Posted on June 6, 2013July 10, 2013 by RLOArtist — 4 Comments

RLOArtist Original Paintings On Display at Westin Emerald Plaza

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

Posted on April 16, 2013March 1, 2014 by RLOArtist — 1 Comment

More from Torrey Pines

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.

Posted on April 7, 2013April 17, 2014 by RLOArtist — Leave a comment

Art in the Pines ~ Plein Air Competition

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!

Posted on March 30, 2013March 1, 2014 by RLOArtist — Leave a comment

Plein air at Carlsbad Flower Fields

Do you like flowers?

I sure do and that’s why I was excited to paint at the Flower Fields in Carlsbad. They are fifty acres of ranunculus flowers that are grown for bouquets. Every spring they bloom in a riot of color and the fields are open to the public for a fee. There were lots of people there today as I painted and many of them stopped to chat, comment and ask questions about the painting.

Here is another look at the fields…

and some of the workers that cultivate and harvest the flowers…

I decided that I would attempt to represent a view from the higher elevations of the fields, which slope down hill to the nursery area and the City of Carlsbad, below. You can see the Pacific Ocean from up there so I thought it would be a nice overall impression of the fields. This next photo is close to what I wanted to put on the panel–I brought another 16 X 20. I like the size because of the freedom it brings but it also brings responsibility to fill the space, which takes more time (usually) than a smaller painting. Here’s the view…

…and here’s me, in the act of applying colored oily stuff to a piece of wood. This photo was taken by a nice fellow named, Rob who promised to email them to me and he did. They were in my mailbox before I got home! Thanks Rob!

…and finally, here is the painting as it stands (unfinished) when I decided to pack up and head home for a late lunch (pizza!). I think it has potential to be a very nice piece. I just have to work out the middle distance, which in real life had lots of jumbled retail structures. I’ll try to simplify it and still represent an impression of the scene. Let me know what you think!

When I finish it, I’ll post it up here and share it with you all. As always, you can click on the gallery link at the top of my blog and see finished works that are ready to show and are for sale.

Posted on March 17, 2013April 25, 2014 by RLOArtist — 2 Comments

Lindo lake, Lakeside, California, USA, Plein Air Outing

Did you know that Lindo Lake is the only natural (un-dammed) fresh water, spring-fed lake in San Diego County? Currently it is “topped up” by pumping in water from nearby wells, which keeps the park nice and green and the lake full and beautiful. I remember going to the park for a picnic with family, cousins and friends in the Summer of ’71 when I was nine years old. The lake was completely dry, which was very disappointing for a nine-year-old. But it wasn’t too long before my cousin Curt (2 years older) and I found a way to have fun anyway. In those days, there was no Nintendo, Gameboy or “Angry Birds” to insidiously suck the life out of two daring young explorers who were experts at finding alternate sources of adventure and mischief. Turns out, a foot or two under the cracked mud surface of the lake bottom, there were hibernating…or I guess the correct term is estivating…arroyo toads that were enjoying the cool and moist mud down below. With sticks for improvised shovels, we dug and dug, finding several of them.

Of course, we brought the largest specimens back to the picnic area to proudly show to our Moms, who were duly unimpressed and in fact, quite the opposite. Our shoes and clothing were now encrusted with the stinky, black, goose-slime-laden, lake-bottom mud! In retrospect, I have to say that as nine and eleven-year old boys, finding those toads was more than worth the trouble we were in. I think as mad as they were about our soiled clothes, our mothers probably secretly enjoyed our boyishness and loved us all the more for it.

On Saturday, I returned to Lindo Lake with the San Diego Plein Air Painters Group and started a painting. This is a large (for plein air) 16 X 20 oil on canvas. The painting is not complete and is a work in progress. I think I’ll let this one rest and return to it later for finishing with “fresh eyes.” Sometimes it is good to leave a painting for a spell and pick it back up when it suits your fancy. I welcome any comments on this one, critical or otherwise.
Here it is as it sits on the easel, now:

Posted on March 10, 2013March 1, 2014 by RLOArtist — Leave a comment

Cabrillo Tide Pools

Yesterday, I returned to Cabrillo National Monument Park, which is at the tip of the Point Loma peninsula in San Diego. On the coastal side of the park, they have paths down to the tide pools, which are great place to set up an easel and paint. I entered the park at 9:01am, just a minute after the gate opened and drove down to the second parking lot. As I hiked down to the water’s edge, I had to stop to snap a few photos of the birds–Pelicans!

