Shell Beach/Sea Ranch Seascape

This 9"x12" seascape was painted last weekend at Shell Beach in Sea Ranch. Colors employed were: pthalo green, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, carbazole violet, fire red, cadmium orange, cadmium yellow orange, transparent red oxide, yellow ochre, cadmium green, and titanium white. A varnish wash was used, then thicker layers were applied atop the wash.

Gualala/Sea Ranch Paintings

This is one of four plein air oil paintings from my Gualala/Sea Ranch painting workshop with Brigitte Curt and Jim Smyth. This is 9"x12" on mahogany luan panel. The palette was: pthalo green, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, carbazole violet, transparent red oxide, fire red, yellow ochre, cadmium orange, cadmium green, cadmium yellow orange, and transparent white.
In these works, I was painting as fast and vigorously as possible! It was a beautiful, windy day at Shell Beach at Sea Ranch.

California Landscape: Impressionism, Continued

I painted again this morning! This is a variation on the theme of the "Country Road" painting I did yesterday. This, too, is a 6"x8" oil painting on mahogany luan panel. I used a varnish wash as the underpainting. Colors used were: ultramarine blue, carbazone violet, transparent red oxide, cadmium orange, hansa yellow orange, cadmium yellow orange, and titanium white.

California Landscape: Impressionism

I enjoyed painting this plein air California landscape alla prima in my studio yesterday. I particularly like to paint landscapes that have water scenes. I enjoy the reflection of the trees in the water.
This painting is called : "Reflecting Pool" and was purchased by a collector of mine as soon as it was posted at Facebook yesterday!
The colors used are: ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, carbazole violet, prussian blue, cadmium green, cadmium yellow light, cadmium yellow medium, cadmium yellow orange, hansa yellow orange, cadmium orange, transparent red oxide, and titanium white.

"Golden Birthday" painting

Today is my daughters' "golden birthday" and I painted while she was at camp this morning, to celebrate the day of her birth! This is a variation on a scene I've been painting lately. I was particularly interested in the edges along the bank of the water, as well as the foreground textures.
Colors used were: ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, Payne's gray, cadmium green, carbazole violet, transparent red oxide, Hansa yellow orange, cadmium yellow orange, cadmium yellow medium, Naple's yellow, cadmium orange, and titanium white. A varnish underpainting was employed.

California Plein Air Landscape: Four of Forty

I've set a goal of painting forty plein air landscapes this summer! This is 'four of forty'. Additionally, I've got to have six new landscapes by the end of next week to be shown to a gallery owner in Carmel, CA.
In this painting, the new color I added to my palette is Naples yellow. There is a clean stroke of this color in front and to the right of the big tree on the right. I've woven this color throughout the foreground and background, as well. I began with a varnish wash, then proceeded to alternate transparency and opacity.

California Landscape: En Plein Air

Today I painted again from the pier at the Palo Alto Baylands. It was crisp and breezy and invigorating. There was a large expanse of grassland in the foreground and background that was filled with amazing colors: sienna, violets, yellow greens, blue greens, silvery greens, russets, yellow oranges, and salmon. I captured many of these colors in the initial varnish wash and only had to place strokes of paint, here and there, in the foreground, as the painting was practically 'done' after the initial wash! The actual colors used were: ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, carbazole violet, cadmium orange, transparent red oxide, hansa yellow orange, cadmium yellow orange, cadmium green, and titanium white.

Second Plein Air Painting Sold To Collector

This is the second of the two plein air oil paintings that sold to a collector in Modesto from Phoebe's Gallery in Capitola, CA. This is also a 6"x8" on mahogany luan panel, using the varnish wash and thicker opaque passages. This painting, too, is mostly cool in temperature.

Wild and Windy Day At The Baylands

It was another windy day at the Baylands. Palettes and easels were flying! A limited palette of: transparent red oxide, carbazole violet, fire red, cadmium orange, cadmium yellow medium, cadmium green, and cobalt blue were used. A tiny amount of cadmium yellow light was used to cool the yellow.
As I'm painting, the only things I'm thinking about are: what I'm seeing, mixing colors, thinking about values and atmospheric effects, and I hear Jim Smyth in my head saying: "warm the warms, cool the cools, darken the darks, and lighten the lights".

