Louis Hang Gliding

This is #6 in a series of paintings depicting the adventures of Penelope and Louis. Two loving penguins exploring the world. The backdrop of this painting was inspired from a drive my wife and I took along Navarre beach on the Florida coast years ago. I remember having to drive very slow along this stretch. It’s 18 miles of raw unspoiled coast line from Pensacola to Navarre beach. There are no homes or buildings along the route, just dunes and water as far as the eye can see. Top speed was 45 mph. This is conservatory/nature route, so the speed limit is reduced for this reason. Not sure where Penelope and Louis will end up next? My wacky imagination will come up with something though. I used 4 pine planks for this painting.

Canoeing Penguins

Penelope and Louis continue their adventures. They think they are people. This is the 5^th penguin painting in a series. I made it using two pine board planks glued together.

“Fire Fall” An Amazing Illusion

During some years, for about two weeks in mid to late February, the setting sun creates a mesmerizing deep orange glow phenomenon when it strikes Horsetail Fall. This is a small waterfall that flows over the eastern edge of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. El Capitan is a majestic enormous rock face, and a favorite of rock climbers. The fierce orange glow of the fall is caused by just the right conditions like water flows, clouds and temperature. The natural effect gives the illusion that intense bright orange lava is cascading off the cliff of El Capitan. Timing is everything when the angle of the setting sun causes the light to hit the waterfall just right.

When I lived in California for a total of nine years my family and I frequented Yosemite as much as we could. In fact, we camped there for an entire week on one occasion. I can understand why John Muir spent almost entire life there. In my opinion, its one of my top places to see on the entire planet.

I painted this on two small cedar planks. I added a snowy owl because it just felt right. I hope you enjoy the painting, and of course I always look for feedback. Good, Bad and Ugly.

Salmon Fishing Reflections

I made this painting for my good friend Don whom I’ve known for 40 years as of this year 2017. Don, since I know you love Salmon fishing, I decided to make a painting for you. Besides, what is the point of painting if you can’t share it with the people special to you in your life. I really racked my brain on what I wanted to paint, and then it just came to me. This painting is on two small cedar planks. Hope you like it Don, and I will have it in the mail to you soon. I wish I could hand deliver it, but Oregon is little far for me right now. I will be there to see you some time though, so have an extra pole and lures ready for me! Your friend for life…Kevin 

P.S I learned from the first photo of taking this painting to not take it in artificial light. The detail of the painting won’t come out as good and it won’t have a yellow sheen to it. I retook the photo in natural light and it made a much better picture I think.

 

 

 

Penguins In The Desert

19 January is “Penguin Awareness Day” and on 25 April its “World Penguin Day”. Who knew? I certainly didn’t until I stumbled upon this info while surfing the net. It turns out that I just completed a painting involving penguins. In fact, it is my second painting with these two love birds. They are Louis and Penelope named from the movie Trading Places. In my first painting that I posted in this blog, Louis and Penelope are whale watching. In this painting, Louis and Penelope wild adventures continue. Penelope says to Louis… “Louis, how did we end up in the desert? Louis replies… “We took a wrong turn in Canada Penelope”. In this painting, I used the native Saguaro Cactus found in Arizona. My canvas is constructed with 4 pine wood planks glued together. The misadventures of Penelope and Louis will continue. It will be awhile though. They have to get out of the desert first.

Daily Prompt: Mystical – Its A Hoot

via Daily Prompt: Mystical

I know this appears as a shameless plug for my owl painting, but I’m just responding to today’s daily word prompt word “MYSTICAL”. I did a painting for my wife because she loves owls among many other creatures. Because of her, I became more aware of them. At times they do have a ghostly / mystically look about them. The way they swivel their heads and just sit and observe their surroundings.

Their eye sight is unbelievable (especially at night). Also, did you know that the Great Horned Owl and the Hoot Owl are the only two species of owl that emit the hooting sound. Even their hoots are a bit mystical at times to me. Actually, I have two paintings depicting the owl. Here they are:

https://woodcanvasartist.wordpress.com/2016/11/12/owl-mountain/

and…

https://woodcanvasartist.wordpress.com/ (he is flying away from chaos of life on the right-hand side of the painting).

