Sunday In The Park

Sunday In The Park
7.5 x 20  Oils on panel

This is made from two photos from two photos on Nathalie's blog Avignon in Photos. Specifically her post "DIMANCHE" and "SUNDAY AFTERNOON".  I played with both images then took some (a lot?) artistic license.

I'm letting the paint dry thoroughly then I want to fuss with the painting a bit.  :-)

House Close to the sea

House Close to the sea
11x14   Oils on canvas panel

I don't do "landscape" or "seascapes" very well. Probably because I avoid painting them, ya think?

Anyhow, I gave it a shot and I'm kinda, sorta OK with it now. I added the little fleet of sailboats in the distance but it was (I think) still lacking something. Sooooo, I added the larger sailboat.

Girl In A Red Coat

$100.00 plus shipping

If interested, contact me at ken.barclay@yahoo.com

Girl In A Red Coat  12x16  Oils on canvas panel

I saw an image much like this somewhere on TV or the internet but seriously, I don't remember which or where.

For some reason I had a hard time making this photo with my camera so the colors are only "close" to what the painting looks like.

I don't know if the young girl is looking AT something in the distance or looking FOR something. But she appears a little timid or apprehensive about walking from the tree line into the open area.

Fly Fishing No.1

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Fly Fishing No.1  16x20  Oils on canvas/masonite panel

I have another fishing painting that I will do soon thus the "No. 1" in the title. As if that needed an explanation! I never know.

 I attempted a serene, calm image with a man fishing by himself not worrying about catching a fish. He's just enjoying the peace and quiet and if a fish decides to strike his line, he'll just have to deal with it.

Updated 10/10/10 (don't you just love that date?) It was REALLY cool at ten minutes after ten this morning!

The Family Has Gone Away

$75.00 plus shipping

The Family Has Gone Away  11x14  Oils on masonite panel

A deserted house with an weed-choked yard. Blank windows stare into an empty landscape. The family might have hit hard times and had to quit the house.  OR maybe they found another, better place to live and prosper.

The magnolia tree is in bloom maybe there is life and some hope left here after all?

Grain Elevator With Red Door

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Grain Elevator With Red Door  12x16  Oils on masonite panel

This started out as painting of "just a grain elevator" but then I decided that since it wasn't going to actually rain here that I would make a rain storm in a painting. And I'll pretend that it will rain any day now. (I also get up early for the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.)

This painting captures the grain elevator a few minutes after the rain storm has moved on.

I note that in the photo the building seems to be leaning to the left. I measured (with a ruler) the painting and the building really isn't crooked. I'll blame this on my camera! :-)

Early Morning Golfers

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Early Morning Golfers  12x16  Oils on Masonite Panel

These golfers are the first out on this morning. The time of day is supposed to be just after sunrise with subdued light and a little ground fog here and there.

I've been glazing the background trying to deepen the dark shadows under the trees and I have more work to do.

I also want to sharpen up the golfers, they seem to be blurry (NOT my camera this time!)

Cropduster dusting

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Cropduster Duster  17x24  Oils on masonite

I've done farming scenes before but when I saw a photo of a cropduster, well I had to make a painting. I don't particularly enjoy making landscapes (everybody does landscapes) so I hedged a bit and put in an airplane.

Still some work to do on the airplane itself then make the suggestion of spray coming from the sprayer doo-dads under the plane wings.

The unusual size (17x24) is a result of measuring three times and still getting it wrong at the saw. "Only" an inch off!  I could have been more wrong - and have.

 April 21, 2010 - update.


I gave the airplane a propeller - it isn't a jet after all!  I also put a light cerulean blue glaze on the mountains and the far edge of the field..

 April 24, 2010 - update


I put rows of crops in the field that the plane is dusting. It wasn't a lawn, for crying out loud! The rows are neatly done - Farmer Brown saved some money on the plowing so that she/he could have the field sprayed today. :-) Isn't art fun?

Cherry Blossoms - beginning - 36x36 A work in progress

Cherry Blossoms - beginning - 36x36  Oils on canvas

 WORK IN PROGRESS - Day 1 -  3/31/2010

 I've roughed in the areas of sky or leafy background behind the upper part of the cherry tree.  I've also begun the little creek or lake at the bottom.

It's going faster than I thought that it would. I've only done one painting as large as this. I finally remembered that I would do better (maybe) with bigger brushes than the ones I was using.  DUH!


Tomorrow I'll continue making the cherry tree limbs. 


WORK IN PROGRESS - Day 2 - 4/05/2010

Well, it today wasn't "tommorow" as I said it would be. I built fifteen (15) picture frames during the days in between the fist post and this post .  (Cut, glued, nailed, sanded and painted those frames.)

TODAY I "grew" more limbs, branches, blossoms and etc.  I ahve also been fiddling with the area beyond the shore line of the lake and am feeling better about that part.

The blossoms seem to be going well. Sure is a LOT of pinnnnnnnkkkkkkk!  :-)

The grass at the very bottom needs some fertilizer - or something! Maybe some varying grasses heights and colors?

Almost done, though!

High Desert Adobe

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High Desert Adobe   9x12  Oils on canvas panel

I made a watercolor painting (a sad thing) and liked the subject better than the watercolor painting.  So I made a painting with oil - in my comfort zone.

It needs "something" but I'm not sure what. I'll put it aside and the "fix" will come to me - I hope.

 March 17, 2010 Update


I stared at the "original" painting and came to the conclusion that the roof was crooked in relation to the building - so I fixed the roof! I also darkened the building shadows and glazed the distant mountains & any shadow with Cerulean Blue.  I'll keep this!

