Baylands: Three Cubed

This painting was painted on May 27, 2009. I painted this 'alla prima' in two hours. I used a transparent varnish wash underpainting, which has watercolor-like properties. Thicker paint was applied on top of the underpainting. Colors used were: transparent red oxide, hansa yellow orange, carbazole violet, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, cadmium green, cadmium yellow orange, quinacridone red, and titanium white.

Plein Air Painting At The Baylands

It was another gorgeous day at the Baylands in Palo Alto. Only three other painters were there from the California Academy of Painters today. We each stayed about two hours and painted from a different vantage point than usual. I enjoyed painting the variety of colors and temperatures found in the foreground fields. The palette used today included: ultramarine blue, hansa yellow orange, transparent red oxide, cadmium orange, cadmium yellow orange, cadmium green, cobalt blue, carbazole violet, quinacridone red, and titanium white. Not exactly a limited palette!

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!

Big Sky Cumulus Clouds in Aptos

I was inspired yesterday and today by the gigantic cumulus clouds in the Santa Cruz sky. On my drive home from Palo Alto yesterday, the sky was roiling with puffy clouds. I decided to capture some of this feeling in this painting, a further exploration of my "Big Sky" paintings.

"Blustery Baylands" Chosen For 79th Annual Statewide Landscape Exhibition

This painting: "Blustery Baylands" was chosen by juror and nationally known landscape painter, Kevin McPherson, to be in the 79th Annual Statewide Landscape Exhibition at the Santa Cruz Art League May 30-June 29, 2009 (Reception: June 6, 2009, 3-5 pm). The title for the exhibition is: "Irreplaceable Places: The California Landscape".

I feel that the Baylands in Palo Alto is one of those "irreplaceable places", untouched by development, where nature and the human spirit soars!

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.

Translucency With Oil/Varnish Washes

This painting started out as a very fluid oil/varnish wash of various colors. Much of the foreground is the original varnish wash! I am painting on mahogany luan panels that I've prepared with three coats of acrylic gesso. The size of this painting is 9"x12". The wash for the sky was rather light, so I painted over this with cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, carbazole violet for the sky and transparent red oxide/titanium white mixture for the clouds. Carbazole violet was brought into the foreground as a wash in some of the dark areas, in order to harmonize with the sky and darks of the trees.

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.

Painting Like There's No Tomorrow!

I painted for hours today in my solarium. There's something about getting into the rhythm of painting where there is no sense of time. I love when this happens.
I finished up a painting I started a few days ago at the Palo Alto Baylands. I was interested in the very dramatic, darker sky of that day. In particular, I'm drawn to the raspberry and blue violet colors in this sky.

Blustery Day At The Baylands In Palo Alto

It was a wild, blustery day at the Baylands today. There were about twenty of us out there, painting away while the wind blew. Several easels blew over, as well as palettes and paintings!
It was exhilirating! I felt so alive! I was interested in capturing the big sky, dramatic clouds, windswept look and the beautiful greens, violets, and oranges of the foreground with impasto strokes.

Another Fabulous Day At The Palo Alto Baylands

The California Academy of Painters had another fabulous day at the Palo Alto Baylands! We started our spring quarter under the guidance of two extraordinary artists and teachers: Brigitte Curt and Jim Smythe. The day was clear and sunny and with no clouds to speak of. Being artists, we took artistic license and painted in clouds to our hearts' content! Master artist and teacher, Jim Smythe, discusses the concept of the division of space ("where is it? what is it doing?"), rhythmn, color harmony, and so forth. Included are the two 6"x8" studies I painted today, and a view of the baylands.

First "Big Sky" Painting

This is the first "Big Sky" painting I did on February 26, 2009 at the Palo Alto Baylands. I felt initially intimidated by the 'big sky', as I don't usually focus on painting clouds. It was a beautiful, slightly wild winter day with enormous, ever changing cumulus clouds. With great appreciation for natures' beauty, I relaxed into the process and started going 'down river', instead of 'up river'. It became a meditation and one of the most wonderful, gratifying experiences I've had painting!

Two Oil Landscapes in Three And A Half Hours

I painted two oil landscapes today in my solarium while listening to raindrops dancing on glass.
One is a variation on a painting I did on 02/26/09 at the Palo Alto Baylands called "Big Sky". I'm working with cloud shapes and warm and cool variations in the sky (bottom painting). The other landscape (top of page) is also from the baylands and is one I started a month ago! I made some significant changes to the foreground trees (simplified them and changed the color) as well as generally adding more paint, all around! A very enjoyable day!

Figurative Collage: Finis!

I finished the figurative collage of two women in conversation. Meanwhile, ten pieces of my art were placed in a gallery in Capitola, California called Phoebe's Gallery (collage and oil landscapes). Additionally, eight original collage pieces are on display at Harmonics, Inc in Sunnyvale, California until early April.

Figurative Collage: Ongoing Work

I'm continuing to work on the figurative collage I began last night of the two women in conversation. Here are two pictures of my progression so far today. I enjoy the process of creating collage; it is like piecing together a puzzle (very different from oil painting).