Water

I paint from what is within. Sometimes I see the image in my mind first and then paint. This is actually how I started painting when I was a kid. Other times, I paint and I have no idea what I am going to do and it just forms on the paper. These pieces are usually the best, in my opinion, but also the most reluctant for me to share because they are so personal. Lately, I have been painting with a purpose. To learn and grow and push myself further. So, a lot of what I have been painting are of pictures that I have taken. (I love to take pictures...maybe I will photojournal some and post in a slide.) ok back to the point...I believe that every painter struggles with painting something like showing expression on a human face or some may not be great at landscapes just as they have perfected a certain style like a cartoonist. Well for me it is a motion from one of our elements: water. I have a hard time creating the motion and bringing 3D to something on a flat surface. Then there is the simple fact that H2O is so amazing and awe inspiring such as the Ocean and I feel that I can never bring the feeling into my work. So, this I am practicing now so that I can grow as an artist.

Bristol Board, first attempt at an ocean using oil paints, from a picture I took in San Francisco Nov. 2010
This is a work in progress. I started it at 11 pm lastnight, will finish today!