"Spring Blue Headwaters"

Oil on linen panel - 8 x 10

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This is a picture of a bridge over the headwaters of San Pablo Creek. I have driven over this bridge many times, but until I stopped and walked to where I could see the bridge at a distance, I discovered the blazing blue of the water with all the color and exquisite form of the bridge and little stream. This painting was made to capture the early spring when the maples and willows on the other side of the bridge are just beginning to come to life. At this time of year, most of the cattails are bleached nearly white contrasting with the water weeds that still retain some of their green along with the reds and russets of the winter.

This painting took me longer to complete than I would have liked because the contrast between the red of the old growth and green of the new was difficult for me to get wet-in-wet. I wiped out a number of times, but found that using a "pallet, stroke, pallet, stroke" process with plenty of medium worked for me. That kept the two contrasting colors from mixing too much.

Rick Petersen

"Hint of Spring"

Oil on gessoed hardboard panel - 10x8

Completed 03/04/2010

Not for sale

After one of the longest and coldest winters I can remember, the promise of spring seems to be in the air. One of the first hints on the marsh is the sprouting of green in the spartina grass near the open water. It is usually windy, and the water, even in the sheltered areas, is ruffled by the breeze.

This scene is looking from the JTB causeway across the marsh toward the Intercoastal Waterway. I removed some of the trees and other details to capture the sense of space and openness in the marsh. Almost all of the prominent lines are horizontal or vertical except for the tidal creek in the foreground. I wanted that area to be seen as the liveliest in the painting.

Rick Petersen