There were lots of them. I think they were flying back home after a feeding foray because this is where they were all roosting. Pretty amazing, huh? I think the dark birds on the left are cormorants and the lighter colored and larger birds on the right are Pelicans…or maybe the smaller birds are juvenile pelicans. I’m not enough of a “birder” to know the answer on that one. You can tell this is a favorite spot 🙂

It was windy and cold but after driving all that way to paint, I wasn’t going to quit. Here is a shot of the easel and painting in progress at the waters edge. You can see the birds in the background.

You can see in the photos the water is really disturbed because of the high tide. It was mostly just a lot of white foam from the crashing waves. Because that would be too much white for my painting, I took artistic license and depicted a calmer ocean. I’m putting the finishing touches on and will post the completed painting later.

All in all it was a great day for painting!

Posted on March 3, 2013April 15, 2014 by RLOArtist — 2 Comments

Hawaii Whirlwind Tour

Recently, Jackie (my beautiful wife) and I went to Hawaii to carry out the last wishes of Jackie’s long time friend, Brian Levi. Brian was the recording engineer who recorded Jackie’s music and she kept in touch with him over the years, eventually becoming his attorney and the executor of his estate…you see, unfortunately, Brian passed away recently after a long battle with cancer (smoking). His last wish, codified in his will, which left the entirety of his estate to Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital, was for Jackie and I to take his remains to Maui and have a burial at sea, which we did last week on Brian’s birthday, spending three days on the Island.

The burial at sea was beautiful, with a Hawaiian ti-leaf wrapped urn for Brian, flower leis, and rose petals. When Jackie dropped in the urn and the lei, a big puff of wind came and made a circular mark on the surface of the water around the lei and swirled the rose petals, which danced across the water in the whirlwind. A huge humpback whale fully breached from the water, tail and all when Jackie mentioned Brian’s love of flying model planes in the eulogy. She said, “You loved flying, and today is a good day to fly. Happy Birthday, Brian!” and the whale leaped out of the water, on cue!

Brian loved art and was a big fan of my artwork. I am sure he would be happy to know that I took my paints to Hawaii and did a couple of paintings while I was there. In fact, I felt his presence more than once as I painted. Thanks to him, I had the opportunity.

The Maui Plein Air Painters invitational competition was just wrapping up when we arrived. I got to see some of the paintings (the ones that hadn’t sold yet) at the Village Gallery in Lahaina. There were some top-notch painters there for that week. Maybe one day, I’ll be invited. We’ll see. Hawaii is amazingly beautiful with a clear light that really makes the colors vibrant and full of life. Here are some images and shots of the paintings I did while I was there.

The first night there, the moon was full. I got a shot of it above the palms and Cook Pines of Kapalua.

My first painting was in the morning at D.T. Fleming Beach, in Kapalua, West Maui.

You can see the finished painting, here After painting, I took some photos of foliage on the way back to the hotel room.

And on the next morning, I found a place to park my pochade (small painting box for those who’ve never heard that term) and work until I got rained out. In Kapalua, in February, showers come and go with frequency. They never last too long and create some beautiful rainbows. In any case, I had to pack up the kit before I finished and had to complete this one back in San Diego. Here are some pics:

And the (almost) finished painting…there have been a few more minor touches since this photo.

I hope to go back some day, pay Brian a visit, and paint a few more things.

Aloha!

