Doing the Best I can!

I got a little bit more done on Jenna's portrait, but I'm just not doing very well physically lately. This cancer treatment almost everyday really has started to get me down. My throat is so sore now that I can hardly stand to swallow anything cold or acidic at all. I feel bad about taking so long to get thie portrait done, but I want to do the best work I can still. So I wait until I feel at least able to stand and focus on the reference photos that I'm using to do this.
I'm glad that my client is a good friend who understands what's going on in my life right now and has the patience to wait for me to finish it.

Bringing it home

I'm still working on the portait of Jenna. It's going to be mostly be about the background today. I've decided to do something a bit different than what's in the reference photo that I'm using. I'm going to do some sky and ocean water behind her because it will bring it into harmony with the other elements of the composition. The original backdrop was too dark except for the palm leaves directly behind her.

More on Jenna

Another 4 hours at the easle has brought Jenna more into focus and likeness. Subtle changes can make really big differences in the accuracy of a depiction of a specific personality.
The next phase will be a bit looser in the application of pigments to create the scene and her garment and lei.

Starting a portrait of Jenna

This stage is actually the first 2 sessions of painting on this before I took the photo. About 7 hours of work so far. Off to a good start anyway.

PAINTING MISSING!

Aloha Ohana, I recently discovered that this important painting done by me in 2006 is missing. I'm asking my friends to help get the word out about it's disappearance.
Title: "Lilly Pond Rendezvous" signed on lower left front & upper left rear.
It measures: 36" x 36"- Oil on canvas - value $5000.
I'm offering a reward for information leading to it's return. My e-address is tddixon@mcn.org
Mahalo nui loa! Aloha, Timothy David Dixon

Making Progress

Progress on the double portrait of my friend Martin's parents that I'm doing from an old B&W photobooth print that he had.

Colorizing a black & white

I made some more progress on this double portrait of a good friend's parents that I'm doing from an old photograph that measures about 1 1/2" x 1". Taken in the forties in one of those little booths that you sit down in and pay a quarter to get 4 or 5 pictures taken and processed in about 3 minutes. I scanned it and blew it up to 8 x 10 so I had some chance of seeing the details. It is a black & white print so I'm just making up the color. Fun project - 14" x 18" oil on canvas.

Abalone Shell #9

I almost finished the big Abalone shell painting I started in July this afternoon. The shell is done, but I want to do a little bit more to the background. This oil painting measures 30" x 40" on stretched canvas. Mahalo for checking in.
Aloha, Timo

Posthumous Portrait

I just started a double portrait of a good friend's parents using an old wallet photo from the forties that I scanned and enlarged to 8x10 so I could see it better.

For the toning, I began by brushing a thin coat of English Red Light on the gessoed canvas and then wiping it off with a rag. Then I sketched in the forms using, Raw umber, Burnt Sienna and Raw Sienna. then I added Cadmium Red Light, Naples Yellow, Naples Yellow Light, Naples yellow Warm, Dioxazine Purple and Titanium white to my palette and kept at it for a couple hours. What you see is where I stopped painting last night.

"Enterprise Vines"

I worked on this little (12" x 16")painting again today..it's almost finished..I signed it and took this photo of it..then decided to update the blog. Then after I started I realized ,looking at the picture, that there was a bit more to do. Put some shine on the grapeleaves. The difference will be subtle, but you'll notice the difference. So more on this one later.

Enterprise Vineyard

I made some progress on this little vineyard painting today, but didn't have time to finish it.

Enterprise Road Vineyard

I began a new oil painting of a vineyard up on Enterprise Road yesterday. The view is toward Mount Veeder in the Mayacamas Mountains that separate Napa Valley from Sonoma Valley.
It's a small size canvas : 12" x 16". I'll try to finish it today and show another update later.

"Landmark Vines"

I finished this small painting of some Spring Vines out at the back edge of Landmark Vineyards in Kenwood, California today. Dimentions are 13 3/4" x 26" oil on canvas 2010.

"Bastoni Vines"

I finished this large canvas of the old vineyard on Riebli Road near Santa Rosa, California today. I was working from a couple of photos that I took about 15 years ago. I'm not sure if those old vines are still intact or not, but it made good reference for this oil painting on canvas that I call "Bastoni Vines" after the man who planted the vineyard back in the twenties, Enrique Bastoni. 28" x 52" 2010

Changes in Attitude...

Well...You just never know what's going to happen next! Tommy brought his painting back this morning and asked me to paint out the female image with more landscape. So...I started doing that this afternoon. Whatever the client wants is possible and I'm willing to do it.
I'm adaptable.
Aloha, Timo

Finished Painting of Tommy Thomsen

I finished the painting of my friend Tommy Thomsen yesterday. The photo isn't quite in focus, but you get the idea. This is an oil on canvas, 24" x 16".

