The Beginning of The Tanaka Portrait

The results of the beginning session of the Portrait of Eddie & Vina Tanaka of Honouli Wai Bay on the island of Moloka'i. I'm doing this one completely from a reference photo. I decided to work ala prima this time, not toning the canvas first as I do a lot of the time. I began this in the evening so I only worked for about an hour and a half on this 24" x 36" canvas of my own construction before I stopped for the night. I don't draw on the canvas with anything before I start painting. I used to long ago, but I discovered I could just start painting and get to where I wanted to go with the picture a lot quicker. The drawing got completely covered up with pigments in the end so I decided that unless I was doing a drawing for itself, it was a waste of time. Drawing is an important skill to develope on the road to becoming a good painter, but it seemed to actually inhibit the progress of the painting portion of the process. The graphite or charcoal, unless used minimally and fixed somehow, would pollute the pigments applied over them. So...when I paint I sketch with paint on a brush instead of a pencil to begin things. Mahalo for stopping by. Aloha, Timo

A Good Warm Fire

There's something very different about the radiant heat from a good fire in a woodstove. A sense of security that soaks into your being as well as the backs of your legs if you're standing up close to it. Having dry seasoned oak to burn that you've cut and hauled out of the woods with your own hands and back is well worth the effort when you're soaking up the warmth, smells and sounds of the beautiful, crackling glow of a woodfire. I Started a new painting last night. A double portrait of my friend Eddie Tanaka and his wife Vina. I'll post a photo of the first session a little bit later today, I have to do some catching up this morning. Aloha, Timo

Tower of Jewels at Anvil Rock

The Finished painting of the Echium flowers at Anvil Rock.

Blind Beach Stroll

My Camera is cooperating again, I think this is a better photo of the new little painting I'm going to call "Blind Beach Stroll" oil on canvas 10" x 18"

At Anvil Rock

Well it's all covered with paint, but it still needs a lot of refinement. I like the overall feeling it gives me though. I used a recognisible spot just slightly north of the town of Jenner on the coast of stunningly beautiful Sonoma County, California called "Anvil Rock" to place these Tower of Jewels Echeum flowers. Aloha for now, I gotta go eat! Timo

Echeum Flowers of the Sonoma Coast

Well here're two more pauses for photo ops during the session today. I decided to edit the background away from the original reference photo and put the ocean behind instead of the hillside that was there. I think it makes a much more interesting composition. I'm still learning how to take decent photos of paintings with this Nikon coolpix I have. I try to learn something new about it every day though so I'm gaining momentum. I love painting these huge flower spikes of the Tower-of-Jewels Echeum we have out here on the Sonoma Coast. They just seem to go with the Ocean. Aloha for now, Timo

Rotate Left 90 degrees

Isn't it amazing sometimes how our view of an image changes the way we perceive it's evident meaning or relate to it's color scheme. Rotating the picture to a different position unlocks a little part of our creative subconscious and lets us have a new perspective. So begins a new work of color and illusion. Mahalo I Akua. Aloha, Timo

Learning to Remember!

Making the decision to paint over an older painting is usually impulsive to say the least. Although there is often a great deal of conflict in the decision making process that really leads to putting a painting on your easle sideways with the intention of doing a completely different image over the top of the original work. I just hope that I remember in the future to photograph the first painting BEFORE I begin the new one. This is not the first time I've done this, but at least I remembered to shoot before it was totally covered up with the new one. A woman gazing through an arch at a shelf of old glass jars and bottles done from memories. No market for my wierd stuff so I just paint over most of it eventually. I really have painted over a lot of images that I wasn't happy with for one reason or another through the years. The x-ray guys of the future will have a ball with some of mine that have several paintings layered over each other. It's fun painting on a canvas that already has a good layer of pigments applied already. So another adventure in color begins. Aloha, Timo

Out of Focus Photo

Well...sorry, but I still can't seem to get my camera to see this painting in focus!? It's finished anyway. I got a photo in the mail today of an old friend and her dog that she wants me to paint. A very cute picture of them...it will be fun to paint. I think it could use a better background though. I'll have to talk to her about that possibility. Aloha for now, Timo

Goat Rock from Blind Beach

For some reason I'm not able to get an "In Focus" photo from my camerea right now,but you can see enough to get a good idea of this little seascape I started night before last. It's another small piece. Only 10"x 18". Hopefully I'll have figured out how to get my camera back into adjustment( It's my first digital ) by the time I get it finished so you'll be able to really see it. Well...gotta go back to work now. Mahalo & Aloha, Timo

Wahine o Hawaii Nei

Mai ka'i La aloha! I'm not sure why this painting began except that I was tired of seeing some buffalo standing under a thunderhead in the grasslands of the Great Plains somewhere and decided to paint over it. And I wanted to send a prayer out to the great spirit about what would make my Valentine's Day a bit more meaningful. This was an old postcard image that I had a very poor, low resolution copy of so I used it for the basic pose and anatomy and changed the face completely. I've been working on it for about 4 days now and I finally like the expression in her face after changing it completely about 6 times. I haven't decided about a particular place for the rest of the scene yet, there isn't a whole lot of additional space around the subject. I'm going to take a rest from it and do another little seascape that a friend wants. Mahalo for your interest. Aloha, Timo

