wondering, what the hell is it? So I painted it and still don't what it is. With the antennaes on the roof I imagine it's some sort of clandestine listening post for spies or a gulag for political prisoners. Some imagination eh? Since I finished this I've found some other interesting spots to paint, later.

Fishy Stuff

My computer's been in with the geeks for the past couple of weeks so I got into painting fish. I like fish, especially fish and chips.
watercolor

Jimmy Carter Redux?

When I was a kid my family all voted the straight Democratic ticket so, naturally I did too. Jimmy Carter became our President in 1976 and I haven't voted for a Democrat since. What a dissaster he was.
I will say that Carter did one good thing during his term and that was the Camp David Accord.
I have seen a lot of Jimmy Carter in our current President Barack Obama and nothing that has impressed me yet except he killed Osama Bin Laden and kept Guantanamo open.

Obama's Pet Sheeple

My Navel Orange

We have a Dwarf Navel Orange tree in the back yard that has been giving us a nice bounty of sweet fruit this year so I decided to have a go at painting it. (oil on canvas panel 5"x7")
Here are some facts about Navel Oranges I found:

Navel oranges are characterized by the growth of a second fruit at the apex, which protrudes slightly and resembles a human navel. They are primarily used for eating, as the skin is thicker and easier to peel than a common orange.

According to Dorsett, Shamel, and Popenoe (1917) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a single mutation in 1810 to 1820 in a Selecta orange tree planted at a monastery near Bahia  in Brazil, probably yielded the navel orange, also known as the Washington, Riverside, or Bahia navel. The mutation causes the orange to develop a second orange at the base of the original fruit, opposite the stem, as a conjoined  twins in a set of smaller segments embedded within the peel of the larger orange. From the outside, it looks similar to the human navel, hence its name

The navel oranges of today have exactly the same genetic makeup as the original tree, and are therefore clones, all navel oranges can be considered to be the fruit of that single nearly two-hundred-year-old tree. ( Wikipedia)

Obama's On The Road Again