Ronald Lee Oliver. I am a San Diego born, lifelong self-taught artist, plein air, and studio painter who captures the vivid essence of subjects that interest me. I don't limit myself to a genre or "style" but prefer to work on an eclectic mix of subjects. Each is rendered in oil paint with varying degrees of realism or impressionism with selective vision. My paintings are done both “plein air” with a portable artists pochade style easel or on a larger easel in the studio. I consider the framing of the finished art very important to my vision of the completed work and therefore I offer much of my art pre-framed as envisioned and intended by the artist. I also make custom jewelry in 18kt gold and silver with gems and cabochons.
You’re Invited to Attend the Artist’s Reception, December 6, 2013 — 5:00pm to 8:00pm
To all my friends, family and patrons who have shown interest in my art and painting, I thank you for your continued support and encouragement. It was a great (and busy) year for me and I completed a few nice paintings. Having friends, family an patrons who care and encourage is invaluable to me as an artist and without this support, it would not be possible. I thank you, dearly, for providing the love.
Thankfully, a local gallery owner has provided support in the form of a venue for me to display my work and I have selected some dozen, done within the last year or so. They all have the common theme of being painted in the open air and depicting some of the local iconic scenery of San Diego County. They will be on view and available for the month of December at Silver Creek Gallery and Custom Framing in Downtown El Cajon, California.
If you have the time, I’d be happy to see you at the Artists Reception on Friday, December 6th from 5 to 8pm. There’s no obligation to buy anything and there will be some light hors d’oeuvres and wine poured, so stop by and say hello if you can. It will be a completely casual event. There are some decent restaurants (Mexican, Italian) within walking distance of the gallery and other shops and galleries that are open for the evening, sponsored by the Merchants and City of El Cajon.
Seeing oil paintings in person, framed and in good lighting, with all their texture and varnished glory is much different from seeing them on your computer monitor. I invite you to come and have a look. I’d love to share them with you.
La Jolla Cove, Bird Rock, the Cave Shell Shop, and the Oceanfront walk are a great place to spend an early Saturday morning in San Diego County. I went there yesterday with my camera and recorded some images. Here are a my favorite selections from the photos I took.
La Jolla Bight Overlook
The geographic configuration of the La Jolla Coast is such that you can’t really call it a peninsula but it does jut westward from the coast to the North, creating not quite a bay but what I would call a “bight”–the La Jolla Bight.
Above the Roost at La Jolla Cliffs.
Various species of pelagic birds make their home and spend time away from ocean foraging on the rocks and cliffs of the La Jolla Peninsula. Recently, the city spent lots of public money trying to wash the guano off of the cliffs because it makes the area smell like the sea. The cleanup operation left pools of a disgusting dark sludge instead of the bleached white guano…oops…anyone else have any bright ideas? The rocks in the photo above have not been “cleaned” yet but are slated for “phase two” of “Operation Poop-be-gone.”
A Distinguished Pelican Rests after Breakfast
This fellow seemed displeased that I had the audacity to get close while he was trying to digest his morning repast. He did not fly away, however as I was using a telephoto lens and did not have to get too close.
A Balmy September Morning on Oceanfront Walk in La Jolla.
It is a beautiful area, especially early before it gets too crowded. Get there early (around 8:00am) to find ample parking, which can be hard to find later in the morning.
I’ve been so busy with updating websites and social media profiles lately while also working on paintings in the studio so I haven’t had many opportunities for outdoor plein air painting. Don’t get me wrong–there have been opportunities–just none that really piqued my interest. I’ve enjoyed painting at the Ramona Grasslands Reserve in the past so when the local painters group suggested it, I made the time to be there for some painting fun.
Here’s a map of the area if you’d like to visit sometime. It’s a great place to hike, walk your dog, ride either a trail bicycle or a horse (no motorized vehicles allowed) or to go and do some art!
Map to Ramona Grasslands Preserve
There is an ample parking lot and if you get there early (the gate opens at 8:00 am) you’ll get a choice parking spot. Later on the horsey set arrives and their trucks and trailers fill most of the spaces.
