April in her comforter

Finishing up this week is my latest painting of my very special greyhound "April". April loves to get on any bed, mess up the comforters or I think she thinks she is making her own bed and then snuggle down into the comforter. What I love about this painting is her eye. She will not move from this position but if you come into the room she will follow you with her eye never moving any other part of her body. I always wanted to capture this moment and I love the outcome. Enjoy. Terry

Commission Paintings-Ally & Katie

Thought I would share with you 2 new commission paintings that are now in their new homes. First is Ally the Corgi owned by Natalie. Precious little girl who was a joy to paint. When her mom brought the photos over for me to look at, I took one look at this position and fell in love. Ally's mom is doing pet sitting and wanted a painting of her little girl to use for note cards and stationary to give to her clients and promote her business. Natalie I wish you all the best in your new venture.

Secondly is Katie. Dorre and Alan and their darling 2 year old little girl came by to discuss having a painting done of Katie. Katie passed away a couple years ago but has lived on in their hearts and they wanted a precious memory of her. They brought lots of photos to choose from, but the photo reference for this painting was undeniable. Katie loved to recline on their bed. The perfect part of this painting is the way the sun is coming through the window in the background. Dorre and Alan had seen my work at a local art show and what drew them to me was my use of color. They wanted Katie to have glorious color but still be representative of her breed (Cane Corso Italian Mastiff). They said she was the most gentle creature and they missed her dearly. After completing the painting I sent a photo to Dorre. She was thrilled with the outcome and wanted to wait until Alan was off work to come by and pick it up. When they walked into my studio I could not believe their response. Dorre was brought to tears. She was so taken with the painting and that I had brought her Katie back to life. Boy this was emotional for me as well, most people seem delighted with the outcome, but I don't recall ever getting tears. Some dogs or even animals just live in our hearts forever. There is no better way, in my opinion, to have a beautiful reminder like an oil painting to look at every day. Hope you have enjoyed these 2 stories. If you would like me to paint your beautiful animals, please let me know. I love my job! Thank you Natalie and the Zane family for allowing me to immortalize your beautiful animals. Terry

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University of Redlands Clock Tower

I decided to try a painting in late afternoon but I had no idea that I would be serenaded throughout my painting session. When we arrived at the University we couldn't figure out why there were so many cars and no place to park. We drove around and around. Finally finding a place by the gymnasium. When we got out of the car the blasting began and the young people were everywhere. We walked up towards the administrative building and I saw this lovely composition with the mountains in the back ground, the roof tops, part of the gymnasium is in the lower left corner (it is a huge building on campus), and of course the clock tower. There is a clock on every side and you can see this from most everywhere on the campus. That way everyone knows when it is time to be in class and they won't be late! OK, I just through that end because it sounded good! Anyway lots of things happen when you are outside of a concert. The police are swarming, (I ran into my police buddy Pete, who has been so great during all the days the artist have been painting at the University), the kids are plentiful (one was very intoxicated, yelling as he approached, not a good sign with all the police and he was escorted out in no time), the music was loud (very loud, I think it was music, I must be getting old), most people looked like they were having a great time. I cannot believe how many people talk constantly on their cell phones, how did we ever find our friends when we were growing up. Some of them stopped by to chat about the painting which was very refreshing to know there were some interested in visual art. Anyway enjoy the art, until next time, Terry

Redlands Palms

These palms are across the way from my home and right out my front door. I see them every time I go outside. When I see them I say to myself, I need to paint those palms. I wanted to also get the San Bernardino mountains in the background, so I had to wait for a clear day and a clear morning. With winter approaching I knew I better get it done. I love painting palms. I never realized until I started painting them how many different varieties we have in southern California and how different they are. This grouping is actually all that is left of an orange grove. I have noticed, in the groves that they are removing from the area to put in more shopping, that the palm trees are staying. I don't know the history on this, but if any of you do, that would be nice to know. This painting will be for sale at the Redland's University 100 year Centennial on Oct. 27, 2007 along with several others that I am painting for the event. Enjoy the art! Terry

University of Redlands Admin-building

Continuing on with painting the University of Redlands. This is the back side of the incredible administration building. I loved this scene the first time I went to the University to get ideas about different painting I would like to accomplish before the event starting Oct. 20, 2007. I was disappointed that the morning was so overcast and of course the minute I started packing to come home the sun came out. When I got home and took the painting out of my porchade box I was happy to see that I had really captured the mood of the morning. I will go back this afternoon and try to get the late afternoon light and see which I like best. and today is a sunny day, yipee! Until then, enjoy the painting. Terry

University of Redlands 2nd time

I figured since I was home this weekend I better take some time to go paint at the University again. Our Paint Out is coming up, about a month away. I will be leaving on Wed. to judge in Atlanta, so next weekend will be out of the question. I looked around when I got there to check out some other places but I was still drawn to the Church Clock Tower. I decided to try to get the whole picture in this painting instead of just the Tower and a few trees like the last one. Today the sun was much brighter than the last time I painted here. I met a painter from San Diego who is also painting at the University Paint Out and a few more from the PAAR member showed up to paint also. All in all it was a wonderful morning. Terry

San Juan Capistrano 2007

The Plein Air Artists of Riverside outing this weekend was the Mission in San Juan Capistrano. My biggest mistake made in Plein Air for 3 years. I forgot my easel! I set out my equipment the night before and I was missing my tripod. I had set my easel on the table in my studio, put all my other equipment on the floor. I found my tripod and decided to load the car before going to bed. Never gave it another thought until I lifted the hatchback on my SUV. Oh My God! I forgot my easel. Well my friend Pat and I went on in the mission, paid our fee and said hello to the fellow members who had arrived before us. Of course on the way down to San Juan which is about 1 1/2 hours drive, it took 2 1/2 hours because Pat and I were so busy talking we missed our freeway for a more direct route. Oh well, I said, we can go down the coast highway. This is such a lovely drive and there was not much traffic for a Saturday morning. After going into the beautiful garden at the mission I looked for a bench to sit on that would be in the shade and propped my equipment up best I could and found a 5 x 7 canvas. I painted a scened that looked out towards the bell tower with the lovely garden in the foreground. Not too bad without an easel. Around lunch time, Pat and I went across the street to a taco stand and had fish tacos. When we came back I decided to give a larger canvas a try. As I was sketching in the scene Evelyn, another painter came by with some tape and taped my canvas to my luggage wheels. I am a survivor, I can now paint without an easel. Of course, now that I know I can do this, I will probably never forget my easel again. I sat on the bench and turned truly sideways to be able to paint. Boy did my back hurt when I was finished. This is the second painting. It was such a beautiful day, temperature around 75, light wind, a painters dream. Well for the painters who had easels that is! Enjoy the 2 paintings. Terry