MORNING IN THE NORTHWEST

These water tower converstion houses popup everywhere in wine country and along the north coast.  I love putting them into my paintings along with other farm equipment.  I presented this structure to a large class of watercolor painters that I teach.  They did some wonderful things with it.  Introduced fog, hills with grape vines, telephone poles, and fences.  We had fun with it.

MORNING ON THE FARM

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Was up and out early this morning so that I could get to a farm.  About 10 of us went off to this wheat farm in Yolo, CA and the weather was magnificent for painting.  No bugs and the shade kept slipping away as the sun rose in the sky.  What a day for painting.  I didn't put any of the wheat field into the painting as I could not imagine how to make it interesting.  Instead, I captured this long road onto the property and the arching foliage.  The clouds kept passing through an otherwise, blue sky.

Church Rooftops

Was out on Wednesday with the plein air
urban landscape painters.  It was hot.  We stood in a parking lot where we were allowed to park and went to work.  This was a very quick study of the roof.  I tried to change values and create some varied edges. This was my thought to create some depth in the structures.  We did rush to finish. 

If I return, I will paint from a greater distance which will be more forgiving in dealing with a tremendous brick structure.  It will allow an introduction of some contrast color such as shrubs.

The Fields of Winters Calif

This painting was done in the late afternoon during the Winters Paint the Town event last week.  I wasn't sure whether the cloud cover would break.  I settled on this rural road.  Signs kept telling me 'No Outlet' but I did get enough height to look over the valley and the cloud cover started to break up.  There were cast shadows on the fields from the clouds.  The color was exceptionally vivid.  I'm glad that I waited around.

ALLEY II (WINTERS)

This is Paint the Town week in Winters, CA.  I started by trying to dodge the windy conditions and found an alley to paint in.  This allowed some wind protection.  When I returned the following day, the wind was still blowing so I found another alley.  There are plenty in this town.  I think that the most difficult condition for painting is wind.

Alleys have so much stuff.  A lot of it has to be eliminated in the painting. There are too many trash bins, fences and traffic markers.  I was impressed with all of the power lines that criss-cross the alley. 

The weather has improved and I have been back painting the hills and valleys of this pretty town. 

ALLEY I (Winters, CA)

This is the 6th year that the Winters Paint the Town Plein Air Festival has been held.  It started this past  Friday but I didn't get to paint until today.  The light kept changing but it was not windy nor hot.  Just right.  Winters has so many wonderful painting venues.  I chose one of the alleys for this painting.  It was Sunday and rather quiet but a few onlookers cheered me on.  I have painted some of the alleys in the past but there are many to do. 

Great to be out painting.  Will be back for more as it will continue all week.