The sky was socked in and grey as I drove up the 67 past Mt. Woodson, which is near the Grasslands Preserve. However, It steadily cleared as I hiked around looking for a vista to paint until it finally wound up a gorgeous, sparkling, clear day. In season, there are standing ponds but in late Summer/early Autmn, before the Fall rains come the ponds can be completely dry and caked with cracked mud. There are a couple of loops to hike on and the trails are very well maintained. The Preserve is fenced in its entirety and is an open cattle range so you can expect to see some of the bovine type roaming about. I got some photos of them today, before I started painting:
…and there were several of these little guys, some of which were hiding in the grass… you can just see the head of one on the right side of the above photo.
Eventually, I found a view I liked and wanted to paint. I brought only a small 12X12 cradled birch panel to paint on because I thought it was so overcast, I’d rather do a small one but as I said, the day cleared up very nicely. Maybe I should have brought a larger canvas or panel. Here is the place I set up my easel–you can see how nicely maintained the trails are…
Panoramic view of easel set by Ronald Lee Oliver
It’s not all open sun, either. There are some nice shady places with wooden picnic tables within easy hiking distance. All in all, I really recommend the place, especially after the rains or in the spring when everything is emerald green and glistening with dew in the early morning.
A view of the painting on the easel in the unfinished state.
Here’s an iPhone photo of the little painting I walked away with.
Clearing Haze, 12X12 inch oil on cradled birch panel by Ronald Lee Oliver
Ronald Lee Oliver is a self taught artist creating plein air, studio, photography and digital art in Southern California. Original and print versions of Ron’s art can be purchased online.
Click on the image to buy a sheet of twenty stamps. Choose from various denominations and postal rates from post card stamps to priority mail. Prices vary based on choice.
Consider the early painters, who acquired their colors from minerals and other obscure sources such as the dried urine of cattle fed on mango leaves. I’m not kidding! A bright, golden-yellow color called “Indian Yellow” was produced this way until recently it was determined it is cruel to the cattle, causing urinary discomfort. Another color, called “Egyptian Mummy,” was actually made from–you guessed it–the ground remains of ancient cadavers.
Historically speaking, visual artists of past generations were limited to the kinds of art they could create by their medium (or mediums) of choice. These mediums were often hard to obtain and sometimes costly and therefore limiting to the artist.
Renaissance painters (and some die-hard purists to this day) had to labouriously grind and pulverize these minerals and substances then mix them with the addition of a binding medium, such as flax (linseed) oil.
Today’s artists have a much more readily available array of mediums to choose from than their predecessors did. Those same colors or approximations of them, such as Indian Yellow are now created with other minerals or synthetic compounds and are mass-produced by artist supply companies and can be purchased just about anywhere–including online.
The most recent advancement in the creation of art is the personal computer. Now, one need merely flip the switch on their computer and paint with pixels displayed on a screen. No more grinding, mulling, mixing, and tubing of colors before one could even begin to apply it to a support (which was also much more labouriously acquired). Computer processing power today is such that beautiful works of art can be created in short order, without the burden or mess of working in traditional mediums.
I truly believe that the resulting product that comes from computer digital generation is, indeed Art. It is not, however (IMHO), painting, which requires a physical brush, dipped in a liquid solution, then applied to a support, such as a panel or canvas. While I use both the traditional and digital mediums to create my art, I would never consider a digital work to be a “painting” even when I use a digital stylus and digital brushes.
Consider the image above, which I titled “Bird of Paradise.”
This is a photo I took with a quality lens on a Canon DSLR camera. I then manipulated the image using filters and hue, saturation, and value curves in a digital image manipulation software. My hands didn’t even have to get dirty! But the resulting image is absolutely stunning and worthy of printing on fine art paper for framing and hanging. I think it is art. It took my artistic aesthetic sensibility to frame up the photo, crop it, then decide my approach to achieve the end result. All of this falls squarely in the realm of the artists role and the creation of art.
Let me know what you think. Is it art…or something else?
