White house, NC

                                                 9"x12"  Oil on canvas on wood
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I have some panels I made up a long time ago, where I glued canvas to a wood veneer backing.  I am waiting for an order of commercial panels to arrive, so I tried one for the first time in a while.  This is the resulting work.  It shows all right, I guess, but the back is just bare wood.   I sort of like the painting, though.  Ah well!  Perhaps someone else will, too.                           Mike

Thoughts

Yesterday I sat down in my studio and picked up one of my favorite books, New York Hispanic museum's Joaquin Sorolla Catalogue.  I intended to spend a few minutes getting inspired and then move to my easel and do some painting.  As has happened many times before, though, I got hooked on the book and never made it to my easel.  It's easy to do, especially with Sorolla.  My emotions were mixed afterwards.  When I see the paintings of a real artist, I realize how low a mark on the art scale my own work attains. On the other hand, I do have a lot of fun.  Tomorrow, a masterpiece!!!              Mike   

Boatyard in Oregon

                                                   12"x16" Oil on linen                                     
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Another boatyard.  Painted this one on a trip up to Seattle.  One of the days when the weather was fairly nice,and although rain threatened, it held off.   I actually did two paintings that day, but one of them really was a clunker and I later scraped it off.  Later,in Seattle, I got to paint with some really good artists, one of whom was Ned Mueller, a master.  I've been really lucky to have traveled and met so many real talents.  Hope I can continue for a while.        Mike

More talk

I/m sitting here at my keyboard, talking to an artist friend who is interested in creating her own blog.  I've been painting so tomorrow I'll post another photo.  Healthy again with no sign of the cold.  Yeah!!!                       Mike

Nova Scotia scene

                               
                                                      6"x8" Oil on board
                                                            Sold

Boats were high up on this beach in Nova Scotia and I had taken a lot of photos, I had my pochade box, a small board, and a beautiful day, so I did this quick oil sketch.  Nova Scotia has many very paintable maritime locations and multihued fishing boats everywhere.  Marine Artist paradise!  I hope to go there again, someday.                                Mike

Nothing much

Today I am busy working on a large "gallery" painting.  It is cold outside so I am happy in my studio.  Have a nice day.      Mike

Cliff at Leffingwell

                                                   9'X12' Oil on linen                                      
                                                   Sold
                                                                                                       

This is painted from a beach in Cambria, Ca.  I have shown the setting from a different viewpoint in previous posts.   On this day, I was painting with the local group on a beautiful Wednesday morning.  We meet in the morning, paint till around noon, then have lunch and very kind critiques, which are helpful without being too disheartening.  Since everyone in the group is a fairly decent artist, it's no big deal.  I remember I had a great turkey on french roll sandwich that day.Great day!    Mike

Old sycamore

                                                         9"x12" Oi; on linen
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Painted this old tree on a Wednesday outing with my California group.  The only thing notable about it is that it is one of my very rare verticals.  I have always liked sycamores, because of their twisting branches, and the fact that they show up so white against backgrounds.  There are many of them in the central coast area where I usually do my plein air work and their white accents frequently spice up a landscape.      Mike

Blog talk

I am still not over the demon cold I have.  I intended to paint like crazy this week to catch up, but I still feel like the bottom of a bird cage.  Hope everyone else is OK.  Hopefully I will soon be back on a normal basis, soon.    Mike  

Old church on bridge st.

                                              9"x12" Oil on linen
                                                Sold

Another small painting done with my Cal.Wednesday group.  This is an old church in Cambria that has changed functions over the years, from a church to a hostel and, I believe, back to a church at the present time.  It is a local landmark in any event and has been painted many, many times.  I remember this as a beautiful crisp sunny morning, as most are in Cambria, and a wonderful morning of painting.  Ah!  Memories!    Mike

Dirk's barn

                                                        16"x20" Oil on linen
                                                                Sold

A while back, I think I mentioned that my first lessons were with an old gentleman named Dirk Smit, who passed away about twenty years ago or so.  Dirk is fairly well remembered as a Chicago and Indiana painter.  I owned several of his works over the years; he was, and is, one of my inspirations.  The scene above was one of his favorite subjects, I have seen at least five or six variations.  One day we painted in his studio, and I did this from one of his sketches.  Memories!        Mike

Hope!!!

I believe this time I'm may be really getting over the COLD I've been trying to survive.  I've gone at least 20 minutes without coughing.  If tomorrow I feel halfway decent, I will start my regular post with photos, again.  I hadn't had a cold in several years, I'd forgotten how miserable they are.  Ogden Nash, the famous humorist poet wrote a wonderful poem about the "common " cold.  If you get a chance you should read it.  It's hilarious.                                        Mike

ACK!!!