Posted on January 13, 2013April 19, 2014 by RLOArtist — Leave a comment

Hacienda Carrillo, Plein Air Paintout in Carlsbad, California

Yesterday started with another bright and beautiful, Southern California, morning. A little chilly (34 degrees) at dawn but nothing compared to temperatures some other parts of the country are experiencing in Mid-January. Got to paint in a new locale (for me) up in the Carlsbad area of San Diego’s North County. The Leo Carrillo Ranch is a 27 acre historical park that preserves the early California adobe architecture and landscaping. It has very nice walking trails and colorful botanical gardens, as well as preserved and restored buildings from the long working history of the Rancho. It was last privately owned by Hollywood actor, Leo Carrillo, who was friends with many of the A-list stars of Hollywood’s golden era. For example, Clark Gable was a friend who often vacationed with Leo at the Ranch. Here is the brand logo and motto of the Rancho: …and here is what part of one of the trails looks like… …and a little farther down the trail… …and these guys are roaming all over the place, I must have seen thirty or forty of them… …I found a view that made a nice composition for the canvas (in this case a 12 X 12 cradled gessobord panel)… …so I set up my easel and painted it, which came out like this… I received many complements on this one by passers by and fellow artists at the park. For now, I’m calling it “Hacienda Carrillo,” but if you can come up with a more compelling name, let me know and I’ll consider it. Here is a link to this one at my online gallery:

https://ronaldleeoliver.com/blog/product/hacienda-carillo/

All in all, a great day for painting outdoors.

Posted on January 8, 2013April 15, 2014 by RLOArtist — 2 Comments

Winter Swell, Cabrillo

I got out for a plein air session last week-end. Had been sick for some time with a nasty flu that left me with a persistent nasal drip and cough. It was good to get out and the day was absolutely gorgeous. I’ve been meeting up with a painters group that uses online social media to designate places to have painting sessions. This morning, I was the first to show up (as usual), and I arrived early at the Entrance to Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma in San Diego. It was a crystal clear and chilly December morning. As I drove into the park and headed down the hill to the lower parking lots where there is access to the tide pools, a magical thing happened…

…a Peregrine falcon swooped down not more than five or ten yards in front and to the left side of my slow moving truck–and without flapping soared down the hill about three feet off the blacktop pavement…it was almost skimming the tops of the buckwheat and sage bushes at the side of the road, leading me into the park. It was so magical, I was laughing as I drove behind my escort. I followed it all the way to the bottom of the hill–nearly half a mile. What a great way to start the day.

When I parked, I got out with my easel and bucket and took some photos as I went…I’ll share them with you…

First I got out and took a photo of the view from the parking lot…

Then, I walked down the trail a ways and saw this…

and this…

and I painted this…

which came out like this…
(apologies for the phone photo)

And then I packed up, hiked back to my truck and drove out of the park but had to stop and take some shots because it was just too beautiful to resist…

looking West…

…and looking East…

A very quiet and emotional place.

What a great day it was.

Posted on September 19, 2012March 1, 2014 by RLOArtist — Leave a comment

Why Purchase Fine Art?

You may decide to patronize a particular artist and purchase an original work or limited edition print because the image pleases, moves or inspires you–or, you may believe the artist’s work will appreciate in value as a long-term investment–or it may simply match the colors of your couch. Whatever the reason–purchasing original and limited edition art is a satisfying and rewarding experience unlike any other, with the dual benefit of capturing and preserving the enjoyment of the beauty in the work but also in rewarding the artist, who will continue to create works and expressions of their creative spirit and inspiration.

While Fine Art originals and limited editions may seem expensive, consider that they are extremely rare, and are the culmination of many years of an artists observations, experiences, and practice. Jewel-like, Artworks are multifaceted expressions of human existence that bring a special satisfaction each time your eyes gaze upon them. They are indeed, more rare than jewels, which are merely accretions of minerals dug from the earth, while Art is mined from human consciousness and soul and is the medium through which they are shared.

These truths make Fine Art a fool-proof investment, because not only does it immediately bring such great joy and enjoyment, but it will also hold or appreciate in monetary value over time. Inevitably, when the time for personal enjoyment has passed, the art remains as a tangible asset to be left for others, conferring a reciprocal benefit in the joy of holding it for a time as steward and then in the joy of passing it on.

There is truth in the axiom that “a thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

Fine Art of collectable quality will endure the test of time and will remain long after you are gone. Others, possibly heirs, unto posterity, will have the opportunity to feel the same sense of wonder and emotion that inspired you to collect the artwork. By purchasing Fine Art, you become part of the legacy of preservation in this cycle of inspiration for generations to come.

Purchasing Fine Art is a reward for everyone.