THETAWAVES :: Painting Daily

The eagle, like the wolf, is a favorite subject for artists who love to paint wildlife in the snow. I call this Glacier Eagle. It was my Christmas card for 2005.

THETAWAVES :: Painting Daily

The wolf family was painted in 2003. Lots of artists were painting wolves, an endangered species that has been reintroduced to the wild places where they were hunted nearly to extinction. They are to me a symbol of hope and redemption.

THETAWAVES :: Painting Daily

Since it's Christmas, I thought I would post my Christmas cards here from years past. This one is from 2004.

THETAWAVES :: Painting Daily

After the dotcom crash, I began to paint seascapes. They were my refuge from the insanity of the high tech world...
I had gone back to school in 1998 to study web design, because that's where all of the graphic design jobs were. By 1999 I was at Oracle doing HTML. But by 2001, the game appeared to be over. Every programmer on the planet was working on Y2K (remember?) and everyone else was building web pages. Then, everything fell off a cliff. Now what? I thought I might as well do some paintings...

See more pelicans below, and on www.fine-art.com/marte8

THETAWAVES :: Painting Daily

Seascapes may not be considered "art" by the powers that be in the art world, but I think it's like playing the classics for a musician - how can you keep a pianist from playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata? It may even take a lifetime to get it right, but someone who is obsessed will never give up. The devotion that it takes humbles the spirit and transforms the ego into submission to the beauty of the planet...

This seascape was just rocks and water until I added the pelicans... See more pelicans below, and on www.fine-art.com/marte8

THETAWAVES :: Painting Daily

My daily painting...
These little landscapes take less than an hour, and reinforce my confidence about color and light. Compositions are minimal, and features of hills and trees are nothing but silhouettes.

THETAWAVES :: Painting Daily

My daily paintings...
Daily paintings are intended to be preliminary sketches. I often do three of the same subject at one sitting. When I have the right colors mixed, and extra paint in my brush, there is no sense rinsing it all out. This way I get more practice, more familiarity with the subject. Sometimes I place them side by side, and get a triptych. These are 6" x 6". I call them my "Soggy Fields." (Northern California is so blessed with rain!)
To see more visit www.fine-art.com/marte8.