"After The Rains" (Sold)

After a couple of days of heavy rains and flooding I was finally able to get back outside and paint. This is our over-flowing river creeping towards our library.

6"x8"

Oil

($145.)

"Harbor View"

Quick study looking toward the Navy Pier. I guess these harbor pieces have become my "haystacks/Monet."

6"x12"

Oil on Linen

www.hong-sammons.com

"Harbor Drizzel" city colors series

Painted in a soft drizzel this morning. The lighting was great. All the city colors became more intense against the silvery gray sky.

8"x6"
Oil
www.hong-sammons.com

"Along the River's Edge"

Broke this painting down into three triangles in order to make all the colors hold their shapes.

12"x6"

Oil

($175.)

"Lily Pool" (Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, Chicago)

This might be my new favorite spot to paint. My concern with this piece is that because of my compositional choice, it became too abstract to understand that I painted the water complete with reflections, lily pads and a bit of the foliage edging the pond. I really responded to the newly beginning fall colors.
6"x12"
Oil ($175.)

"Corner Room"

Painting with artificial light is quite different from natural light and continues to intrigue me.

10"x8"

Oil

($99.)

"SkyLine"-city colors series

Painted early in the morning with a palette knife. I was after capturing the feeling of the hazy light which caused the buildings to filtering in and out of view.

6"x12"
Oil
www.hong-sammons.com

"Light Breeze" - city color series

I love painting the combination of city and nature. It mixes quite well along Lake Shore Drive.

12"x6"

Oil on ready to hang gallery-wrapped canvas

www.hong-sammons.com

"Messy Desk" (sold)

It doesn't take me long to make a mess even after spending hours cleaning my piles. But I think the mess makes a more interesting painting highlighted by artifical lighting.

8"x10"
Oil

"Apricot" www.hong-sammons.com

Wanted to try to capture the softness of the skin in paint

8"x9" Oil on Linen

"Off the Shelf" (sold)

6"x12"
Oil on Linen

"Pomegranate"

This is fresh off the easel although the pomegranate itself is aged and getting dried out. I tried to get that across on the painting.

8"x8"

Oil on Linen

($195.+$8. s/h)

http://www.hong-sammons.com/

City Colors - "Dunes"

Chicago is a great place to live; good food, wonderful people, lots of city clatter, and beautiful landscape all tucked neatly together.

8"x10"

Oil

($199.)

www.hong-sammons.com

"bitty bite'' www.hong-sammons.com

Painted this tiny tomato with just the pre-dawn light because of the gentle glow/reflections on the table top.

6"x8"

Oil

($155.)

untitled - City Colors (sold)

Painted very early during the time when the sun is just arriving but the street lights and neon signs are still evident.

10"x8"

Oil

($190.)

www.hong-sammons.com

This was painted during the model's break. She sat very quiet with her headband over her eyes which was contrary to her energetic salsa music and poses.

12"x6"

Oil on Linen

"Hanging Black Grapes"

Palette knife painting of black grapes with artificial light.
www.hong-sammons.com
12"x6"
Oil on Linen
$145.+$4. s/h

"Seedless Greens" (sold)

I find green grapes very difficult to paint because of the close value relationships which is why I chose them for today. Painted with a palette knife.

8"x8"

oil on gallery-wrapped, ready to hang, linen

http://www.hong-sammons.com/

City Colors - "Montrose Harbor"

One more attempt to capture the early morning serenity at Montrose Harbor. I would have loved to have been on one of those sailboats.
10"x20"
Oil
($450.+$10s/h)
http://www.hong-sammons.com/

"Old Copper Jug"

Tarnished copper is one of my favorite subjects. I used artificial light since it was still dark when I painted this.
8"x8"
Oil on Linen
($190.+$8. s/h)
http://www.hong-sammons.com/

"Ripe & Ready"

I got just this one Beef Steak tomato this summer so I had to paint it before it goes into my salad later today. Painted with an industrial bakers spatula. It's wedge shaped and made of plastic.

20"x20"

Oil on Linen

($850+$10s/h)

http://www.hong-sammons.com/

City Colors - "Still Waters, No Sails"

Painted this with early morning light to get the haze. I think that I can add more sailboats to the foreground without losing the serentiy of the piece.
12"x24"
Oil
($450+$10.s/h)
www.hong-sammons.com

"Fresh Slice"

Yesterdays lemon wedges were still sitting out. The colors had changed so I thought I'd do one more study.

5"x7" Oil on Linen

($135.+$4. s/h)

www.hong-sammons.com

"Wedges" www.hong-sammons.com

I could smell these lemons as I painted them with a palette knife.

Oil on Linen

8"x8"

($195.+$6. s/h)

"Globos" www.hong-sammons.com

I went to the market looking for those large, round, midnight blue grapes. Unfortunately they were not available. So I focused my energy on this fat clump of red grapes using a palette knife once again.

20"x16" Oil ($375. +$10.s/h)

"Flo Blu" www.hong-sammons.com

This morning I painted one of my favorite cups for drinking tea. It's rather old and the spoon was my great grandmother -inlaws. I like painting objects that once belonged to family.

