John Tubbs - Starting Art Late in Life

Deschutes River - Davidson Flats

This quickly-executed painting is oil and 20x30" on canvas.  It was done as one of six homework paintings for the oil painting class I'm taking this quarter.  There is a large in-class project and then in addition we had to do a series of six oil sketches (didn't need to be done plein air) on a single subject or theme, and I picked central Oregon landscapes.  I will either re-paint this scene entirely, or possible put some more work into this painting after it's graded for the class.  There are probably about four hours total in this piece. 

Bird Sketches - Black-throated Blue Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Carolina Chickadee, Merlin

These are more bird sketches done on a quick east coast trip.  All were done in colored pencil in a Moleskine sketchbook - 5 1/2 x 8 1/2", taking between 20 and 40 minutes per sketch.  Several are east-coast species that we don't get to see out in the Pacific Northwest that I was able to see at Heinz National Wildlife Refuge (Tinicum Marsh) very close to the Philadelphia International Airport. 

These are done either using photos that I took as a reference, or referencing a field guide or magazine photo.

BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER

MAGNOLIA WARBLER

OVENBIRD

NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH

CAROLINA CHICKADEE

MERLIN

 
 
 

Bird Sketches - Lincoln's Sparrow, Varied Thrush, Band-tailed Pigeon, American Goldfinch, Song Sparrow

These were all done as quick sketches, using colored pencil, during a quick five-day trip to the east coast and back.  These are all done in a Moleskine sketchbook, about 5 1/2 x 8 1/2" and each one was between 20 and 40 minutes.  Several were done in the airport or on the plane.  All used photo references, either photos I took of the birds or a field guide. 

LINCOLN'S SPARROW

VARIED THRUSH

BAND-TAILED PIGEON

AMERICAN GOLDFINCH

SONG SPARROW

 
 
 

Smith Rocks Oregon

This is a 12x9" oil painting of the world-famous Smith Rocks rock-climbing area in central Oregon, near the tiny town of Terrebonne.  This is a view from one of the park entry points, looking downriver along the Crooked River.  This painting was done in about 2 1/2 hours alla prima (one sitting) from a photo I took on a trip through the area in September of 2009. 

Grand Canyon - Canyon View on a Float Trip

This painting is a 9x12" watercolor study done for my neighbor, who was fortunate enough to take a 15-day float trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in the summer of 2009.  He has asked me to paint several scenes from his photographs of the trip.  The colors in the photograph of this image are not quite like the original (it's very tough to get good photographs of paintings) but give a feel for it.  I probably will re-do this one with a few changes (hopefully improvements) but it was a good study to get a feeling for the scene.