Its Halloween. I think more people are afraid of the current financial mess than scary tricksters dressed up in goblin couture. So I will be handing out tooth decaying sweets to little tots coming by Downtown Auburn for our annual Merchant Halloween Treat Fest. Above is my little David doing his best to scare the gills off my neck.

On Lightning Approaches

Lightning Approaches 24 x 48 oil on canvas

A recent completed painting available at the Ordaz Gallery. Price available at OrdazArt.Com


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 Had too much fun groovin to Grits. I love the lyrics to they all fall down ... here is a sample...

I've compiled this alongside with bone
So you can file this under for the opposing a nihilist
Doubt what you know nothing about reactionary
Belief in the scripture's fulfillment are contrary
To popular belief
Hellbound in a basket
Sucking on their teeth
Wound up in a casket
At close, you froze
Already chose the doors you go trough
The life you chose to lead
Determines the place you go to

To the naked, untrained eye
Who can't see time fly by
Revolving on a carousel
Living life like a modern day fairytale
Slow mo', urgent message gets a no-go
What fo'

Can't nobody tell you
Everything is lovey dovey
Till your plans fall through

They all fall down
They all fall down
They all fall down
They all fall

On finishing up The Traveler

The Traveler 30 x 40 oil on Canvas
Click on the image for a better critical view

The Traveler HAS to be finished by Monday in order to enter it in the Smithsonian's portrait competition. So finally , I took a good photograph of my progress. I fit in time painting on it while working on money making illustrations. Frustrating but necessary.

blessings

comments? Constructive critique?

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So what's keeping me from working on the Traveler? A painting for LifeWay of David and Goliath. They require a tight drawing so that the editors can all review the staging. Then its off to the reces after approval. I don't show too much of my illustration work here .... but this is an exception.

close up on a 24 x 30 illustration assignment

 Our friend Christina walked into the Gallery yesterday while I was painting this. Notice that I now use my iPad as my source to paint from.

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 Today I am groovin on Grits. These Christian Hipsters really get me swishing the brush.

On painting a loved one ....

11 x 14 oil on linen

 This painting is the fifth painting where someone has a loved one who has passed away and they have asked me to paint a portrait with the photos that they have available. More and more I hear that they wish they had taken more. There was not a single photo that they gave me that did not have someone else in the shot.

 They wanted a painting that they could display at the Memorial service and I was given the challenge to paint this portrait today. The Memorial is next week. So here is a bout 6 hours of work. She had pretty yellow teeth and I asked them if they wanted me to adjust them a bit. They said no. We all want to see her as she was. My kind of client.

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 So here is the skinny on how I arrive on skin color ESPECIALLY from a flat photo.

 Mix yellow ochre and Cad Red light to arrive at the general skin color. Some folks are pinker than others. Get as close as you can then mix a string of batches using that mixture by adding white. Okay. So far so good . Now here is the tricky part. Use burnt umber as your black . Why? Flash photos tend to project a whitish cool light. If you look closely at the subjects face , you will see that the shadows will tend to go warm. Thus ... we use the burnt umber to go darker as well as keeping our tones warm. Then , where needed  , usually below the cheeks , use the ever trusty Veridian to modify the warm skin tone color. Then , towards the end .... add the touches of pink with Alizarin Crimson. Leave this potent cool red towards the end.

There ... its that easy .... with a little bit of practice.... ;v)

blessings

On the Potter and Clay #8

9 x 12 oil on linen board

  The Potter now applies some red food dye to color his bowl.





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I will be posting a painting adventure you can take with me in France . Searching for pieces for the web ad .... I came across a piece that I had painted on location over at the Empire Mine. Here it is .... probably done in 2006...''

On a Mondrian Horse

11 x 14 oil on panel

 There will be a couple more paintings to finish off the Potter and Clay series. So instead of losing my momentum , I've posted a small 11 x 14 painting I did the other day after checking out the Staff Horse Expo at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley last month. I took over 500 photos of these magnificent working beasts.

 I saw this staff horse looking out regally at the gawkers around him and as I framed the shot it reminded me of Mondrian's painting compositions. I pushed the colors on the drab colored stable and had some fun with this oil painting. Check out the hair cut on the Horse. He was a horse with attitude.