Munoz Ranch Pine

I went out to the coast plein air painting with an old friend this morning. This is the result of that effort. About 3 hours of painting on location at the top of Munoz Ranch just north of the village of Jenner at the mouth of the Russian River.
The hilltop behind was the focus of this painting until the old pine caught my attention and then became more of the subject. It's very loose...I'm not sure it's a saleable painting, but I had fun doing it.

More on the Spring Vineyard

Made some definite progress on this small(13 3/4" x 26") oil on canvas painting of a late spring vineyard near Kenwood, California today.

Starting a Spring Vineyard ala prima

No toning or underpainting in this ala prima beginning of a spring vineyard in Kenwood, California. A lot of white gessoed canvas showing still, but it makes for brigher yellows and greens at the onset.
I like the mood I'm seeing in this painting already. Big contrast from front to back. It'll work good.
Mahalo for stopping by. Aloha, Timo

Just a Few

I was trying to put a group of paintings together to do a new show with so I had taken a lot of them outside and quite a group assembled in front of the studio so I decided to take some photos of the array. Then one of the display on the west wall of the studio.

Just to add a little interest to this bittyblog.

Mahalo for stopping in. Aloha, Timo

Evolution of a painting.

The painting of Tommy Thomsen that I began a few weeks ago has gotten a tad bit more attention lately and is evolving toward it's completion at a steady rate. There are still some areas that need refinement, but I believe it will all work together well when it's done.
Mahalo for stopping by...Aloha, Timo

The Golden Eagle

I'm adding a Golden Eagle to an old landscape painting that I did in 1998. It isn't quite finished, but there's not much left to do. The masonite support measures 36" x 60".

Fred & Snuffy Thomsen

I finished the portrait of Fred Thomsen & his Cairn Terrier Snuffy today. I like the overall composition and it does them justice I think. Mahalo for checking in. Aloha, Timo

The Amended Snuffy

Well...I thought it was done, but I had made his tail too long when I painted it the first time...So now it's done...I hope. Aloha, Timo

"Snuffy"

It's not the clearest photo for some unknown reason, but here's the final of "Snuffy Thomsen". This little oil painting on stretched canvas measures 12"x 16" completed 8/26/2010.
Mahalo for checking in. Aloha Ohana, Timo

Getting Better

The latest work done yesterday on this portrait of a man and his dog has brought us to this stage of completion. More still to do on it, but it's shaping up very well. Snuffy is almost done.

Working on Fred & Snuffy

I took this photo with the camera on "close up" mode so it really distorted the shape of the canvas, but it shows the beginning of the portrait of Fred being roughed in over the English Red underpainting. This changed quite a bit in the painting process today. I took this photo after about 2 hours of painting this morning. I worked on it another 5 hours after this was taken. I still need to take a new photo of my progress this afternoon. Next post! Aloha, Timo

Beginning Fred & Snuffy

I began the underpainting for the portrait of Fred Thomsen and his Cairn Terrier Snuffy today.

Snuffy's Pool

I worked on the portrait of Snuffy again yesterday after I got back from picking up my entrees at the Napa Town & Country Fair. It's coming along very nicely. Fred's idea of using the pool as a background was a good one. I like painting water and the contrast of colors and textures is excellent. Mahalo for checking in. Aloha, Timo

More on Snuffy

The portrait of the Cairn Terrier Snuffy took up my painting time yesterday. We're lookin' good! Wow...I can see blue sky already this morning(8:10am), maybe we'll get the Sun a little sooner today. We've been experiencing overcast(high fog) until almost noon for weeks now. I like it sunny. I have to go to Napa today to pick up my paintings that I had entered in the Napa Town & Country Fair. I won some awards so I have some premiums and rosettes coming. Yeee Haa! Aloha for now, Timo

Tommy T painting

Some more progress on the painting I'm doing for Tommy Thomsen. This one will probably become an album cover for him. It's not done yet, but It's getting there.

Sketch of Snuffy with 2 pigments

Starting this portrait with just burnt sienna and raw umber using a mix of walnut oil & thinner and an almost worn out #6 Langnickle long-handled natural bristle flat brush. I wiped off the pigment where it got too dark and daubed at the edges a bit with the corner of a small cloth dipped in the medium. I was working outside on the big easle because it's been such nice weather. That's probably why the white gesso on the canvas appears so blue. I shot out there in the shade so it picked up the blue light from the sky. Such a cute little dog is fun to paint. Fred(His owner) wants me to put the swimming pool behind him so stay tuned! I'll try to update every day til it's done. Aloha for now, Timo

The Middle Ground

I brought the wooded hills in this autumn vineyard painting into focus today. Good progress!

