Barber's Point Lighthouse - Oahu

"Barber's Point Lighthouse"

5" x 7" oil on canvas on panel

$250

Barber's Point Lighthouse sits on the southwest tip of the island of Oahu outside of Kalaeloa.  It is about a 40 minute drive from Waikiki.   The lighthouse is 71 feet high and this is my first attempt to paint it.   I was there at sunset and the sky was just beautiful.   My original intention was to paint a much larger canvas and I hope to do that soon; just wanted to try a small study first.   

Thank you for viewing my art.

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Works In Progress and Handy Studio Tool

This photo gives you an idea of how I set up my easel to work.  That is a well used piece of cardboard that rests on the easel and I stick my reference photos on it using UHU tac, a removable adhesive putty.  There may be other brands of the product, but that is the only kind I can find in Honolulu.   On the bottom are two oil seascapes (5"x7") that I will finish soon.  The two tulip and japanese iris photos above are references to the first lay-in of color on the 9"x12" oil shown below.

Work In Progress
9"x12" oil on gallery wrap canvas

Do you artists ever find that sometimes paint tube lids get "stuck" and are difficult to open?  For really tough cases I have lit a match and put the flame around the lid to loosen any dried paint that is causing the lid to not open.   A handy tool to keep in the studio to solve this problem is shown below.

Yep, it's a nutcracker !  It really makes life easier in the studio.   

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Forget Me Not

"Forget Me Not"

12" x 16" oil on canvas

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Watercolor Seascape And Recommended Art Books

"North Shore Surf"

5" x 7" watercolor study

In the past I painted many watercolors of a variety of subject matter, even street scenes with people.  I prefer oils and do my best work in that medium, although I sometimes paint in acrylics.    However, I enjoy other artists watercolors more than I do my own   :-)      There is one watercolor book I highly recommend for those artists that love to paint flowers and that is "Glorious Garden Flowers in Watercolor" by Susan Harrison-Tustain .

I paid $22.99 for this book (softcover) in 2003 and the price since has skyrocketed .   If you check on Amazon  a new paperback is now $125.74 and used ones start at $59.94 as of today.   Amazon does have the hardcover edition available .... new $158.80 and used from $30.00 as of today.     However, it is a wonderful book for the more intermediate artist, although beginners can learn from it as well of course.   Susan Harrison-Tustain also has some excellent teaching DVD's out there.    

For those artists who paint landscapes, I recommend "Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting" by John F. Carlson.  It has been in print a long time with the first copyright in 1929.  As a teenager I found this book in the library and I literally devoured it and constantly poured over it as it has lessons on perspective, design, light, color, composition and more.   It taught me a lot.   My very first oil painting was of a landscape. I was living in Germany at the time with family and that was where my love for the landscape was born.  Around the early 1970's I purchased the book and still have it in my possession.    The only drawback is most of the photos in this book are in black and white, but that can be a good thing because it teaches you values. Carlson believed that if all your values in a painting were correct, the work would look good no matter what colors you used.   You can also find this book on Amazon and it is very inexpensive.

I am busy working on a still life painting right now .  Please check back soon and Mahalo for visiting with me  today.

reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

Work In Progress - Forget Me Not- Stage Two

"Forget Me Not"  

Work In Progress - Stage Two

12" x 16" Oil 

This is progressing just fine and perhaps next time I work on it I will finish this painting.  The teacup has forget-me-not flowers on it and the yellow rose is known as the Peace rose.  When I lived in Texas I owned this rose along with about 50 others which thrived in my yard. I posted the "Stage One"  of this painting on April 9 and here is that photo again below.

Stage One

Just for fun, here is a picture of me and some of my roses around 1997 or so.   

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The Color Red

"Perhaps blue, red, and yellow strike the mind more forcibly from there not being any great union between them, as martial music, which is intended to rouse the nobler passions." - Sir Joshua Reynolds 

"Tropical Delight"

12" x 16" oil on gallery wrap canvas

$1500

I have to admit it, red is my favorite color.  Red represents beauty in many languages and cultures.  I read somewhere that the color red increases enthusiasm and gives a person energy.  Supposedly,  red can also increase blood pressure and heart beat.  Maybe all that is why when I use a lot of red in a painting, it just seems to flow and I have lots of enthusiasm for the work.   Or maybe,  I just love red....period !   ;-)   Below are some more of my "red phase" paintings.

"We Four"

6" x 12" oil on canvas

$500

"Seeing Red"

6" x 8" oil on canvas on panel

$350

"Tomato Sandwich Half"

8" x 8" oil on canvas

$375

I told you red was my favorite color !   Did I mention I use to have a red station wagon?  But that is another story.     

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Descanso Gardens Flower Cart

"Descanso Gardens Flower Cart"

8 x 10 Oil on panel

$500

This is fresh on the easel today and what a joy to bring it to completion.  I just felt like completing a smaller painting today instead of working on one of my larger works in progress.   I am sure I will be painting more garden pictures soon, rather than and including ones of Descanso Gardens which is in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California.  Those are primroses in the flower cart and spring flowers, including tulips, around the cart.

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