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 On a personal note . Say a little big prayer for my son David. His life has been a physical challenge. He has epilepsy and the slight cerebral palsy he had in his leg has gotten worse where he tends to fall alot these days. We are taking him again to Shriners as the medication that was given him to loosen his tendens has not worked .  A cast may be in the order . We don't know. But his spirit is up but there are times when he curses his leg. He is a fighter .

blessings to you and yours

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On the Potter and Clay #7

5 x 7 oil on linen board

The Potter fashions the clay into a form that is designed by his imagination and skill.

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$100 + tax and shipping , signed on the lower left

On the Potter and Clay #6

5 x 7 oil on linen board

 The potter is starting to widen the top of the vase and the final form is taking shape. In the Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament Scripture , God speaks to the prophet Jeremiah and tells him to observe the Potter as he molds the clay into a vessel of his design.


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$100 + tax and shipping




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 This is the next gesture pose in the series. You can get an idea how these small compositions are laid out and then painted. I try to keep the strokes as simple as possible with the minimim amount of blending. My approach is to have the patches of colored strokes create the appearance of structure and light.

On the Potter and Clay #5

5 x 7 oil on linen board

On the Potter and Clay #4

5 x 7 oil on linen board #4

 The Potter reaches for Water which will make the shaping of the vessel smoother and more manageable. The potter is in complete control of the design and purpose of his creation.

$100 + tax and shipping

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and I finally did something right about Rosie's portrait..... I finished it the way I felt described her instead of your typical Ordaz portrait....

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On the Potter and Clay #3

5 x 7 oil on linen board

 The Pot is starting to take shape .

$100 + tax and shipping

On the Potter and Clay #2

5 x7 oil on linen board

 The Potter was actually throwing the clay in front of a black background. The first painting was definitely influenced by the facts of the surroundings. But now, having gotten the first piece out of my system , I am free to explore diferent color arrangements.

On the Potter and the Clay

5x7 on Linen Board

 The Potter and the Clay is the start of a series of small paintings that will show the development of a beautiful pot from the Ministry of Potter's Field. Then when I feel that I have sensed the spirit of the process of turning a lump of clay into a pot I will then proceed to paint a  36 x 48 painting that will be donated to the ministry. Hopefully these small sketches will help me fund this enterprise.

$100 + shipping

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Smilin Jana 5x7  oil on linen board

ON a Song

5 x 7  Oil on Linen panel

A Sparrow
Small and true
Flirts a Love Song
Then She flew


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 Available for Purchase  $100 + shipping

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 I finally got to meet  " The Traveler " at the Rock of Ages Music Festival in Calistoga Ca. His name is Zach and we talked for a while. It seems that what I had observed was pretty close to what the name inplies. This young man of 28 is originally from the East Coast and had been wondering and traveling for about a decade.

 I saw him last year wondering around the crowd and glancing about at what was happening around him. He seemed slightly out of place but he struck me as a young gentle spirit. It just so happened that he had just become a Christian after some serious soul searching and he was very overwhelmed by the sights and sounds during last years Festival .

 If you have read some of the previous posts we most certainly had a divine appointment as we talked about how we came to know each other through the painting. You see .... his friend saw the painting on the internet and told him about it. Fast forward to the concert and we chatted about how his journey ended on the west coast. I guess he is now living in a school bus above Mendocino.

 He  seemed at peace with himself and he felt that he needed a new identity. So he shed his dredlocks.

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On connecting to the Traveler

 The Traveler 30 x 40 painting in progress

 Last year during the Rock of Ages Festival I spotted this interesting individual across the field and I captured several images of him with my telephoto lens. I thought he would make a great subject to paint. I lost him in the crowd and I was not able to meet him.

 Recently , a friend of his spotted The Traveler on this blog . What coincidence or is it? Anyway , the Rock of Ages Festival which features a diversified array of Christian Musicians will again descend on Calistoga at the Napa County Fairgrounds. And I hope to meet and connect with the Traveler whose real name is Zach and who is planning on attending as well. His mother emailed me a nice letter and she says he's been traveling most of his young life. Anyway , they like the progress on the portrait and I hope I can take a few more pics of this fine young man. I've corresponded with him a bit and we are now friends on FaceBook. Unfortunately for me , he now has shorter hair.

 Christafari leads off The Rock of Ages Festival at 11. You gotta check em out brahdha. I will be in the front row with my red Christafari T-shirt.

Christafari

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24 x 36 oil on linen

 This is a commissioned piece I am currently working on. It is a generational wedding painting. Mother and Son.

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The Ordaz Gallery will be open next Thursday evening for ArtWalk in Auburn. 6 to 9 .