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Cactus Blooms - An Original 8 x 10 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Cactus Blooms

 When I came across this cactus, I knew I wanted to paint it. I loved the back lighting, which created an interesting pattern of light and shadow. The bright red and pink blooms where a nice bonus to the scene. I was able to find a nice low location to paint this from, which let me get this rather front on view. The whole time I painted, the cactus was buzzing with activity as bees and other insects flew around it. Occasionally, they would buzz me to see what I was up to and then go back to feeding on the flowers.

Cactus Blooms © 

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.

Maytime Verbena - An Original 8 x 10 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Maytime Verbena

 This is from one of my favorite places in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens, and, judging from how many people passed me by while I painted this, I'd say this is a favorite place for a lot of visitors to the garden. This is by the wonderful fountain that sits at the bottom of the cascade leading down to the rose garden. There is so much color in this area right now. Everywhere I looked there was another colorful, vibrant flower blooming.  As a bonus, I was able to paint in a nice patch of shade which is always welcome when the day is full of bright, warm sun. 

Maytime Verbena © 

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.

Mepps Lusox - An Original 8 x 8 Still Life Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Mepps Lusox

 Yesterday, I painted a still life of one of my newest fishing lures. That one was given to me by my wife for Christmas. Today's lure is one of the oldest one's I own. I don't remember where I got it anymore. I just know it's been in my tackle box for as long as I can recall. In fact, it's been moved from tackle box to tackle box as they wear out or break, but this Mepps lure has out lived almost every other piece of fishing gear I own. It's a bit worn now, which made it so appealing to paint, so I hope some of that comes through. It was a real trick getting it to stay in this position. It's a bit top-heavy and kept wanting to fall over. I finally had to use a little clay and string to get it to stay like this so I could paint it. 

Mepps Lusox © 

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.

Purple Tail - A New Original 8 x 8 Still Life Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Purple Tail

 One of my favorite places to look for inspiration is my tackle box. I love the brightly colored fishing lures that fill it and have painted them often, though not very recently. Well, it's time for that to change. I dug through my tackle box and quickly found myself gravitating toward this one with its long purple tail. I love the color in it and really wanted to try to capture it with paint. Since I wanted to concentrate on the lure to try to capture it as accurately as possible, I kept the background and the surface it sits on pretty simple. I like this approach with these small still life paintings because it lets me concentrate on the things I want to and not get bogged down with other aspects of the painting.

Purple Tail © 

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.

Wood Duck - A New Original 10 x 8 Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Wood Duck

We had a few days of rain in our forecast, so before the weather turned, I went down to the lake not far from our house to take some reference photos just in case I was stuck in the studio. Normally, this lake is full of ducks, geese and all type of water fowl, but on this trip there was just a hand full of mallards playing in the water. None the less, I began to take a few photographs of them because I was in the mood to paint some ducks anyway. While I was taking my pictures, someone arrived at the lake with a big bag of bread and began to feed the ducks. Well, it didn't take long for all the ducks and birds around the lake to start making their way towards the free lunch. Slowly, but surely, more and more ducks started to appear and that's when I spotted this one wood duck swimming with a small group of mallards. I couldn't believe my luck! I love the distinct markings on this bird and knew I'd want to paint him if I could get a good reference image of him. That proved to be the tricky part. It seems this little duck is camera-shy. It took almost 30 minutes of waiting for him to swim close enough by me so I could get a good image of him, but it was worth the wait. He settled right in front of me for almost 5 minutes! I must have snapped about 50 pictures of him during that time. What a treat!

Wood Duck © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 10x8 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.

Researching Roses - A New Original 8 x 10 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Researching Roses

 Yesterday, before the arrival of today's storms, I took advantage of the light and painted at the Botanical Gardens in Fort Worth. It's an amazing resource and I go there often because there's plenty of room and it's a free public space with so many eye-catching scenes. Although the gardens are quite large and varied, I usually go to the same general area when painting there. This time, however, I decided to try the other end of the gardens where they have a large research building and gardens. I'm not really sure what they are researching with the garden, but the whole thing was in full bloom. I found this rose bush with hundreds of buds bursting open. I loved the contrast between the shady background and the sun drenched flowers. 

Researching Roses © 

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.