Recently Sold California Landscape Plein Air Painting

This is one of two plein air California landscape paintings that have sold to a collector in Modesto, California. This painting, along with 10-12 others, was at Phoebe's Gallery in Capitola, California.
This is a 6"x8" oil painting on mahogany luan panel. I used the varnish wash and more opaque, impasto passages, as well. The colors are predominantly cool, with some contrasting warmth in the foreground and trees.

Tranquil Day Painting En Plein Air

This painting was painted recently, on a tranquil day at the Baylands in Palo Alto. I was particularly intrigued with the reflections of the trees in the water. A varnish wash was used here, and more opaque paints added in the second layer. There is variation in transparency versus opacity. The water is mostly transparent varnish wash with some horizontal dry brushing. The texture of the mahogany luan panels coated with three layers of gesso works beautifully with the varnish washes and dry brushing.

Painting On A Pier At The Baylands

It was another spectacular apring day at the Baylands. The group (California Academy of Painters) painted on a pier today and it felt like being on a sailboat! It was exhilirating and it showed in everyone's paintings! This particular painting is a study in foreground and the multicolored hues and variations in temperature of the spring marshland ground. Being there was a meditation on the wonders of nature!

Lyrical Landscape

It was another windswept day at the Palo Alto Baylands. I noticed a significant increase in wildflowers and variations in the colors of the landscape, including more yellows, yellow greens, russets, and violets. In this painting, I left more translucent passages than I have previously; in particular, the sky is all translucent and the water is mostly varnish wash!

Completion of Plein Air Painting: After The Varnish Wash

This is the completion of the previous varnish wash painting. Some of the underlying wash shows through and is contrasted with thicker, opaque paint.

First Stage of Plein Air Painting: Varnish Wash

Here is an example of the drippy, varnish wash I've been describing in previous posts. The wash is translucent like a watercolor painting. I will leave some of this wash in the final painting to provide a translucent contrast with more opaque passages of paint.

Windswept Day At The Palo Alto Baylands

It was another cold, blustery day at the baylands.
The clouds were moving, as were the trees, grasses, and water. It still feels like winter, these last few days.
In this painting, I started with a varnish wash which is very fluid and drippy. After it dries, I add the next layer with thicker paint and allow some of the thin, translucent varnish layer to show through. In the sky, mountain, and water I used quinacridone red, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, and carbazole violet. The lighter clouds have titanium white with a touch of cadmium orange. The trees are mixtures including: payne's gray, carbazole violet, and green mixtures. The foreground includes: carbazole violet, russet (mix of carbazole violet and cadmium orange and white), various oranges (hansa yellow orange, cadmium yellow orange), and greens mixed with yellow/oranges.

En Plein Air: Further Refinements

This is the other 'blustery day' painting I refined in the studio. I intensified the sky with cobalt blue and brought this color into the distant foreground, along with carbazole violet mixtures and cool greens. I warmed the violets and greens as I came forward in the foreground and added oranges and yellows, as well. I left a great deal of transparency in the trees.

En Plein Air: Further Refinements, Part 2

I'm continuing to refine three of the plein air landscape paintings I painted last week. This was another of the "blustery day" paintings. I warmed up the trees with touches of quinacridone red, as well as warming up the sky with this color. I'm working for a warm/cool vibration here in the sky, mountain, trees, and foreground. I cooled the receding foreground with blues, greens, and violets and brought the foreground forward with warm oranges, hansa yellow orange, transparent red oxide, warm green mixes, and cadmium yellow orange.

En Plein Air: Further Refinements

I refined three of my recent plein air paintings.
This was one of my "blustery day at the Baylands" paintings, previously posted. I warmed the mountain with some quinacridone red, as well as bringing in more greens, violets, and oranges into the foreground. Some cobalt blue was added to the upper sky, as well as refinement of the clouds with violet and quinacridone red shadows.