“Bird of Paradise is available as a fine art print in your choice of sizes and supports at:
An artist has many choices when it comes to the surface (known as the “support”) and medium they will use to create their artwork. Supports range from papers to woven textiles such as flax linen or cotton duck canvas–to solid supports such as hardwood panels, MDF panels made of compressed wood, or other laminated wood products. They can also choose to apply their medium to glass and metals such as copper or tin panels.
I prefer to either use stretched canvas or various types of hard panels to support my oil paintings. Often, I refer to something called a “cradled panel,” when I describe the support I’ve chosen for my latest creation and I understand this may be artspeak jargon for some of my readers so I’ll try to explain further.
Cradled panels are wood substrates, either composed of hardwoods or MDF, usually an eight to a quarter-inch thick, which are reinforced with hardwood strips, adhered to the perimeter on the back side of the panel. This “cradling” is designed to add rigidity to the panel and helps to deter warping or twisting of the panel over time. This is especially important for larger paintings done on panels as the tendency for a painting on panel to warp or twist is directly proportional to the physical size of the painting. The larger the panel–the greater the possibility of warping.
Here is a photo of the edge of a cradled panel I recently painted, as seen from the front side:
A cradled panel as seen from the front side.
And here is a view of the same panel as seen from the back side:
A cradled panel seen from the back side.
Not only does the cradling of the panel provide a solid and rigid support that will last for years (centuries) without twisting or warping, it also allows the artwork to be hung without framing as the lip created by the cradle makes an excellent place for a nail or wall anchor to catch.
While cradled panels come in various depths, ranging from 1/4′ to as much as 3 inches, I prefer the 3/4″ deep cradled panels because they will hang readily without a frame but if you do choose to frame the artwork at a later time, frame mouldings with 3/4″ rabbet depths are not as difficult to find, nor are they as expensive as those with the deeper depths. If a work is intended to never be framed and hung as is in the original cradled panel, it makes sense to go with a deeper cradle.
Hawaiian Sunset 12×12″ Oil on Cradled Panel by Ronald Lee Oliver
Ronald Lee Oliver is a self-taught artist, working in Southern Calfornia.
“You can’t be all things to all people.” –anonymous
As an artist It is axiomatic that not everyone is going to like your work. It would be ridiculous to believe so. Just as an artist’s own tastes tend to one genre and not another–say impressionism vs. postmodernism–therefore informing their creative approach and style, so do art collectors have personal preferences for one form or the other. That is not to say that some collectors may have a broad range of tastes but in general, the axiom holds true and even for these “eclectic” collectors, your particular brand may not be one which holds their interest. Coming to terms with this as an artist involves staying true to your sensibilities and vision and hence the direction of your work and style but it also necessitates the development of a “thick hide” when it comes to presenting the fruits of your labors to a seemingly indifferent public.
“For any artist to persevere, they must have an enthusiastic audience of at least one.” –Stuart Davis)
When sales have slumped and critical recognition is a scarce commodity, the logic of the above quote by the postmodern artist, Stuart Davis, becomes a guide stone for the artist. If there is that quality in your art which inspires you to continue developing and creating with disregard for recognition and lack of sales–if you see and believe that your art is special and worthy and will avoid the ignominy of the refuse pile of history–if you know your art will endure beyond the temporal tides of trend, fashion and commerce to be found and cherished by those who care enough to display it in an unforeseeable future, then this conviction will fuel the will to persevere, regardless of external encouragements or discouragements.
It is a fine thing to relish receiving encouraging praise, recognition, awards or rewards but when creating works of art that your friends, acquaintances and even strangers think and say are beautiful–but are not selling or finding representation in public venues or galleries–perseverance, born of conviction is paramount and will sustain you. So pick up your stylus of choice and let your creative spirit flow. The proof is in the putting of paint to canvas! From perseverance, reward will come.
Ronald Lee Oliver is a self-taught artist, working in Southern Calfornia.
