We spend a lot of time in the heart of our homes, gathering with family and friends and creating good food and memories. Kitchens are a natural place for art - and not just the masterpieces taped to the refrigerator! Still life paintings of fruit and vegetables are natural subjects for art in the kitchen, but have you ever considered a landscape? 
This beautiful gourmet kitchen in Washington state is the new home for my recent oil study of Mt. Tamalpais. The owner chose a warm cherry frame to complement the cabinetry, and the cool gray-blue color palette of the painting picks up tones in the slate backsplash and the skies of the Pacific Northwest.

Going back to the same spot to paint in different weather or different times of the day is a great exercise in painting what I see -- not what I know, or what I think I see. 

One dry afternoon, Mt. Tam looked clear and the grasses along the creek were hot orange. The result is a very warm painting.

On another day, the air had quite a bit of moisture and the mountain had a vague mist around it. The grasses were more uniformly green, and the water seemed more blue. It was a warm day, but the painting is cool.

I've been doing these smaller paintings outdoors ("en plein air" as termed by the Impressionists) as studies for a larger one. 

The same paint colors were on my palette each time, but the results are so different, I am tempted to go back to the scene again this week with fresh eyes and see what happens! What do you think?

Just got the call that another Mount Tamalpais, Richardson Bay print sold!

I am so grateful for the response to this limited edition print of my painting. This giclee is 10 x 20, printed on dense watercolor paper, surrounded with an 8 ply thick mat and framed in a 14 X 24 wood frame.

It is now hanging in homes throughout Marin County and in Colorado, Ohio and Virginia.

There are 7 framed prints remaining in this final, signed edition.

"Mt. Tamalpais, Richardson Bay" is a 10" x 20" giclee, printed with archival inks on heavy watercolor paper, was featured in the Mill Valley Arts Commission Show in April 2010, and on the main gallery wall of the Marin County Fair in 2009. Beautifully matted and wood framed, measuring 14" x 24" and priced at $300 at Moss & Moss on El Paseo in Mill Valley, or send me a note if you would like to buy direct.