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Blowin' In The Wind - A New Original 8 x 8 Plein Air Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Blowin' In The Wind

 Just down the road from where I live, there's a little nature area. I often go to it to paint since it's so close and I can usually find something that piques my interest. Every Spring, the park blooms with wild flowers like bluebonnets, purple verbena, buttercups, and pink evening primroses. Last year's show was unbelievable, and I must have done 4 or 5 paintings there! This year is starting off a little slower, but slowly, things are picking up. Right now the Indian Blankets are starting to come in. If we can just get a little rain, the while field would light up over night. For now though, there are a few really going good. This painting has several of them in it. It was windy while I tried to paint these, which made for an interesting painting experience. I had to look at the one I wanted to paint while it was still and then try to paint it before the wind blew it around. Fun indeed!

Blowin' In The Wind © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Currently available through my eBay auction. Click here to go the auction.

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Washing Rocks - An Original 8 x 10 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Washing Rocks

 Today my day started off by discovering a leak in our water heater. Luckily, it turned out to just be a small pin hole leak in the hot water pipe. It must have just started leaking shortly before I found it because while there was some water, it could have been much, much worse. After getting over the initial shock and realizing with relief that I didn't need to buy a new water heater today, I headed out to the hardware store to buy a few parts so I could make the needed repairs. I guess something about rushing water leaked into my subconscious because without realizing it, I picked this scene to paint during the afternoon. We have been fortunate to have had some rain during the last 2 weeks and it shows in this river. Just a few weeks ago when I went to check on this spot, it was almost completely dry, down to just a small trickle. Today it was jus the opposite, with water rushing over the rocks and working its way down the river.

Washing Rocks© 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x10 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Currently available through my eBay auction. Click here to go the auction.

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Park Path - An Original 8 x 10 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Park Path

 With our good weather still holding out, I headed out again today to do some painting outside. Today I ventured down to a little nature area not far from our home. This scene was one of the first that I considered painting for the day, but I wanted to make sure I gave all my old spots a good look too. I haven't been there since last summer and I wanted to spent some time walking around to see what's changed. After checking things out for about a half hour, I figured I'd better get painting. The weather was nice, but the forecast called for cloudy skies after noon and it was getting close to 11. Knowing I might lose my sun at any moment, I started to work as quickly as I could, but I wasn't fast enough. About an hour into painting the sun started to duck behind the clouds and before I knew it, it was gone. I had a good enough start to continue working on this so I stayed until I was finished. The sun never did come back today. Hopefully it will make an appearance tomorrow!

Park Path© 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x10 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Currently available through my eBay auction. Click here to go the auction.

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

River Bank - A New Original 6x8 Plein Air Oil Painting by George De Chiara

River Bank

 This little stream isn't very far from our home. I've painted this area a few times this year alone, and this is the lowest I've seen the water running through here. In fact, those rocks in the foreground are normally well under the normally rushing water, which now down to just a small trickle. While this offers new views of a familiar scene, it also is a stark reminder of just how little rain we've had since September. That's when we officially entered drought conditions again here in north Texas. Not that that's anything new for this area. It seems like we are always either getting out of a drought or going into one, but it still leaves an uneasy feeling in my mind when I see the river this low. Here's hoping we have a very wet winter and new year! 

 River Bank © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 6x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: SOLD

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Coreopsis In The Morning - An original 6x6 landscape oil painting by George De Chiara

Coreopsis In The Morning

 Early in the summer, or maybe it was late in the fall (it's often hard to tell for sure here in Texas unless you look at a calendar), I came upon these wonderful yellow wild flowers growing in a local park. These came in late, after the blue bonnets and indian blankets had all played out. If I remember correctly, these were some of the last wild flowers to bloom before the heat of the summer shut everything down. I loved the bright intense color of these little flowers and quickly focused in on painting them. There were lots of blooms, and I was able to pick and choose which ones that suited my painting. 

 A few weeks after I had finished painting this, my wife was strolling our youngest daughter in the same area when she saw a copper head snake laying on the side-walk, just a few feet from where I had stood. Yikes! I'm glad he wasn't there when I was painting. I hope he's a fan of art and not artists, if I ever run into him.