Lahaina Ballet — 40 x 60 inch oil on canvas by Ronald Lee Oliver
I thought some of my loyal fans would appreciate seeing a work in progress or “WIP,” as named by artists in the social media world. This most recent painting is a large, 40 x 60 inch representation of a breaching whale, off the coast of Maui, Hawaii.
I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Hawaii several times over the last fifteen years or so and many of those times have been lucky to be there (well, actually I planned it that way) during whale breeding season, which takes place in the calm and relatively shallow, inter-island waters during the months of December through April. If you ever get the opportunity to visit Hawaii, I recommend this time of year. The whales know what they are doing by being there then! It is absolutely beautiful, not too hot, and the occasional rain shower will have rainbows busting out all over!
On one such visit, Jackie and I stayed in a second floor, ocean front condo with a Lanai that nearly overhung the water’s edge. The massive humpback whales would spout and breach sometimes not more than 100 yards from our patio or “Lanai” as it is called in the islands. We could watch them while laying in bed. This and the many other instances of whale sightings and tours over the years, inspired this painting. Here is the first photo installment of the WIP. Unfortunately, I didn’t get photos of the earlier stages, so you can see some work has already been done:
40 x 60 inch canvas showing undertone and large initial brush strokes
The entire surface of the canvas is “toned,” i.e. painted with an undercolor–in this case an orangish tone that is a mixture of transparent orange and iron-oxide, oil based paint and natural turpentine. I did this because I knew that much of the finished painting would be in the cooler, blue-green end of the spectrum and the orange underpainting would make for a vibrant compliment where it peeked through the colors of the finish. This creates a visual vibration and harmony that is pleasing to the eye. Many beginning painters put colors directly on a white canvas and will never achieve the stimulating effect that a complimentary underpainting can help to achieve. I’m also using a very large, round, Chungking, white boar bristle brush to apply the paint very quickly. You can see the size of the strokes, which look like stripes.
Getting the canvas covered in paint
It’s best to get the canvas covered in paint so you can see the relationships between the major elements before attempting to refine them. Here, I’ve added the Ocean water and more of the land mass in a very loose fashion, not trying to force much representation at this stage. I’m allowing the orange-ish undertone to peek through, all over the canvas–even in the ocean water, which is kind of counterintuitive–who would think that you’d want orange, of all colors, to show up in your ocean water?! The water looks good so I decide I won’t try to fuss with it too much from here to the finish. This was my approach for the entirety of this painting–lay down the stroke and if it looks good, don’t fuss with it!
Suggesting and blocking in
At this point, I’m laying-in the suggestion of the whale’s anatomy and blocking in the dark mass of the structures and scenery on the shoreline. These dark colors will act as a foil for the later brush strokes in lighter values that will suggest foliage, trees and buildings.
Simple refinements, keeping it loose
Now, I’m mixing various colors and laying in strokes all over the canvas with cleanly loaded brushes. I’m not smearing the paint around, rather, I’m laying in the colors and values I want, quickly and with resolve, then leaving the strokes alone. I have several brushes going with different color families and not intermixing them, which can create “mud” on the canvas. Clean brushes, loaded with clean, appropriate color, keeps the painting clean. An example of a refinement is the suggested changes in depth of the water at the right, with lighter values of ocean colors that indicate the sunlight reflecting off a shallower bottom or reef.
Contemplation
Now, I’m working more slowly, taking time to contemplate the next steps, making sure that I don’t do anything rash or stupid that will mar the end result of the painting. If I do make a mistake, I wipe it off and correct it quickly. I’ve laid in the under tone for the hotel on the right, which will reflect the waning light much the same as the whale does but with less intensity as it must recede in the distance.
Large brushes for a Large Painting
This shows two of the brushes used in the painting of this work. I Used seven different brushes for this one and these were the largest. The brushes used were rounds, flats and one filbert, which is a flat with a tip rounded in one dimension.
And finally, here is the finished and signed piece. Over the last several days of work, I contemplated refinements and added them judiciously to gain the finish shown here. You can see the chaotic nature of the splashes have been refined with strokes of color from a large flat brush; the clouds softened and blended, sometimes with a finger, rather than a brush. Many of these well thought out refinements, applied, achieve a completed painting that evokes the spirit and beauty of the Hawaiian Isles and one of the most exciting sights that can bee seen there.