8"x8"
Oil on Linen
($190. +$8 s/h)

City Colors - "Brilliant Dawn" (sold)

a quick study of early morning light

6"x8"
Oil on Linen

"Sweet Onions Cause No Tears"

20"x20"
Oil on Linen
$850.+$15. s/h

I love painting large and making this onion much larger than life size felt necessary. I used a palette knife and really tried to sculpt out the feeling of the onion skin and it's many layers. Because of the size, this wasn't a quick morning study but the time flew by.
www.hong-sammons.com

"Just Picked"

http://www.hong-sammons.com/
12"x12" Oil ($275. +$10 s/h)
on gallery-wrapped ready to hang canvas

I used a palette knife to convey that this tomatoe is so ripe it's skin is almost blistered.
Although this is another red study, the colors are generally warmer, almost orangey, than the reds in the paintings of red delicious apples.

City Colors - "Morning in the City" (sold)

I worked about another 1 1/2 hours before the sun rose too high and burnt out all the reflextions. I'd like to try this compostion again but am done with this.

12"x24"

Oil

painting in-progress

Karen Phipps, plein air painting buddy, fantastic paintings has inspired me to work larger in plein air. But I lost the original light after about 1 1/2 hours so I'll return tomorrow to finish. I started the piece with a large flat brush to lay in the composition and quickly switched to a large palette knife. The skyline will be in the background with the small lake and reflections in the foreground.

12"x24" oil
website: www.hong-sammons.com

www.hong-sammons.com

My favorite subject matter is painting people doing their normal activity and trying to capture their gesture.

12"x6"

Oil on Linen

($99.)

City Colors - "Fresh Blooms"

I'm not good in the heat and humidity so this bit of color in the shade really grabbed my attention.

http://www.hong-sammons.com/

11"x14" Oil on Linen

($99. + s/h)

City Colors - "GreenSky" website: www.hong-sammons.com

10"x8"

Oil on Linen

($99.)

Today is another very hot, humid, and sunny day in the city so I was out plein air painting very early. I was after a compelling composition with a lot of contrasting light vs. shadow. This boutique behind a store drew my attention. I may add some shoppers but unfortunately by the time they came by I was ready to leave the heat of the day for my cool studio.

"Red"

website: www.hong-sammons.com
12"x12" ($190. +$10s/h)
Oil on Linen
ready to hang, gallery-wrapped stretched canvas

Red is my favorite color, particularly the various hues found on a red delicious apple. This is painted with a palette knife to get the lushy color and meatiness of the fruit across.

"Just a Slice" (sold)

I love painting fruits and vegetables because their colors are so clean and intense. I think that's why I've been making them bigger than life and using a palette knife. The subjects feel like I need to paint them really gutsy.

9"x12"
Oil on Linen
website: www.hong-sammons.com

"Shabby Chic"

12"x6"
Oil on Linen
($145.)
website: www.hong-sammons.com

Trying to catch a bit of daily life as it flies by me while plein air painting near an intersection.

"City Colors" (sold)

I've been away for almost two weeks and will try to post some of those east coast paintings but this morning I was attracted to this calm spot despite being in the thick of heavy tourist traffic.

Oil on Linen
8"x6"
website: www.hong-sammons.com

"Keeping Cool"

Using my son and his friends has been a great way to work on capturing life as it happens. Some people call it "expressionist" I call it my "loosy-goosy" style.

I'm out of town so this may be my last post for a few days

12"x6"

Oil on Linen

($145.)

"Orange" (sold)

Really worked to make this orange feel 3-dimensional and get the colors just right.

8"x8" Oil Painting

"greens"

Did a second study in Humboldt Park about greenery. Painting only with a rag kept me focused on big shapes and value which I feel helped reduce the mindless dabbing strokes.

10"x8"

Oil Sketch ($99. +$6 s/h)

"Boat House" (sold)

Painted this morning in Humboldt Park.

8"x6" Oil on Linen

"From the Vine" (sold)

I was about to throw these grapes out as they're past their prime but their color had become more beautiful than a few days ago. So here's another palette knife painting which I painted vertically as well as horizontally.

20"x16"
Oil

"Summer"

I spent the last couple days in a landscape workshop taught by my favorite plein air artist, Scott Powers. He help me face another major challenge of mine, greens. Up until this workshop I really disliked painted foliage in the summer. This study was painted with a rag only. Painting without my usual tools allowed me to concentrate on the essentials, clean simple shapes and value.

8"x6" Oil ($99.)

"Full Service"

Cars intimidate me so what better way to face my fear then go to the local repair shop. Although I tucked in two cars, the several others waiting to be serviced mysterious do not appear in my painting.

8"x10" Oil on Linen
($190. +$6. s/h)

"Off the Vine" (sold)

one more inspired by the "Huntington Hottie"

8"x8" Oil

"Fruit of the Vine" (sold)

Inspired by the "Huntington Hottie."
We spent the past few days renewing friendships in beautiful Minnesota. My friends homes inspired many new painting ideas. This oil painting was created with a pallete knife and larger than I normally would do for the "daily" piece series, 20"x16" Oil Sketch

"Red Dee-lish" (sold)

8"x8"
Oil on Linen
gallery-wrap ready to hang

"Passing on Grand"

This morning I painted a street scene with a few other plein air painters. I'm really loving this skinning format. I think it's because it gives me just a slice, a suggestion, of what's going on.

12"x6"
Framed Oil
($175. + $6. s/h)

"Tea With Lemon" (sold)

8"x8"
Oil Sketch
gallery-wrap ready to hang