More Contrast Added

I decided to work on the new Tommy T poster a bit more since he hadn't come to pick it up yet. Added more contrast so it has a bolder look.

Tommy Thomsen Concert/Dance Poster #3

I just finished the new poster for Tommy Thomsen's next Dance/Concert at Little Switzerland in El Verano, California on Saturday night the 25th of September. $10. at the door. The price is right that's for sure! I went to the last two shows...Fantastic music! Catch it if you can. Mahalo for checking in, Timo

"River Pastoral"

Someone asked the owner of the gallery that I'm in in Napa to make a giclee print of this painting called "River Pastoral" that I did about 10 years ago. So I scanned the 35mm print photo that I took of the painting and now here it is for you all to see! The original oil on canvas painting of some sheep grazing down by the Russian River at Duncan's Mills in beautiful Sonoma County measures 28"x 56". Have a Great Day! Aloha, Timo

Painting of Tommy T

I started doing a painting of my friend Tommy Thomsen over an old painting called "Cousins" and decided to keep part of the old painting and incorporate it into the new composition. It's got a ways to go still, but I like the beginning. The reference photo I'm using was taken in Milan, Italy by Nadz Cicontti when Tommy was over there a while back.

Eddie T's Face

I worked on the Eddie & Vina Tanaka portrait again recently and dialed Eddie's face fairly well. I'm still not happy with Vina's though. So there's still more to do on this one.

!st Place in Oils at The Napa Town & Country Fair 2010

My painting "Deja View" took the 1st place award in Oils and brought me a good premium at the Napa Town & Country Fair going on currently in the town of Napa, California. Yahoo!

"Progress"

I entered this painting "Progress" in the Napa Town and Country Fair that is opening this week at the urging of my friend Charlie who seemed to really like this departure from my usual realistic painting style. I mean I do paint abstractly fairly often, but I don't show them and actually most of them get painted over or modified into recognizable forms. This is perhaps one of those that is on the border between realistic portrayal and abstraction. Anyway the judges liked it and gave it 4th place in the oils division. Yippee!

Art For Life Donation

My donation painting this year at Art For Life, Sonoma Counties gala fund raiser for Face to Face the local AIDS hospice, will be this 14" x 20" oil on linen piece titled "Fall Oak". It's a view of Mount Saint Helena in Napa County from a vantage point on River Road in Fulton, California with an old Valley Oak in it's autumn color and the vineyards in between. Starting bid will be $400. for those of you who like this and will be attending the event.

3 more hours

If you compare this photo of Bastoni Vines with the last one I posted you'll notice subtle differences that are starting to bring these vines into focus. Every stroke counts! Taking one color at a time on a brush it gets built up slowly, but with patient intent. Happy Painting! Mahalo for checking in. Aloha, Timo

Back to Bastoni Vines

I suppose that it's because I have too many unfinished paintings in the works and I'm trying to keep them all advancing towards completion, that this one has stayed in the group gathered against the wall for so long. So anyway it came out a few days back and got some rigorous attention for a couple of hours anyway. The canvas almost has all the gesso covered at this point, but I've made a new promise to myself to be more generous with the pigments in bringing it up to the finished piece. It is a fairly large canvas at 28"x 52" so there's lots of room to play with colors. Mahalo nui for stopping by. Aloha, Timo

Non-Objective panarama

This painting has continued to distract me from my other projects as it gathers more daubs and strokes of whatever pigment I have left on my brush from working on a portrait or landscape that is more what is expected of me at this stage in my career. It has taken on a life of it's own! I find myself just sitting and looking at it as if there were a message of some kind hidden within all that color. Interesting!

Slow Portrait Progress

I lost my good print of the reference photo that I'm using for this portrait of My friends Eddie & Vina Tanaka on Moloka'i, Hawai'i. I have it on digital file so I can use it as wallpaper on my desktop, but I can't run a good print of it because I'm out of inks. I have to figure out a way keep my desktop up longer before it goes to my screensaver pictures. Or something...

Changed Ana's tail...

My friend Gary brought back the portrait that I did of his dog Ana Maria to have me change the position of the tail to this because he thought it was more what the judges look for in that aspect of the conformation to the ideals of the breed. So I complied and then worked on the vineyard here and there some more and I think it is better now. She wasn't full grown in the reference photo so there are differences in her proportion between then and the current photo that I used for the new tail position. It's interesting to see the changes that come with maturity.

Painting Opalescence

Patience is the one of the qualities needed to sort out all the colors that play on the inner surface of an Abalone shell. Courage to begin the project in the first place. Trust in your skills and vision to carry it through to completion. Love of the freedom to play at your work.