Time

My Painting About Time

Time Deceives

Time Leaves

Time Moves Past Missed

Moments Between

Time Won’t Be Stopped

Time Doesn’t Care

Time Relentless

It’s funny, when you are a kid you think the days are never going to end. Some days were even excruciating slow. Thinking back when I was a teenager and in my twenties and even early thirties, I never thought about getting old or about time. I had all the time in the world. An endless supply. Staying young was a forever kind of feeling then. It wasn’t until my late forties that I began to think about aging and time. I was 47 when I became a grandfather. That was one wake up call of a few.

I will soon be 59 now, and I do embrace it. It has been an amazing fulfilling life, and I have much to be thankful for. That said, there have been times (voids), in my life whereby I made some wrong choices. Wasted days. Wasted time. Those are the “what if” times. What if something had been done differently? I can’t get those missed outcomes or times back.

This painting and the quote I made with it are not about the fear of aging, but about vacuums of time in ones life. Whereby, ones choices can have a negative ripple effect, and if not corrected that time is gone forever. You can’t get it back. No do overs. Time races now. It picks up speed with each passing day.

All of us only have so much time, and this is certain. I look forward to tomorrow. But, for not to long. I must relish today. John Lennon had a famous quote: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

Not working hard enough on relationships with family and friends can cause a deep void later on. Miss communications, miss understandings left unchecked can grow into vast divides between people. It can literally change the course of ones life if people don’t correct their differences. In some instances this can be good, and people can move on to more positive directions. But, there are other options for some relationships that would be worth saving if both parties simply sat down and talked it out. To reconcile, so that those what could have been positive memories would come to be.

So, I sometimes look back on what could have been. Time missed. Gone forever. These things I believe effects all human beings at some times in their life. And, so today like the last line in my quote…”Time Relentless” ticks on.

I used two cedar planks for this painting

Buddah

My niece said to me months ago that she would like me to make her a Buddha painting. I finally got around to doing something for her. I wanted to incorporate a Yin Yang with it. So, I embedded a Buddha face into the Yin Yang, This is a small painting using only two cedar planks measuring only 7 inches by 8 inches. Only took a couple hours to make. Love Uncle Kevin

Window To Pikes Peak

I named this painting Window To Pikes Peak. Back in October of this year (2016), my wife took a photograph of Pikes Peak through a rock opening located in the Garden Of The Gods. The rock formations here are spectacular! Garden of the Gods is the top geological wonder in Colorado with incredible rock formations and an activity playground that lets people hike, bike, horseback ride and explore this free attraction in Colorado Springs. When we got back home from this vacation I came across the photo she took. I knew right then I had to paint this. I added a hummingbird at the bottom of the painting only because I just wanted to. My wife loves hummingbirds, so it felt right. Pikes Peak is 14,114 feet high. On our visit there we decided to drive up this behemoth. I have to say it was one of the most frightening drives I had ever driven. Altitude sickness is a real thing folks. For me it kicked in around 12,000 feet. Feeling a little dizzy with beads of sweat on my forehead I pressed onward and upward. Having a death grip on the steering wheel, it was worth every white knuckle moment getting to the top though. There are no guard rails, so one false move and you will take your final leap. This painting will be a reminder of this adventure for years to come. This is a good size painting that is just under 2 feet wide and just over 2 feet long painted on six vertical pine wood planks.

Owl Mountain

I call this painting Owl Mountain. My wife loves owls, and we both love nature. I wanted to paint a painting dedicated to owls for her. I didn’t want to just paint a single owl. I wanted this painting to exploit owls in some kind of new way. At first, I couldn’t figure out how to do that. I was having painter’s block. I wanted to be outside the box on this one.

Then one day, out of nowhere it had hit me. We recently took a trip to Colorado, and the Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak were still fresh in my mind. This is how I came up with Owl Mountain. I wanted to combine a mountain range with some owls. So, I started to formulate a plan for the scene in my head. All kinds of thoughts started to pour in. This painting is a culmination of those ideas. These are not the Rocky Mountains. They are made from my thoughts only. A fictitious place dedicated to owls.

The owls are actually part of the mountains, like the wood I paint on is part of the art. When you think of it, this isn’t to odd. Presidents are carved into Mount Rushmore, so to me (albeit weird), this wasn’t to out of the ordinary. This mountain pays tribute to owls in a grand and unusual way. Frankly, if there was such a place…I would like to visit. All said and done, I accomplished what I set out to do I think. My wife thinks so as well, and she really loves this painting. Satisfied. I can now move on to my next painting quest.