Cloud Puff - A New Original 8 x 10 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Cloud Puff

 Last year, while out on a drive, I discovered this little park. There's not really all that much there. Just a few sidewalks, a lot of open fields and trees and a very tiny pond. I remember going there once to paint, but didn't actually produce a painting. Sometimes that happens when plein air painting. I go somewhere, haul my gear in and never find anything to paint. After that, I sort of forgot about this place until I was looking at google maps for potential painting locations. For what ever reason, it showed promise again so I decided to give it another chance. This time I noticed this view of the field around the pond and the sky with just this one tiny puffy cloud. I loved the idea of painting a sky with just this tiny cloud in it and knew I had found something to paint here finally. I actually noticed a few other things that I might want to try at some point too, so it looks like I might be going back again. Lesson learned...sometimes it's good to give places a second look.

Cloud Puff © 

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.

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.

Rocky Shore - An Original 8 x 10 Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Rocky Shore

 This morning while I waited for the weather to warm up a bit outside, I decided to paint in the studio. I took a look through some of my photo reference and found this picture I took a few years ago at the lake just down the road from our house. It was during one of the worst droughts we had experienced since buying our house in North Texas. We had heard on the news about how low the lake levels had fallen, so my wife and I went down to see for ourselves. I took this image of the rocks that now made up the shoreline. This is normally a spot that is totally under the water. In fact, just behind us was a dock that was land locked at the time with a boat stranded on it. No water within 50 feet of the dock. Thank goodness that now the water levels are back to where they should be and this spot is once again hidden under the water. Hopefully, this is a view I never get to see again.

Rocky Shore © 

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.

Last Road Home - An Original 8 x 10 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Last Road Home

 I had gone out to paint wildflowers when I discovered this scene along the back roads of Weatherford (Texas). While there where plenty of wildflowers to paint, this view kept calling me back until finally I gave in and found a safe place to park my car while I painted. It was a very cloudy morning with just spots of sunshine making its was through for a few minutes at a time then disappearing. I just had to roll with it and paint the scene the way I saw it, without much direct light. Of course, about 30 minutes after I packed up my painting and started to head home, the sun came out and stayed out for rest of the day.  

Last Road Home © 

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.

Yellow Poppies - An Original 8 x 10 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Yellow Poppies

 While out driving around looking for places to paint I ran across a patch of yellow poppies. I don't think I've ever seen these before, so I stopped to do this painting of them. I love the color of these! Very bright and saturated. This is a great time to just drive around Texas and discover all the flowers in bloom along our roadways and in the fields. Its like fireworks growing out the dirt! I'm still trying to track down exactly what type of flower these are. So far the closest thing I can find is called a Mexican Poppy, but to be honest I don't think that what these are. I'll have to keep looking.  

Yellow Poppies © 

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.

Cooper Street Flowers - An Original 10 x 8 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Cooper Street Flowers

 A few years ago, our city started a city beautification program. As part of that program, they spread wild flowers seeds along some of the roadways that didn't already have flowers blooming along them, such as this little strip of land just off Cooper Street. Since these wild flowers all re-seed themselves every year, the crop of them keeps getting better and better, especially if we have rain during winter and early spring. This is my first time painting this particular patch of wild flowers, but it will not be my last now that where it is. I'll add this spot to my list of places to check when the wild flowers start to bloom next spring.

Cooper Street Flowers © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 10x8 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.

Hobbs - An Original 8 x 8 Commissioned Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Hobbs

 I recently finished up this commission piece for a new collector. I had to work from photograph they provided me, but I was able to use a lot of artistic licence on the background. This was actually the client's idea and I was happy to fulfill it. This was the first time I've tried to paint such curly hair and while it was a great challenge, it was also a lot of fun to work on. If you would like to commission your own painting, please contract me at george@georgedechiara.com. I'd love to hear from you!

Hobbs © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: SOLD.

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Rockwall Revisited - An Original 10 x 8 Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Rockwall Revisited

 This is the painting I did as a demo last night for the Rockwall Art League. I had a great time explaining my process and answering questions, and I hope those watching did too. Somehow in all the conversation, I missed a few things that I wanted to fix in the water and reflections of the rocks before the demo was over. Once I had the painting back in my studio and I was able to look at for a little while, I decided to put it back up on the easel and make a few tweaks to it.  If this looks familiar to you, you are not imagining things. I based this off of a plein air painting I did a few weeks ago. 

Rockwall Revisited © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 10x8 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.