…and so now that you’ve seen the “anatomy of a painting,” I hope it hasn’t spoiled the magic for you. If you’d like to see a larger image of “Lahaina Ballet,” click on the image and you will be taken to a new page. If you’d like to see the painting in person and up close (I recommend it!), it will be on display in the State Street gallery window at the Westin Emerald Plaza Hotel in Downtown San Diego from July 5th through the 13th.
Lahaina Ballet — 40 x 60 inch oil on canvas by Ronald Lee Oliver
I’m pleased to announce that if you happen to visit Downtown San Diego, you can have a close look at some of the fantastical creations of Ronald Lee Oliver (Yours Truly) for the next five weeks.
Eight of my oil paintings are on display in the gallery windows at the Westin Emerald Plaza Towers in Downtown San Diego. They are there for viewing until July 13th. I have four paintings in the gallery window across from the Hall of Justice on State Street as shown above, they are:
Highway 1, Torrey Pines
Apprehension
Fight Another Day
September Morning, Point Loma
It’s nice to see them displayed and well-lit in the window. Information cards with a brief description of the painting, when and where painted as well as price are below each one. I also have a brochure page with a little biographical info and my web URL for those intrigued enough to read it.
And just around the corner of the building, over on C Street, there are four more, smaller paintings for your visual enjoyment, they are:
Hacienda Carrillo
Watering Hole
Ramona Grasslands Meadow
Dawn at San Elijo
It’s a good, safe way to get some eyes–other than virtual–on the paintings.
One never knows who will be moved to make one part of their world.
If you get a chance or are in the area, I hope you will have a look and drop me a line via the blog,
FaceBook www.facebook.com/RLOArtist
or follow me on Twitter @RLOArtist
An original oil painting of a Nez Perce Indian Warrior, 36 x 48 inches on gallery wrapped canvas. I finally got a good photo of it to share, signed, below. There are lots of expressive textures and strokes in this one and as usual, seeing a photo of it just doesn’t do justice. Good news, however! This painting, along with several other of my paintings will be on display at the Westin Emerald Plaza Hotel at 402 W Broadway, in Downtown San Diego for the entire month of June, starting on the 2nd. If you happen to walk by the Hotel, they’ll be showing in the gallery windows on State and C Streets. If you are a San Diegan or in the area, you can have a gander in real life!
I went to Balboa Park on Sunday, early and sought out a place to fill a small (12 X 12) panel. I roamed around and found a couple of spots that were potential candidates but for various reasons decided it wasn’t quite right, until I came upon the reflecting pool, near the arboretum. This has always been a favorite spot for artists and painters and the upper part of the pool, closest to the arboretum, was not damaged in the flash-mob vandalism that ended a political candidates career, last summer. I parked my easel and painted the scene in front of me. There were many comments from tourists from around the world, fascinated by the painting. In particular, a young father with his eight-year-old daughter came back three times during the creation of the painting. He said his daughter was taking painting lessons back home in Guadalajara and she wanted to see the painting progress. Here is the finished result:
Yesterday afternoon, I returned to Torrey Pines State Reserve and hiked from the lower parking lot to the place known as “Flat Rock,” which is at the South End of the park, right on the beach. You can get there via the “Beach Trail,” which descends from the upper elevation of the park–or you can hike the mile or so down the wide sand beach (at low tide).
They say the best artists have to suffer for their work and boy I sure did, carrying the full French easel and a five gallon bucket with my supplies, drinking water, brushes, paints, mediums, palette knives, etc. I plodded along to my destination, knowing I had a limited time to paint before the returning tide would make it difficult or impossible to return via the beach. I definitely did not want to hike up and out of the park. When I got to the site and framed up my subject with a viewfinder, I took this little video:
Here is the finished painting. It looks so much nicer in person 😛
Here is a plein air piece I did last Sunday near dusk in Torrey Pines State Reserve.