An Artist In Venice Italy

An Artist In Venice Italy   16x20   Oil on canvas panel

I have a good start, I believe. This much was done in about four or five hours. I need to let the paint set up a bit then work on the arttist, building details and especially the water.

This is from a photo but for the life of me I don't know where it came from - aside from the internet.

 February 27th - Ready to call this "done". I'll put this painting aside then look at it in a few days. the figure to the far left bothers me.

Railroad Crossing At Smith RIdge Road

Railroad Crossing At Smith Ridge Road  12x16  Oils on Masonite

This is a railroad crossing Smith Ridge Road about a mile from my house near Avoca, Arkansas. Smith Ridge Road isn't the main road now, it's been bypassed by Smith Ridge Cutoff. Smith Ridge Cutoff is blacktop and the "road" isn't.

Right now, January 9, 2010 both roads are iced over but we're due to "warm up" into the 30s soon. I HOPE!

Couple on a park path

Couple on a park path  16x20  Oil on canvas panel

Updated image 3/31/2010

This painting is a composite of a couple of photos that I've seen - the couple was at a county fair near Seattle. The path is a different take on one of my previous posts - House on Smith Ridge Cutoff.  Instead of a country road, I made a park path.

This was painted on one of my homemade canvas over masonite panels. I'll put some "how to" directions in my studio blog when my studio blog is ready for this.  :-)

Seashore #1

Seashore #1 18x25 Oil on canvas

I'm not sure why I chose to make this painting! First of all, I guess, is that it has NO GREEN (worth mentioning). Most landscape paintings are very green with plants that are green. The digital photo colors are a little off, but . . . at least it's in focus!

The title implies that this is the first of several. or at least more than one. You've been warned. I'll be quiet now.

House on Smith Ridge Rd

House on Smith Ridge Rd 18x24 Oil on Masonite

Nov 9, 2009 - updated the photo. I (tried to) added more fall colors into the trees and leaves on the road. Also put more shadow here & there. The photo appears lighter than the painting. Go figger!

This is an (apparently) abandonded house on Smith Ridge Road, properly called County Road 80) not far from my home. Smith Ridge Road is not often used anymore as there now is a paved road called Smith Ridge Turn Off.

But Smith Ridge Road is (for a transplanted city guy) very pretty with trees hanging over the dirt road. The road is very muddy after a rain and very dusty until it rains. Take your pick!

I really LIKE masonite!

This is one of many reasons that I like to use masonite rather than canvas or other "soft" painting supports. Lots of people don't like masonite for their good reasons. But when something heavy fell on this finished piece (it was framed and signed) and poked a hole in it all I had to do was use my table saw and cut off six inches. Granted, I was lucky that the hole was in a place where I could do that.

The "new" piece measures 12x24

The "old" piece measured 12x30

"THE HOLE" The hole measures about 6 inches by 3 inches.

The hole sort of looks cool in a photograph. A big bird flying by? Note the smudged signature! Oh well! What the - - - - ?

Fishing On The River

Fishing On The River 20x40 Oil on canvas

This scene is purely from my imagination and having looked at photos of rivers in Arkansas. Not that this river is in Arkansas!

The canvas and frame were given to me by a neighbor after they had tried their hand at gessoing the original picture. I tried (not very hard) to eliminate the underpainting but some of the thick impasto shows through in my painting. Not all bad - it creates some interest. For instance why is there a slanted vertical line in the left 1/3 of the painting? It's a mystery!!!! :-) FYI the dark line at the bottom of the photo is the shadow of the frame. The picture was upside down when I took the photo - I was/am too lazy to turn it right-side up. Another one of those mysteries. :-)

Ken B And The Dogs

Ken B And The Dogs 30x24 Oil on Masonite

9/19/2009 - Posted new photo. Work in Progress. :-)

This is a composite of a couple of photos that I took of the dogs and me on our walks around the neighborhood this year; when the dogwoods were blooming but the trees hadn't "leafed out". I put the camera on time-delay and quick like a bunny stepped back and tried to look cool. That didn't work (the cool part) so I just stood there - squinting. Most of the time the dogs took off just as the shutter was shuttering so the dog part of this painting is mainly from other photos and my imagination.

The large Boxer is Casey, the small Boxer is Simon and the Miniature Schnauzer is Bella.

The (digital) photo of the painting kept coming out darker than I would like, so my camera and I have agreed to a truce. All of my photos here on out are "no fault" photos. I get grumpy at my camera and vice versa but we don't say anything about it to each other. (stupid @#%^ camera).

Old Tree

Old Tree 18x24 Oil on Masonite

This is an old tree down the street from our house. I don't know anything about trees but like it's shape and that it's (I guess) so old. The land belonged to a family for several generations and was used as pastures and raising hay. Now it's in the beginnings of being a subdivision. That's progress - at least for us!

Once again my digital camera (or the software) is having a tantrum and won't represent the colors in the painting. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. :-)

White Clover

White Clover 24x24 Oil on Masonite

I've seen clover most of my life but never really LOOKED at it until one day when I was walking in our neighborhood with my dogs. The dogs were busy being dogs and I picked a clover "flower" and really looked at it and was surprised at the colors I saw.

Soooooo, I took some photos for reference and this is what happened! I don't know the proper name for this flower except "clover." I'm not a flower person so "clover" is a good as it's going to get.

I'm still fighting the good fight with my digital camera - glare, focus (or NOT focused) and etc. This is the best photo of the painting from MANY.