In Bloom - An Original 8 x 8 Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

In Bloom

 My wife and I went to Oklahoma a few years ago for a quiet little vacation. With plans to do nothing more than hike and enjoy the wilderness, we set out to see the sights. We hiked along river beds flowing with water, trails leading up the mountain sides and around lakes and some trails that just seemed to meander through fields and forests. Somewhere along one of these hikes we ran across this hill-side scattered with rocks and covered in wild flowers. I snapped a reference photo of it with the intentions of doing a studio painting once back home. Since then I have done a few smaller studies of this scene, including this one: 

In Bloom © 

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.

Spring In Texas - An Original 10 x 8 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Spring In Texas

 The wildflowers are blooming everywhere, even with the crazy weather and dry conditions. It's such a pleasure to watch the  ordinary hillside explode with the colors of spring. First the yellows peek up, then the pinks, and now, those glorious Texas bluebonnets. Probably thanks the Lady Bird Johnson, I found these on a hillside next to the highway. Luckily, I knew of a location to see and paint these from that didn't involve standing anywhere close to the busy freeway, though I've been tempted many times to just pull over on the shoulder of the interstate and paint with reckless abandon.

Spring In Texas © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 10x8 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.

Creek Side - An Original 8 x 10 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Creek Side

  I love painting at the falls in West Worth. It's so quiet and peaceful. There's the occasional passer-by and people walking their dogs, but for the most part it was just me and this slow-moving stream. Oh, and the giant snake I saw on the rocks behind me while I was getting ready to paint, but that's another story. Seriously, he was this big! Anyway, for this painting I chose this view because I really wanted to capture the reflections in the water, with it's many subtle variations of green and blues. A challenge for sure, but a rewarding one to try to capture. 

Creek Side © 

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.

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.

Cut and Dried - An Original 8 x 10 Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Cut and Dried

 Yesterday in the studio was one of those days I'd rather forget. I spent the day working on a still life painting and at the end of the day I took a good hard look at it and did what needed to be done...I wipe it off and cleaned off the canvas as best I could. I know days like that are good for me, even if I don't like them. It means I'm learning and growing, but that still doesn't take the sting out of it. Today I picked the canvas back up, but changed the subject. I always have fun paiting scenes like this, and it was just what the doctor ordered.

Cut and Dried © 

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.

Stormy Seas - An Original 8 x 10 Seascape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Stormy Seas

 I spent the morning working on a new commission piece and got to a point where I wanted it to dry before continuing. With a few hours left in the day, I thought I'd do one more painting today, just for fun! What could be more fun than trying to paint stormy seas crashing over rocks? I love the challenge of capturing the atmosphere in this piece with the horizon almost totally blending into the sea when they meet. The waves rolling in and the rocks forcing the water to break is also stimulating to paint. The added bonus of doing this piece was I got to work on mixing grey colors, which is one of the areas I really want to work on. Mixing a good grey can be a real challenge. I don't want colorless greys, I want greys that are warm and cool and have some color to them, just not saturated. Is that too much to ask for? I think not, but it does take some work to achieve. 

Stormy Seas © 

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.

Slices - An Original 6 x 8 Still Life Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Slices

 With the rain and cold weather continuing outside today, I thought it best to stay inside and paint. It really wasn't a hard decision; it's much warmer in my studio. Since I still had my little still life set up mostly intact, I decided to do another one in this little series I've been working on. I really never had any intention of doing a series like this, but it's been so much fun, I'm going with it. I noticed today that quite accidentally I had made the first two still lives remarkably close in their backgrounds, so for this painting I thought I'd try to do the same thing. I love the way the three of them look together on my drying rack. I even made up this little image of them framed: 

Today's painting is the watermelon one. It was part of our breakfast this morning and I couldn't resist it. I liked that the pieces were a little tattered. This is thanks to my daughter, who's three and who likes to try to help with everything in the kitchen, including cutting up the melon.

Slices © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 6x8 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.

Let's Split - An Original 6 x 8 Still Life Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Let's Split

 Our rain continued today, so it was another day of working in the studio, which suited me just fine. After yesterday's still life, I was itching to do another one anyway. For today's painting, I choose a banana. I find setting up a banana to make an interesting composition a real challenge. It took some time to come up with this one. I started off with a whole banana peeled about a third of the way down and just went from there. You can see I ended up with about a half of banana and parts of it are peeled all the way down. At one point I thought about just eating this one and starting over. I'm really enjoying this little peeled fruit series I have going...both of them! To be honest, I'm not sure how many other fruits I can find that are peeled, but it's suppose to rain again tomorrow, so I might have to look for another one. Anyone have any suggestions?