Painting like this requires anticipation of lighting effects and incorporating them into the work before they happen. There just isn’t enough time to paint this before darkness falls. Of course, I could use my battery operated music stand lights to illuminate my canvas and palette but since the State Reserve at Torrey closes at seven–right about the time this light fills the scene this time of year, this is not an option. To work beyond that time would risk the park ranger locking the gate and leaving my vehicle stuck in the park overnight! In this case, the knowledge of what the scene would look like three hours after I started the painting allowed me to represent the light at the finish of the painting.
This is really large for a plein air piece with this much detail. I wanted to get at least one larger painting to choose from the possible entries for the “Art in the Pines” plein air competition, which happens May 4th in the Torrey Pines State Reserve. If you get the chance, you should go. It’s May 4th and 5th in the parking lot at the visitor’s center up at the top of the park. There will be a free shuttle-bus that transports visitors from the lot at the bottom up to the art fair, where over 100 artists, photographers, ceramicists and textile artists will display and offer their work for sale. The Plein air winners will be anounced at noon. So, it’s a great chance to enjoy the park, hike the trails, and see some amazing art!
It was a busy weekend but I did get out to the Torrey Pines Natural Reserve early Saturday Morning. I didn’t paint but hiked over most of the trails in the park and took some photos. The weather was very overcast and grey, so I opted to do the camera work, smell the flowers, sage and chaparral and reconnoiter for potential compositions that might work with the paint brush.
Here is a shot of the Isomeris arborea, or commonly named “Bladderpod” bush, with the characteristic pods. They say the pods are edible but spicy hot…I haven’t tried them:
…and here is a photo of some unidentified (at least by me) shrub with pretty little flowers the color of pink coral…
…eventually I made my way down to a view of the beach and “flat rock.” Bet you can’t guess why they call it “flat rock.” 🙂
While hiking up and out of the beach area I saw some really lovely flowers and shrubs growing in the sand…
…and the exceptionally pretty flowers of the Sand Verbena that must be very hardy to grow where they do…
It was a good morning, despite the cold, overcast and drizzle.
Art in the Pines is a yearly plein air painting competition which takes place in the Torrey Pines State Reserve, here in San Diego County. A jury selects artists who are allowed access to the park to paint for a full month (April) and then submit their best painting for competition in early May. The park is particularly beautiful this time of year and has lots of blooming wildflowers.
Torrey Pines, is one of my favorite places in San Diego and I have visited it probably a hundred times either hiking, jogging, swimming or surf fishing on the shore, so the subject matter is something I know very well. I was fortunate enough to be juried in as a competing artist this year and will be completing several paintings over the next few weeks, so that I might have a good one when it comes time to submit the work for the competition. I went out to the park yesterday, with my camera, my easel and painting supplies. I chose the area of the park called the “Guy Fleming Trail.” The trail is about a 2/3 mile loop that wanders through the chaparral and Torrey Pine forest…
skirts by the sheer cliffs which drop down to the State beach below…
…wanders through some spectacular rock formations…
and loops back to the starting point.
I had hiked the trail the day before, scoping out areas that would make good compositions for a painting and decided on a scene that depicted yucca trees on a steep slope, catching the light from the setting sun. This is an unusual view of the park and one that I think may catch the eye and inspire the judges, who probably see lots of the same-old-same-old.
So I set up my easel on the trail, out of the way of the hikers (many of whom shared words of encouragement about the painting as they walked by), and went to work. I had pre-toned the canvas the night before so I wouldn’t have to waste that time when I was ready to paint.
…and here is a little video I took and a picture of the completed painting. I like this one quite a bit. So far, it’s a good start for the competition. I hope to get in at least four or five more paintings to choose from. I hope you like it!
As promised, I’m posting the completed painting started in the Carlsbad Flower Fields on Saturday. I haven’t signed it yet because there might be a few minor touches here and there. I like to sign a painting as the last finishing touch as much as possible. Choosing the color to sign with is always fun. You want it to stand out but also be compatible with the overall color scheme of the painting. What color would you choose to sign with?
