Give Away and New Paintings

Happy summer everyone! To celebrate and offer my continued thanks to you all here is a little give away for you. The below sketch is a pencil drawing from my sketchbook that I hand colored with pencils. If you are interested just say hi (and a name please) in the comment section below and you will be entered for a random drawing. I will ship to the winner at the end of July.

Getting some new ready work for upcoming shows. I have a few new galleries I will let you know about soon but thought I would include a few paintings with their original inspirations to show you a bit of the process.

 The white pencil sketch was just a mindless thing that happened but I liked it enough and decided to make it into one of my small paintings on board.

 I seem to have a thing for these old fashioned phones and like the symbolism behind the communication aspect of them too.

 This above shot is sadly out of focus but it gives you the idea. It is one of my paper bag drawings that I added just a hint of color to. I loved how it came out and the painting ended up having quite a different feeling but hopefully lovable as well.

 Thank you to you all and enjoy the sweetness of summer. -Chris

Mostly Ready for the Open Studio this Weekend

Hello friends, I'm taking a break from photographing all the latest stuff and thought I'd post a few. And remind everyone of this weekends Open Studio here at the house. I've got some new paintings small and large, some new 'recession busters' (the very small unframed paintings on scrap hardwood from Jim's shop) and some new jewelry too. 

 This little fella was the last painting I did. It always seems I get into a flow where I start to really like things then it's time to stop. Otherwise the paint won't have enough time to dry.

 My love of tree and little doggies......... (this one is also a small recession buster)

 This one is a bit bigger (15"x15") I think. I like the eyes and the flow of the circle-y shapes.

 This is the largest of the bunch. Quite long, with a gold leaf sky.

New Paintings

Here is the latest batch fresh of the easel. This top one is one of my favorites and took quite a bit more time as I don't usually paint that many characters in one painting. It is taken from sketches from the Art and Thought Lab class.

This little guy with the gold leaf crown is only 5"x5" inches and is done on paper. It is a fundraiser for an upcoming tiny works show at the new Westmont Museum of Art in Montecito. I like how he came out and may do a slightly larger version.

Getting back to routine (I hope)

February was a fun blur of a month, we had our house concerts, then company for a long weekend, and my sister Kate and her family here for a week. It was great fun. Then Jim got sick, then I got it too and in between a few too many headaches for my taste. Now I think I'm back to normalish with the exception of some allergies. I have to say though the air smells so sweet and fragrant that it's almost worth it. I loved having the week off with family in town and taking a local vacation myself. I would usualy take pictures to share, but my brother in law Michael had just got a new Canon SLR camera and was busy shooting away......Now I want one too. (yikes)Here are a couple recently finished paintings. Hope everyone is having a sweet spring and avoiding the germs. -Cheers, Chris

New Paintings

As promised here are some fresh off the easel. Jim and I are hosting another house concert this Saturday for Alan Thornhill and Martin Young. Tickets sold out in less than 24 hours and so we added a second show. Which sold out within about 2 days. I will try to post pictures. At least the earlier show will have enough daylight to cooperate with my fussy camera. Right now dividing time between studio and lots of house up keeping. You make great things and then they start to decay. Even the yard is about one month ahead of me. I haven't had to prune the fruit trees and they are about about to bloom! Happy February everyone!

Latest stuff. And some post Studio Tour gratitude.

A couple new paintings that you got to see if you were able to come by last weekend, and here for your viewing pleasure if you weren't. I wanted to thank everyone again for all their continued support. You guys make me feel like a rock star (for two days...then I go back to sleep). It may not have been the record breaking big bucks score, but I did get two (perhaps three) new galleries to show my work and I'm really exited.

I will be having a show opening at HumanArts here in Ojai the weekend after Thanksgiving so get drop your wish lists off. I'm making a couple larger shadow boxes and a few new paintings and who knows what.

This guy is the same one you see if you scroll down. Someone wanted it colored in (hi Fran). The scans came out a bit weird, but It's somewhat in the ball park. (I often wake up with that 'not in the ball park feeling).

Anyhow if these headaches would let up (they've been pesky lately) It's back to the drawing board. Hope everyone is well. cb