Off The Beaten Path

This scene highlights the greenery of spring somewhere away from the hustle and bustle of people. Paintings like this are done quickly to experiment with shapes, color and techniques. If I make an "unfixable" error, no harm has been done. I would rather make the "unfixables" on small pieces and not on the large paintings. This is small and fits a 5" x 7" mat.

Caravan Of Palm Trees

A farmer drives his empty wagon back home along a quiet country road in Loomis, California. The palm trees along these roads in Loomis and Penryn provide a very common pattern. Someone many years ago loved palm trees and decided to plant them. They are beautiful. These trees are along many of the country roads that meander through this part of the countryside. This painting goes on exhibit at Mina's Coffee House today in Lincoln. 16" x 20", Ink and watercolor. SOLD

All The Same

We are all the same.

I was playing with images from a figure drawing book and came up with this montage of what we all look like. It is amazing how the human body works and it is equally amazing how it is put together. The bones in the hand are fantastic while feet can take so much abuse. Do we abuse our bodies and take them for granted? You bet we do!

Grab a pen and start sketching. Try doing parts of the human skeleton and you will be amazed at how we are put together.

Funky Moonbeams

A time of doodling provided me with an opportunity to do anything I wanted. Saw some decorative moon sculptures which led me to add my ideas into this sketch.
The toothy smiles make this an odd collection of characters to view. Ink and watercolor.

Japanese Gardens

This is a quick sketch from a photograph taken by a friend on his trip to Japan. The striking beauty of the photograph prompted me to pull out my pens and watercolors to produce my Terry Banderas version. Total solitude and tranquility incorporate the infinite qualities of these beautiful gardens. Ink and watercolor.

A Peacham Beauty

I painted the final version of this scene from a photo only because I had no time to do everything on site while we were visiting Peacham, Vermont, at the end of 2008.

This huge tree was showing its colors as the calendar scooted to the end of October. Unfortunately, this day was rainy and this large tree could not show us its true brilliance because of the lack of sunshine. Throughout our trip we could see the colors change almost daily.

This truly is an artist's paradise.

Ink and watercolor.

Soothing Reflections

This cooling fall scene is a welcome site after the hot summer days slip past. My country view of a river bed, water, trees and shrubs is made interesting by the soothing reflections in the water. My basic image was sketched with ink. Trees and water area were dampened then I applied the watercolors. Image fits into 8" x 10" mat and took about 30 minutes to do because it was done so loosely. Hope you enjoy it. Ink and watercolor.

Juicy Grapes

Healthy grapes show their beauty before the harvest arrives. As we head into September, the grapes in the area are in "prime time" and are very good to eat. While I enjoy eating freshly-picked grapes at this time of the year, I probably like the liquid form of grapes best.

White, cool wines in the summer and a nice red zinfandel in the cooler months are my favorites along with some nice cheese and crackers. I'll bet many of you wine lovers think the same way. Ink and watercolor.

A Gift Of Nature

This beautiful tree is a gift of nature. We see these gifts everyday and we are used to them. This one looks heavy and seems strong. While sketching this, I thought that no storm or wind could bring this down because it looked so powerful and is entrenched deeply into the earth. I do know differently. A tornado could rip this apart in seconds. Luckily, most areas of the USA do not have tornados that can destroy these works of nature. Ink and watercolor.

Painting With Wine

In two art classes we have had sessions where we painted with wine. That's correct! Wine! In this case it was a nice red zinfandel. Students were provided templates of the bottle and glasses so they did not worry about the accuracy of drawing the bottle and glasses.Then we layered with wine washes. Other colors were then added.

This makes a very attractive painting although I did need to darken via Photoshop since the wine was not vivid enough. It's a fun class to do and it is always well-attended.

By the way, we drank the wine after while critiquing our work. Ink, wine and watercolor.