Yesterday ACK! I thought I was ACK! over my cold ACK!  I was wrong.  No painting for a while ACK! ACK!    Hope you are all well.    Mike

Another "I give up" blog

In the "Gull cottage blog" I posted a few minutes ago, I wanted to add a paragraph between the "Sold" and the text saying thay I have been sick with with a miserable cold for the last two weeks and managed to survive.  I then wanted to say that I would post that one final 2011 painting, and wish you all a "Happy New Year". For some reason, I could not get the above edit to appear in the blog, so I finally gave up and did this one.  Happy New Year to all!!!  Mike 

Gull cottage sketch

                                                  12"x16" Oil on linen
                                                       Sold


Some months back, I posted a larger painting of this subject.  I like this small sketch better.  It's an old farmhouse with a water tower perched on the edge of a bluff overlooking the Pacific.   Now it is a gift shop.  Every artist who sees it wants to paint it, and many do.  The only problem is that morning light leaves everything you see in deep shadow, and much of it's appeal is gone.   Bacause of that, I come back in late afternoon, and still have to manipulate the light a bit' to get the feeling I want.   Still fun!     Mike

Brevard NC Farm

                                                  8"x10"  Oil on linen panel                                                     
                                               Click here to buy this painting

I have driven by this property many times, stopped a couple of times, and finally got permission to paint there.  The owners are very pleasant people.  On the morning I did this sketch, it was sunny but chilly with gusting winds.  I took many photos and with them and this sketch, I intend to do a large studio work later.  Well,  Christmas is near, my terrible cold is starting to ease a bit, and I think I'll take a week or so off.  Wish you all a happy holiday season!  Let us hope that next year is better than 2011 and that we are all healthy and happy throughout it.        Mike

Bayshore

                                                            18"x24" Oil on linen
                                                                  Sold

I've painted this California scene quite a few times.  Clouds darkened the hills on this day and the contrast caught my attention.  I did a small sketch and then painted this larger work in my studio from the sketch.  If I remember correctly, I was alone that day, but a couple of watercolorists who were strangers to me, joined up and painted along side.  Plein air painters meet a lot of nice people.       Mike

Misery

Dod mean to complain, but Ib in bed with a bad code.  My node is all runny ad my throat puddy sore.  No work today.    You hab a good one.     Mike

Trees on hill

                                                        8"x10" Oil on canvas
                                                    Click here to buy this painting

A setting a few miles from my home in NC.  Most of the time the ground is pretty green around here, but there is some yellow clay occasionally, and I imported a lot more than was actually there for this painting.  Looking at it now, it looks somewhat empty, I'm going to start putting figures in more of my work   I've watched so much football lately, my first thought was --cheerleaders.   No, I don't think that would work. I'm thinking-------                              Mike

Blog blab

No painting posted today.  Family matters require my time.  Maybe tomorrow.        Mike

Cambria hilltop home

                                  
                                                         9"x12"  Oil on linen board
                                                                 Sold
I did this small painting on a beautiful California morning.  The sun was bright, the air was crisp and clean. and life was good.  The house belonged to an aquaintance of mine who came out and watched.  Some artists say they are bothered with onlookers, happily I am not.  I mostly enjoy talking to people and it doesn't seem to interfere with my concentration at all.  That's a good thing when I'm painting with my friend, Joyce Pike.  Paint won't come off her brush unless she talks.  Hee Hee.           Mike

Busy busy

I'm doing my christmas shopping today.  It will probably continue into tomorrow, so I won't be showing any art until Monday, at least.  Next week I will be starting a large commissioned work, but I'll make time to post a couple of paintings.  I  really enjoy this season, hope you all do too.           Mike

Flatland Nursery

                                               11"x14" Oil on linen panel
                                                     Sold
The title simply was a flippant gesture to indicate the building was not in the mountains.  It was  a cluttered and interesting subject.   Where I now reside, oddly enough, trees are a problem for an outdoor painter.  You search and find an interesting  structure, and there are trees blocking the view from every quarter.  That is nice, if painting trees is your goal, and I enjoy that, but an unobstructed shot of an old home is nice, too.  Just an observation.          Mike

For those who can't make contact.

If you have followed my blog from the beginning, you know that I floundered setting it up.  I'm still not sure what's going on half the time!  Quite a few people have told me they are unable to comment on my daily blogs, or to contact me on the blog..  I am busier now than I was during my pre-retirement days, but I will try to figure out the "comments" glitch.  In any case, I can be reached at malonzoartworks@yahoo.com.  Now, all you untold thousands of buyers can finally get through.  I'll be waiting!          Mike    

California Harbor Scene

                                                   8"x10" Oil on linen panel
                                              Click here to buy this painting

A while back, I was with some artist friends doing small paintings of fishing boats in harbor.  This is one of the two I finished that day.  Painting wise, it was a  really  productive, fun day.  Unfortunately, just as we were sitting down to our lunch on the end of a wharf, I saw a blur out of the side of one of my eyes, and felt a slight impact on the front of my windbreaker.  I looked down and found I had been targeted successfully by a pelican with apparent intestinal problems!  What a mess!  And what a critic!  After the laughter (not mine) died down, I doffed the windbreaker and cleaned up the mess.  Luckily, I had a lot of paper towels.  Just one more of the problems plein air painters face.          Mike

The old red farmhouse

                                                  9"x12" Oil on linen
                                                     SOLD

When I first moved to North Carolina, I lived in a house on a fairly large acreage, surrounded by many really paintable subjects.  This is one of them.  A few local artists and I set up happily for a day of painting, and about a half hour into it, about two dozen large cows showed up in our midst.  There was no bull in sight, but some of the ladies with me were not happy.   We did manage to finish our work. however, and this is mine.  Cows are almost always nice.                                   Mike

Barbados beach scene

                                                        6"x 8"  Oil on board

                                                              Sold

I was on a Caribbean cruise some years ago, and this scene was on the left as we entered a harbor in Barbados.   I took a quick photo, and later painted this little sketch while sitting on the top deck with my pochade box.  I don't do many small paintings like this any more.  I like using my old french easel, and doing 8"x 10" minimum size work.  In the field, I usually go no larger than 14"x 18".  In my studio, I do anything up to 30"x 36".  Maybe I'll start doing small pastels, when I travel.       Mike