"The Red Shawl" by Andrew Daniel

"The Red Shawl" by Andrew Daniel

oil on canvas

12" x 9" (30cm x 23cm)

available in my online shop.

This woman (named Megan possibly?), was so interesting to paint. She's a hair dresser, so she has the skills to dye her hair with several shades of color from blond to orange to red. She wore this red shawl which complimented the hair colors to create a vibrant scene. I haven't had many chances to paint such vibrant colors in a figurative piece before.

Road to Town painting by Andrew Daniel

"Road to Town" by Andrew Daniel

 oil on wood panel 6" x 10" (15cm x 25cm)

 Available in my online shop.

I've been really enjoying including the various man made objects in the landscape lately. They provide interesting focal points and compositional opportunities. At first I had thought of them as too modern and ugly, but now I see them as the way we as humans relate to the landscape, they deepen the story. This is the road I walk along when I am heading bach toward downtown Arcata, California after spending a couple hours watching the birds at the sanctuary. My favorite pond is on the right, known as Gearheart Marsh. I've painted it several times.

"Walking to Photo Shoot" by Andrew Daniel

 "Walking to Photo Shoot" by Andrew Daniel

oil on wood 10" x 8" (25cm x 20cm)
available in my online shop

I made this painting as a fun challenge, when we got one of my wife's Boden catalogs in the mail, I was really struck by the poses, fashion and beauty of the models. Fashion photography brings these qualities to the table in a way that is hard to accomplish as a Joe Schmo Painter like my self, it would take a lot of coordination to get a lovely model in a cutting edge fashion dress on an exotic street to stay still for me for several hours... So, for fun, I ended up taking the face from one of the pages the dress design from another page and the background from yet another photograph. I thought some how that I would make an artwork that felt unique to me. In actuality I think it looks a lot like the catalog and could have appeared on any page. It was a fun exercise none the less.

"Elk's Head Cliffs" by Andrew Daniel

 "Elk's Head Cliffs" by Andrew Daniel

oil on wood 8" x 10" (20cm x 25cm)

available at my online shop

I met up again with John Crater and we headed out to Elk's Head to paint the cliffs. The sun was out and the North wind hadn't picked up yet, which is unusual for this spot. We stayed there for about six hours, I was able to do two small studies, one of the Surf and this one of the cliffs. It was a beautiful winter day, great to be out soaking in the sun while the rains subsided.

"Surf at Elk's Head" by Andrew Daniel

"Surf at Elk's Head" by Andrew Daniel

oil on wood 8" x 10" (20cm x 25cm)

available at my online shop

This painting is up at my show in the Arcata Marsh Interpretive center, until the end of the month.

I met up again with John Crater and we headed out to Elk's Head to paint the cliffs. The sun was out and the North wind hadn't picked up yet, which is unusual for this spot. We stayed there for about six hours, I was able to do two small studies, one of the cliffs and this one of the surf. It was a beautiful winter day, great to be out soaking in the sun while the rains subsided.

"Autumn Reflections" by Andrew Daniel

"Autumn Reflections" by Andrew Daniel

oil on wood 16" x 20" (30cm x 50cm)

I just hung this piece at the Arcata Marsh for a solo show at their interpretive center.  The show will be up until the end of the month.

In order to create this painting, I visited the Arcata Marsh in the late afternoon probably 10 times; five of which the sunlight was casting the appropriate light for me to keep developing the piece. What I like about this process is the relationship that develops with the spot over the course of the painting. Even though the sun is basically coming in at the same angle it still can change a lot in the 2 hours that I am there. I know that at the beginning of the process the reeds on the left hand of the painting will be glowing from the sun hitting them, by the end of my time slot the sun will be shining through the tree branches on the right hand side in the back, giving them definition. Meanwhile the small tree in the center changes from orange to magenta, and I get to choose which of the colors it volunteers to add to my piece. I must say, I'm Jonesing to get out and do some more landscapes right now. Stuck in the studio for a few days while my foot recovers from Gout... Ugh!

This painting measures 12" x 20"(30cm x 50cm) and is painted in oil paint on a piece of Baltic Birch wood panel that measures 1/2" deep. It has a simple homemade slat wood frame.

"Reading a Book on Sargent" by Andrew Daniel

"Reading a Book on Sargent" 9" x 12" (23cm x 30cm)

oil on canvas by  Andrew Daniel

available at my online shop

I've been trying to push myself to paint the environment as well as the model at the weekly figure painting sessions. This is something that I have been thinking about a lot and recently wrote about on my other blog.

On this day, one of the other people in the group, Fran Kuta, brought this lovely pink Kimono, it reminded me of some of the orientalism that was commonly painted in the late 1800's.

This piece was painted in oil on canvas. It measures . I have signed it on the front and back.

"Loleta View" oil painting by Andrew Daniel

 "Loleta View" oil painting on wood panel

6" x 10" (15cm x 25cm) by Andrew Daniel

available in my online shop

It's not hard to find a beautiful vantage point to paint from in Loleta California. The landscape is so expansive and the colors of the fields and mountains so harmonious, the problem is often, how do I choose what beauty to fit in and what to leave out! By focusing on these foreground trees, this painting has a sense of depth in that the distant farm buildings show up as tiny dots comparatively.

The Red Barn painting by Andrew Daniel

 "The Red Barn" 6" x 10"(15cm x 25cm)

oil on wood panel by Andrew Daniel

Available in my online shop.

This barn is about a mile from my house. I walk by it often, when I am taking my dog out for exercise in the bottoms.

"Fall Colors on the Mad River" by Andrew Daniel

"Fall Colors on the Mad River" by Andrew Daniel

oil painting on wood panel 8" x 10" (20cm x 25cm)

 available through my online shop

This was the first of two paintings that I made alongside John Crater out in Blue Lake last month. We were making great progress, until the North Wind picked up and forced us to retreat to a new vantage behind the shelter of trees. I liked this piece, because I was up high on a bank looking down on the river, the fall colors were really, played off of the blue river. It was so cold that day, I thought I might be done painting landscapes for the winter. Turns out, since then I have been out about 20 times and not seen a wind nearly as frigid....