New Abstract Painting: "Backstage"

BACKSTAGE       oil on canvas        12" x 12"

the setting sun painting the Bullion mountains blue and red yesterday

Abstract Painting: "Markers"

this painting makes me think of the Washington Monument and the Vietnam Memorial wall..

MARKERS         oil on canvas      8" x 8"

...the phrase "markers in the fabric of time" came into my consciousness this morning...how my life could be that, or my child, or my paintings....

.

Storm Clouds Coming In Yesterday

about an hour before sunset

after sunset

it rained a bit last night, more possible today and tonight...now at 9am there is some blue sky, sunshine and a pale quarter moon visible...a stiff wind is keeping the wind chimes busy...

and large patches of green stuff are showing in the sand

Andrew Crane, John Luckett and a Fire Painting

I like to look at Brit Andrew Crane's work that he publishes on his blog.  This morning I was thinking I hadn't seen anything new for a while, wondering if he was on vacation or what...sure enough in my inbox is a notification of a new post...and not just one, but TWO paintings that are 12 feet tall and 7 feet wide...no, he was not on vacation....
I like to look at Andrew Crane and John Luckett, who works nearby in the Joshua Tree area, because their work is wonderful to me, and they are producing abstract expressionist work on flat surfaces, which is my primary interest.  Very inspiring.


So I continue to paint...here is the most recently completed painting:

BURNING OF STRAW DOGS

oil on canvas    48" x 36"

(title references Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching Chapter 5)

Morning Details

silver moon just after sunrise

first sun lighting the dew on the tiny plants growing out of the sand

flowering plum

and the very first Carolina Jasmine flower of 2011, blooming near where Roadrunner roosts every night

February Cactus Wrens

the cactus wrens are busy gathering stuff to make soft nests in the middle of the cholla cacti

here it is bracing itself against the sand to pull twigs loose

on lookout in the nearby yucca

WHEEL     oil on canvas           8" x 8"

Simple Beauty

Sheephole Mountains northeast of the town of 29 Palms, shortly after sunset today...view from the end of my driveway

Red Abstract Art: "Spires in Vermillion"

SPIRES IN VERMILLION           oil on canvas         54" x 44"

Headline: SUN APPEARS AGAIN

I wake up early, the sky just beginning to lighten above a large soft dark gray cloud...beaneath the cloud is a sliver of pale yellow light just above the horizon...

a half hour later it is bursting with color as our planet turns toward its sun-star

(what looks like a small black dot in the center is a raven)

again I am awed by all this predictability in this world where I seem to be constantly asked to venture into the unknown...and I guess I ask for it to be that way...

"Life is always either a tightrope or a featherbed.  

Give me the tightrope."         — Edith Wharton 

Red Abstract Painting: " Baroque Spires"

BAROQUE SPIRES              oil on canvas          30" x 30"

New Abstract Painting: " Red Cathedral"

RED CATHEDRAL         oil on canvas       40" x 30"

New Abstract Painting: "Red Warrior"

RED WARRIOR       oil on canvas     40" x 30"

New Abstract Expressionist Painting: "Portent"

PORTENT     oil on canvas     40" x 30"

Raven Croak

there are lots of superstitions about dark birds...I have come to love Raven's hoarse echoing croaking (and their rarer, more musical singing)...and the way the sun gleams on its shiny feathers as its fluid wings play across the sky, enriching this desert paradise...

February Morning, Mojave

clear, 45 degrees F at 8am, air filled with the resonating sounds of doves calling

mist at the base of the mountains in the northeast

telephoto of Mt San Gorgonio in the west, with the neighbor's suguaro, planted 35 years ago when he moved here, an amateur astronomer, for the clear skies and to raise his family... 

Exploring the Hills West of Landers

it's been cool at night, almost freezing...mostly clear skies...warm in the sun in the middle of the day, perfect for exploring...

this was shot from the hills that slope westward towards the mountains from Landers, looking east northeast towards the bulk of Goat Mountain and the Sheephole range in the distance on the right

wonderful boulder formations are not just found in the National Park

bits of green appearing in protected places

desert survivors

New Abstract Painting: "Spinning Sea"

SPINNING SEA              oil on canvas              30" x 40"

I am meditating about "perfection"...

"No good work whatever can be perfect, and the demand for perfection is always a sign of a misunderstanding of the ends of art."

— John Ruskin  1819-1900

from Quotes of the Day

Sunrise 8 February 2011

no special camera settings...just the sun filtered by the clouds

Little Spiral Painting

LITTLE SPIRAL       oil on canvas    8" x 8" x 1.5"

available for US $170.

Swenson and Bluefield Collaborative Mini-Paintings

6" x 6"    oil on canvas    

available for US$40. each:     

LYRE

RACE COURSE

THE FIRST QUESTION

TOO MUCH PEPPER

These can be see at JTAG (The Joshua Tree Art Gallery collective) on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am - 3pm during February, or purchased directly from me or Karine Swenson.

New Abstract Painting: "Adrift"

ADRIFT      oil on canvas         60" x 36"

an innerscape

Mojave StormCloud Painting

MOJAVE STORM CLOUDS        oil on canvas             16" x 20"   

available for US $600.   

New Landscapes Showing in Joshua Tree

JANUARY AFTERNOON          oil on canvas           8" x 10"    

  

CABIN ON A SUNLIT RIDGE         oil on canvas    9" x 14"

These are available at True World Gallery

Whirlpool Study Painting

WHIRLPOOL STUDY         oil on canvas                 14" x 18"