Let's Split © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 6x8 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.

Cutie - An Original 6 x 8 Still Life Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Cutie

 It seems like I haven't painted a still life in ages. I guess I've enjoyed our Spring weather and trying to get out as much as I can before the dreaded summer heat hits. Today, though, we had rain on and off all day so it seemed like the perfect day to stay in the studio and finally work on some of those still life ideas I've been kicking around in my head for the last few weeks. This is one of those ideas. I like the simplicity of this set up. It forced me to really pay attention to the only object in the painting and try to make it as interesting as possible. It also gave me the challenge of having to peel an orange without breaking the skin, something I've never been very good at, but somehow managed to get it on the first try today! Truth be told, this is my second attempt at this painting today. The first one I had to wipe off about 30 minutes into the painting. I usually pause after my initial start in a painting and make the decision of whether or not to go on or wipe it. It's better to face that decision early in the painting than later on, I think.  Had I spent 2 or 3 hours painting before giving it a critical look, it would have been much harder to wipe it off and start over. 

Cutie © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 6x8 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.

Once Underwater - An Original 8 x 10 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Once Underwater

 One of the last times I went out painting, I noticed this scene not far from where I set up for the day.  I had intended to go back and paint it, but then our weather turned cold and cloudy and just like that, it felt like we were back in winter. Luckily, this is Texas and winter weather this late in the year doesn't stand a chance in sticking around. Today we got back on track with spring weather, so I packed up my gear and headed back to the lake. It was a very windy day and the water never settled down, making it a real challenge to paint. Still, it was nice to get our of the studio for a little while and soak up some sunshine! It looks like this weather is here to stay this time, so I'm looking forward to getting out more.

I'm going to have to re-photograph this one in a day or two. This image has a lot of glare on it. 

Once Underwater © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x10 inches on gessoed wood 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.

On The Rocks - An Original 8 x 8 Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

On The Rocks

  It never ceases to amaze me how much I learn when I paint water and rocks. There's something about the abstract patterns in the way the water washes over the rocks that forces me to stretch myself. I think this is because this is one of the few subjects where I don't think about what it is I'm painting and just paint the shapes that I see. Now I try that with everything I paint, but for what ever reason, with water it's easier for me to do this.  I guess that's why this is one of my favorite subjects to paint. 

On The Rocks © 

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.

Struttin' - An Original 8 x 8 Wildlife Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Struttin'

 We had lots of sun today, but not much warmth, so I decided to grab my camera and head down to one of the local lakes around the house. I knew that even with the cold weather, we'd still have plenty of ducks and water fowl hanging around. When I got to the lake, just about all the ducks where sitting on the shore line sleeping or trying to stay warm. These ducks are all very used to getting bread and oats from most of the visitors coming to this lake, so as soon as I crouched down to take a few pictures this duck came walking over to get his bread. When he figured out that I didn't have any, he turned and walked away. This must have tipped off the other ducks because even though it was cold in the water, most of them started heading in. I guess they thought the camera couldn't get them in the water. I noticed as soon as I left, they all started to head back on to land.

Struttin' © 

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.

Spring Dance - An Original 8 x 8 Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Spring Dance

 Well, we are just a few days into spring, and, while it seemed like we had left winter behind, apparently we had not. Like many parts of the country, winter weather made its way back into our lives this week. While we generally have it pretty good here in Texas weatherwise this time of year, today it turned cold and gray outside all day, with the next few days forecast of be more of the same. Determined to make the best of it, I took a look through my photo reference for some images of wild flowers to paint today. One way or another, I was going to get a bit of spring color into my day. I know it's just a matter of time before I can paint scenes like this outdoors again. I can hardly wait!

 I know a lot of people say that red is one of the hardest color to photograph, but for me it's yellow. These flowers really seem to have lost some of the subtle color changes that they have when I photographed them. I've noticed this on a few other painting that have a lot of yellow in them too. If anyone has any tips for getting better results I'm all ears. Thanks!

Spring Dance © 

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.