 This painting will be part of the annual Artists of Texas Exhibition at The Dutch Art Gallery in Dallas this year. The show opens in November and runs through the new year. I'll post more info about it soon!

Coreopsis In The Morning © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 6x6 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Contact The Dutch Art Gallery

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Interlocken Wild Flowers - An original 8x6 plein air landscape oil painting by George De Chiara

Interlocken Wild Flowers

I had looked at this location for a few days before I went and did this painting, so I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to paint when I headed out. I had planned on doing a close-up study of the wildflowers and not the grander view I wound up painting. I had a change of heart on my drive over when I noticed the wonderful clouds we had on this day. I'm a real sucker for a good sky and whenever I see one I want to include it in my paintings. I was also thinking about how the trees behind the flowers usually had a great pattern of light and shadow on them every time I went and looked at this scene. By the time I arrived I knew I was not going to do the painting I had intended and instead I'd do the view depicted in this painting. I found a nice little shady spot to set up in and got to work painting. 

PS - My posts have been a little sparse lately while I finish up the remodeling project on my new studio space and a few other rooms around the house. I can finally start to see some of the light at the end of that tunnel and hope to be posting at a more regular pace soon!

Interlocken Wild Flowers © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x6 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Click here to bid on this painting.

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

"Wine Cups and Indian Blankets" - An original 8x6 inch landscape oil painting by George De Chiara

Wine Cups and Indian Blankets

 We've been very lucky this year to have such wonderful wildflower blooms. First, we had bluebonnets as far as the eye could see and now indian blankets are popping up everywhere. It seems like there are thousands of them this year along with a great mix of wine cups, indian paintbrushes, and a whole bunch more whose names I still need to learn. I find it almost impossible to drive anywhere right now because every few feet I want to stop and paint the flowers while they are here. When I see them I know I need to act on it quickly before they are gone. For example, this painting was intended to be bluebonnets. I had found a very nice patch of them in Arlington's Interlochen area by Rush Creek, but didn't have time to paint them then. I went back a few days later and most of the bluebonnets had gone to seed already. Luckily, they where being replaced by these indian blankets and wine cups. I'm not sure what the little red flowers are in the foreground. This was the first time I've seen them. If you know what they are, please let me know. Thanks:)

Wine Cups and Indian Blankets © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x6 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: Framing available through gallery.
Availability: Available through The Dutch Art Gallery.

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Running Strong - An original 6x8 landscape oil painting by George De Chiara

Running Strong

 Have I mentioned that this is one of my favorite subjects to paint? I never seem to tire of painting rivers and running water. This little river is in Arlington's Interlochen area. There's a sidewalk that crosses the river just upstream from this spot that causes the water to build up and run faster as it passes through the small pipes running under it. When the water gets through the pipes, it goes over a rock washboard, causing this scene to unfold. I painted this early in the morning when the rocks where still a little wet and colorful. Once the sun heated up towards the end of my painting time, it dried out the rocks and completely changed the colors in them. I had to really be on my toes to not continually change my painting as this was happening. 

This is my first auction on Daily Paint Works. For those of you not familiar with Daily Paint Works (DPW), it's a website dedicated to just art sales and auctions. I'm excited to try this site because of this reason. I'll be listing a few more paintings with them over the next week so be sure to check back often for updates. 

Running Strong © 

 Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 6x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Click here to bid on this painting.

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Heavy Runoff - An original oil painting by George De Chiara

Heavy Runoff

  A few days after we had a good rain storm, I painted this scene. I had figured that what is normally a little creek with a nice trickle of water would be moving pretty good, but I never expected there to be so much runoff. Almost all the rocks had water flowing over them, with just the tallest peaks staying dry. In fact, the spot I normally paint from when I go there was completely underwater as well, so I had to stand on the rocks on the edge of the river and balance my easel and myself very carefully, making sure neither one fell into the water. This made for quite the challenge when painting. For those of you curious where this is, it's at Bob Findlay Linear Park in Arlington's Interlochen subdivision.

Heavy Runoff © 

 Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 6x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Click here to bid on this painting.

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.