Fresh Air

I painted this at the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden and just loved the combination of the sunny colored roses in the foreground with the purple ones in the background.

Before it was called Silicon Valley, this area was known as Blossom Valley. This painting reflects on this agricultural legacy. I love the twists and turns of apricot trees as they age.

This was painted in a shady spot on the shore of Alamitos Creek in San Jose. I didn’t paint the creek this time. Instead, I was attracted to the intermingled trunks of this collection of sycamore trees. This piece was done with a palette knife and no paint brushes.

The Water Tower located in downtown Campbell gives the town an old-time charm and it was fun to sip a coffee on the sidewalk while painting it.

I spotted this California native Western Redbud tree in full bloom on a bright sunny spring day at a park in San Jose. It was fun to try to catch the light airy feel of the tree and and the contrast between the reddish purple blooms and the all of the spring greens in the scene.

It’s pretty clear that the Red Baron Peach Tree in Filoli’s Heritage Orchard is the star of the show. The appearance of this brightly colored fruit tree loudly announces that spring is here in full force.

Painting these old growth grapevines in October gave me a chance to intently focus on the character of the gnarled wood along with the subtle color shifts in the leaves.

In this backlit early morning plein air piece I was drawn to the moody shadows and the sense of mystery. I decided not to include the ducks and frogs but they were certainly good company as I painted the spring fed pond.

This painting of Villa Montalvo’s Italianate garden captures the temple on an autumn morning. The orange quince in the foreground seemed to be lit from the inside. I enjoyed its loose structure as a contrast to the temple’s vertical columns.

I painted this surrounded by cows at Harvey Bear Park in San Martin. It’s a great spot with broad views of our local foothills.