Tahoe

These paintings of Lake Tahoe come from a an exciting weekend I had spent there a year and a half ago. Boy time flies. The above image the first of the day showing a couple of sunbathers, swimmers and boats in the water. Painting on location with sand under my feet I had a great time.

As the day went on I continued painting. I was able to observe picnickers as they celebrated this holiday weekend. While painting it is often to difficult to capture the intricate patterns of moving figures. I had to decide who would show up as a smear of paint on my canvas and who would not. It was a very social group, people came by wondering where they were in my painting and I was wondering why if they wanted inclusion they did not stay still for a minute or two. Someone in the group had a large bird trained to shit on command. 

Later that same day...  I started this painting as soon as the sun dropped behind the mountains. It was not easy to look in this direction with the sun low in the sky and the glare on the water. The colors were striking! I wanted to capture them. This the third painting of the day, with little time due to the changing light, went quickly. By this point I felt well acquainted with my subject and I had an intimate understanding of the colors I was mixing. A lot of shades of blue. 

I was very fortunate to have some good friends with me on this weekend getaway. While I was occupied with my paints they had kept busy with other things, like; tending bar and fixing food. I was not the starving artist that weekend.

This painting of people waiting for the fireworks at Lake Tahoe on Labor Day weekend was done in the studio after my return from the lake. It is painted on two canvases, because the overall size would not fit in my car as one canvas and I like to split an image. My house, being older, has few walls large enough to hold large art and those seem to always be filled. But there are a few areas where a split image can hang. This won Best of Show at CCAA's Spring show two years ago. I guess I was in Tahoe two and a half years ago. Time does fly...

11" x 14" oil on canvas 

12" x 16" oil on canvas •

8" x 10" oil on board •

(2) 40" x 30" oil on canvas (40" x 60" overall)