Rail Road Bridge - An Original 8 x 6 Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Rail Road Bridge

 This is the second time I've painted at this location.Tthe first time, I was standing just in front of this bridge painting the river bank on the left side of the painting. This time, I wanted to include the bridge. I love the color on the rusty sides of the bridge and how the structure seems to cut through its surroundings. Getting to a place where I could paint this proved to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be. I had to hike in from the other side of the river, which doesn't have very easy access. The closest place I could find to park my car was about a mile or so from where I wanted to paint, so I had to hike with all of my gear on my back along the river bank until I reached the bridge. Since this area is mostly undisturbed there's a ton of wildlife along the water. Next time I go, I've got to remember to bring my camera!

Rail Road Bridge © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x6 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.

Corner Lot - An Original 8 x 8 Plein Air Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Corner Lot

 While I try to think of where I'm going to go and paint for the day, I often think back to places I've painted before. Sometimes, if I haven't been to a particular location for a while, I might try to remember what was there and if it seems like something I might be in the mood to paint. This was the case with today's painting. I hadn't been here in almost a year now, and, in my mind, it looked very different. When I got there, the first thing I noticed is there was now a gas well right in the middle of the view I painted the last time. Hmm...right off the bat things aren't going so well. Determined to make the best of the situation, I walked around the landscape for a while checking out different views, but nothing really seemed to inspire me very much. Just as I was about to give up and head out, I noticed this view. I loved the way the space was divided up by the colors in the field and the tall utility poles along the road. Finally I found my view and got to painting!

Corner Lot© 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: SOLD

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Weekend Plans - An Original 6 x 8 Plein Air Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Weekend Plans

 While our daughters spent the weekend with Grandma, my wife and I found ourselves with some free time. Having a vague recollection of what free time is, we made plans to go to a near by state park, Cedar Hills State Park, and enjoy a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I mentioned that I'd like to do a little painting and my wife agreed, bringing along a book to read while she enjoyed some sunshine. The parks main attraction is its lake, Joe Pool Lake. We spent some time driving around the lake and doing a little exploring before we came upon the spot in the painting. Normally this location would be well under water, but since the lake still hasn't fully recovered from our drought, views like this are still available to explore and paint. I loved the way the sun was striking the tall grasses surrounding the water and casting long shadows across the sanding shore line.

Weekend Plans © 

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

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Thin Clouds - An Original 8 x 8 Plein Air Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Thin Clouds

 While looking for a potential painting spot today, I was reminded of something that Richard Schmid said in one of his videos. I can't remember the exact quote, but it went something like this "Use each painting experience as a way to learn new things and not repeat what we have done before." The point being to push ourselves during each painting. With that in mind, I chose a scene with a sky that I would normally try to avoid and made it the largest shape in my painting. I find skies with thin wispy clouds one of the hardest to paint, but today I forced myself to try it. I don't know why I was so timid about doing them before, now I can't wait for the next opportunity to try one and build on what I've learned today.

Thin Clouds © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Currently available.

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Spring Whites - An Original 8 x 8 Floral Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Spring Whites

 For the last few weeks, I've tried to get over to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens to check on the new spring blooms. Today when I went, there were a few more flowers blooming than last week, but still no where close to the big show coming up any day (week) now. Still, it's a great time to be there as new life is popping up everywhere, like these tiny white daffodils. I only found this one little patch of them out in the middle of a field. On another note...Lesson learned today: don't forget your umbrella when painting in full sun! Since I did forget mine, I had to paint with my back to the flowers to keep my canvas and palette out of the direct sun. I find the direct sun too bright to paint in, so while turning my back to my subject solved this issue, it did make for an interesting time painting. I had to turn and look at what I was going to paint and then turn around and paint it. It actually became a pretty neat exercise in painting from memory.

Spring Whites © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: SOLD

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Red - An Original 8 x 8 Wildlife Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Red

 For the last few months, I've watched a pair of cardinals that come to eat from the bird feeder just outside my studio window. I'm not sure if they see me looking at them through the window or if the cat scares them off, but either way, they never stay for very long.  I've thought about painting one of them for a while now and today seemed like the perfect day for it. I had hoped they would stop by while I was working so I could look at them for reference, but I guess they had other plans. Come to think of it, I haven't seen them in a few days now...hmmm...I wonder if it's time to refill the bird feeder?