Portrait for Valentine's Day

A Valentine's Day portrait commission of my friends Mike & Vira was a success. I like it and she likes it. He hasn't seen it yet because it's a gift from her for tomorrow. Love Day. I wish Akua would bless me with a Valentine. I'm kind of tired of being single. It's been quite awhile since I've been with anyone in a real romantic sense. I don't think I'm too bad, but who knows what women think or want besides security these days. I guess I don't have very much of that to offer. My life is still very full in many ways. I choose to believe that sometime soon I will be guided to my mate for the duration. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, but soon... Mahalo for dropping by. I'll show you a new painting I started late Wednesday night, but haven't stopped to photograph yet. I'm painting directly over an old thing of some buffalo so the canvas had a good layer of paint on it to begin with. It always goes quicker working over an old painting as a ground instead of using a new canvas. Anyway I'll show you tomorrow. Aloha, Timo

One of Many

Little paintings have a jewel like quality sometimes because they're done with less fussiness than larger format things. Brush strokes count for a lot more when there are fewer of them. I may work a bit more on the light in the forground grasses. It's still just a little painting after all... One of many. Aloha, Timo

A Little Seascape

Doing a new painting from an old reference photo that I've been thinking about for years is fulfilling to me in an interesting way. It's like"Why didn't I ever paint this one before?" I began this little painting last night over an old painting that I'd done some time back of a baby's eye view of mom's nipple. You'll never get to see that one...because I never took a picture of it. I like this a lot better. The old photo that I'm doing this from was taken around 1980 at Timber Cove, California on the north Sonoma County Coast. I like what I was able to catch of the colors in the water. I'm probably going to do a larger version of this image. This one is only 9"x12". I might just do another small one to take further with more exacting detail because I really like the looseness of what this one has. Maybe just a bit more here and there. Aloha, Timo

Done for Now

Well...I think I'm final done(for now) with the portrait of Raymond. I'll probably do more later...I always do. Looking at it now, I see the water still needs a little work. I changed the light on the final...taking him out of the shade and bringing a little more sun in on him. I wish I'd had a better photo of him to work from, but I think it came out OK. All things considered. I think it's time to do something other than a portrait. A seascape! Yeah! Mahalo & Aloha, Timo

Progress on Raymond

I worked on Raymond's portrait last night instead of blogging in. And again today. You can see how much his expression has changed. I'm going to a Guerneville Chamber of Commerce mixer this afternoon to try to drum up some business or do some pencil portraits. I have no expectations, but I am going to say some prayers before I go. Oh yeah! Well...sitting at this keyboard is hard on my neck and shoulders so...Mahalo & Aloha for now, Timo Aloha Aikane, The mixer was a success. I did 2 pencil portraits of a local editor/publisher and her friend and we were all very happy with the results. I wish I'd taken photos of them with their sketches to show you. They used me as a raffle prize. One portrait payed for by the host of the fundraiser. Good PR. Mahalo Akua!

Raymond's Portrait

Aloha Aikane, I started this portrait of my friend Raymond back in October of last year on the second day of my 17 day retreat on the Island of Moloka'i . I was able to get him back for another sitting the day before I left in November, with about 2 weeks in between. I had put bright hot reds, oranges, yellows and greens on the canvas first, then painted right over that during the live sittings. I took photos that I am doing the background from back here in my studio.

Pencil Portraits in the Sun

I've been soaking up the rays from this wonderful winter sun we're being graced with currently while trying to coax people into spending $20 to have me do their portrait in pencil on a good sheet of 12"x 9" drawing paper. The only other thing besides sitting still for 10 minutes that I require of them is that they either make me 2 copies or allow me to make 2 copies of the resulting portrait. You'd be surprized at how few people spring for this totally amazing opportunity. My latest ploy has been to tell them truthfully that the piece of paper with the original pencil sketch on it will be worth it's weight in diamonds someday. My good friend says they already are because they really don't weigh very much. Anyway this old guy that I've been seeing riding his bicycle around for years came by and didn't have anything better to do for 15 minutes, consented to let me do a quick scetch of him. Here is the result of that work. Mahalo for dropping by! Aloha, Timo

Portrait of Terina

I finished the Portrait of Terina last night instead of going to my usual Saturday night get together at the church in Forestville. I have more portraits to work on though so I'll probably show you another one soon that I began on Moloka'i, of Terina's father Raymond. I'm glad I worked at this from more than one reference photo taken in the same light we had during the initial sitting, because she was so much more at ease after we stopped painting. I'm extremely happy with the final expression I was able to get into this my first portrait on black velvet. Mahalo Akua. I'm going to do quick pencil portraits on the sidewalk in front of Coffee Bazaar today before I do my broadcast. I've got to change into some lighter clothes for the full sun we get over there. Yesterday I did an old guy named Shanti that was there just to have a picture of him. He's got one of those "Moses" faces you'll never forget once you've noticed, and really looked at him. No sales though...Hmmmmm. I did get a small deposit on a couple of signs the trailor restoration guy across the street want's done with paintings in enamels of some of his old aluminum trailors on them. Aloha for today, Timo