Christina in San Gimignano

I've been wanting to do a portrait of Christina for a couple years now. The past two years have been so trying economically to be an artist, I felt like I couldn't spend time on something I wasn't going to sell, and then there was getting a good shot of Christina period. I've taken many photos, but she's at the age where as soon as we started getting ready for an official photo session, she starts posing, and that's exactly what I didn't want in the painting. This painting was based on a series I took in Italy. She was engrossed in doing something, the lighting was good, I had the camera with me, and I got it in focus. Her portrait and the flower are from the photo, the background was from landscape I did from life near our villa. I changed the background several times because I found the Olive Grove as a reference. I still want to do something formal of her for my Portraits, Inc. portfolio, but his will do for now.

This was the view in San Gimignano about 50 feet from the door to our villa. For three weeks, it was cloudy only one day and everyone got a lot of painting done...and wine tasting...and eating and swimming. Our villa was about a fifteen minute walk to the downtown. Hope to see you there next year!

Peters Portrait in progress

Here I am working a portait in my California studio. The painting is a man and his twin boys from Charlotte, North Carolina. The painting is being done from a combination of six photographs. It was commissioned through Portrait Inc. by Kathy Southerland. At this stage, I am nearly finished with all three figures, and am working on the background. I've been become well known for the "California Portrait", always set outdoors.

Painting a Block Study in my class

Holly paints a "block study" in my backyard class. The goal for the student is to show sunlight in their work. By using simple, basic shapes as subject matter, students are forced to paint color and shape rather than be distracted by complicated details. They can ignore confusing landscape forms and concentrate on light and color, just as the first Impressionist painters had, led by Claude Monet, more than a century ago.

Art Class in Pasadena, California

Here is my oil painting class in my backyard in Pasadena, California. I follow a method of teaching plein air painting pioneered by my instructor and master impressionist, Henry Henche. In the summer in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Henry ran the Cape School of Art, where students would come from all over the country to learn outdoor color. I have been teaching this way for twenty years. Many of my students are making a living painting in the California.

In this photo, Tom Wilson, Heather Egeli, Holly Cory and Frances Pampeyan are doing color studies.

The Rebel

This is portrait of my neighbor's son Max with his guitar. It is life size and hangs in his parents house in Pasadena. It was completed in February of 2008 in my studio in Pasadena, California. For me, though it's meant to be a portrait, it is a combination of a painting and a portrait, mixing the universal qualities of a teenage boy with the specific likeness of Max.