Red© 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size:8x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: SOLD

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Lazy River - An Original 10 x 8 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Lazy River

 Last week while painting, a friend of mine he mentioned a new spot he's been wanting to check out and suggested we both go have a look. After finishing up our paintings for the day, we headed over. His spot turned out to be one of the many little rivers that run along the roads leading to Benbrook Lake. After parking on the side of the street, we hiked down a little trail that lead to the river and then along the river rocks lining the river banks. After about a hundred yards we came to this wonderful bend in the river. Bingo! We found a new place to paint. We made plans to return and today was that day. What a perfect day it turned out to be! Clear skies, warm weather and hardly any wind. What more could a plein air painter ask?

Lazy River © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 10x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: SOLD

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Spring's Hope - An Original 10 x 8 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Spring's Hope

 One of my favorite aspects of plein air painting is hunting out new locations. I love the discovery of a new place to paint! Sometimes, I just turn off my GPS and drive aimlessly searching. When something piques my interest, I stop and paint it and rely on the GPS to get me home from off-the-beaten path. Other times, the search is about the access point. I have run across several places that look so interesting from the road, but I'm unsure of how to actually get to them and paint.  Today's painting is one of those types of places. I must have passed this field hundreds of times, but could never see a clear way to get to it. Finally, this morning I spent some time exploring the two main streets that I've seen this place from. After a bit of investigating, I realized the only way to get in was to park on the side of the road and follow a little dirt trail that led me under the rail road tracks and into this field. I thought maybe I was on private property, but didn't see any signs anywhere. As far as the hunting aspect of plein air painting goes, I think I bagged another spot!

Spring's Hope © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 10x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: SOLD

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Pride - An Original 8x8 Bald Eagle Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Pride

 Sometimes I just feel like painting something new, something I've never tried before. Today was one of those days for me. I felt like I wanted to paint a bird of some sort, but after looking though my references nothing really grabbed me, everything looked like something I've already painted. Then I found this image of a bald eagle and knew I had found it. This would work out well, I'd get to satisfy my craving to paint a bird AND something new all in one shot! 

Pride © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Currently available. $135

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Spring Has Sprung - An Original 8x10 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Spring Has Sprung

 It's official...spring is on its way here in Texas...or maybe it's already here. It's hard to tell when it's 92 degrees outside. If it's not here, then I know it will be soon because the Bradford Pears have started to bloom. For me, this always marks the start of the spring. First the tress, then the wildflowers and finally the garden! Everywhere I look I'm seeing more and more trees full of little while flowers. In a few more weeks, they will drop the flowers and put on leaves. For day's it will look like it's snowing with all the pedals blowing in the wind. Since these trees don't produce a fruit this is their big show for the year. 

Spring Has Sprung © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x10 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Currently available. $135

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Winter Grazing - An Original 8x8 Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Winter Grazing

 For the last few days, I've been recovering from a cold my 3-year-old thought she should share with me and her 18 month old sister and mother. It seems I got the worst case of it and spent most of the day yesterday laid up in bed. Luckily, it seems, that was the worst of it because today I was able to get back into the studio and do a little painting. I wanted to go out and paint, but our weather was still a little on the cool side and I thought I best not push it so soon. Instead I stayed in the studio and painted these cows grazing in a typical later winter or early spring pasture here in Texas, and though there are no leaves on the tress yet, there is still plenty of green grass to chew on. 

Winter Grazing © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: SOLD

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

West Falls - An Original 8x10 Lanscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

West Falls

 One of my favorite subjects to paint is water, particularly white water rapids and falls. It's something I find myself returning to time and again. The thing is, it's hard to find white water rivers in North Texas. I'm constantly on the search when I'm out and about. Making mental notes of places to explore in more depth and still, the list of places to try is very, very small. Luckily a little over a year ago, I discovered one of the best kept secrets in the DFW area, a water fall! A natural stair stepped waterfall that's full accessible to anyone who wishes to see it (and paint it!). It's located in a little park in West Worth that once belong to the Air Force. The town purchased the land sometime back and turned it into a wonderful little nature area with paved walkways. I've wanted to go and paint there this week, but for one reason or another haven't been able to make it, so today I did this studio painting based on a plein air piece I did there last fall. This is the lowest part of the waterfall, which has a last big step and the tiny drop after it. 

West Worth © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x10 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: SOLD

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.