Meeting at 2nd and G

Painted in downtown Davis this morning before the stores opened and while there were plenty of parking spaces. All was quiet before 8AM and then the nail shop behind me opened and a lot of smells were in the air. Then the wonderful smell of baked bread and soon the coffee drinkers arrived. It is interesting to see the city awaken. The cleaning ladies are seated on the benches viewing their smart phones awaiting someone with a key to show. The trees are in bloom except the one in the foreground which is just starting. It is sunny and warm. There are long shadows with the rising sun. It is a challenge to edit this scene. There is so much signage and plenty of things on the walkway. Big trucks pull up and block the view as they unload kegs of beer but they are quick. Getting down a good sketch at the beginning is the secret to paint changing shadows and blocked out views.

Just Resting

Painting this morning at the Yolanda Ranch, Woodland, CA. Many structures and old buildings on the property. Also some very friendly animals watched me paint. Two ducks kept me company along with a large black angora cat who desperately wanted to be petted. I chose this leaning house because it was tired and old and that could be said for most of the stuff here. They are restoring the main house (not this one) to host wedding parties. Many people showed at 8AM but by 11AM, when I left, there were just a couple of cars. The cast shadows were changing while I painted. The fronts of the barn and house were totally shadowed at the start but only had partial shadow later. It was not a very sunny day but cloudy off and on. My paper dried fast so I kept misting with my spray bottle.

Two Icons

The Taco Truck and the Water Tower stand out in Winters, CA. I picked a spot across the street and painted this scene yesterday. It amazed me how many people come to the truck. There is pretty much a continuous stream of people and this was after lunch. Cars pull in and empty out the occupants. They stand and wait for the orders. This is a busy spot for traffic going into this small town. Fun place to paint.

Eucalyti Robusto

Was out on the far reaches of Dixon, CA this morning. It was sunny and a bit chilly for painting. The landscape here is flat as far as you can see. There were sheep and cattle grazing and then we came upon a dike with water and a stand of eucalyptus trees. There were also some cat nine tail and other reeds. It was like an oasis. I painted from below the dike looking at the trees and reeds. The two eucalyptus trees were different. The distant hills could not be seen because of haze. Everyone had fun painting with most of them sitting atop the dike and looking down into the water. I loved being out there but prefer some structures to put into my composition.

Retired Watertower

Water towers are all over the coast of California. They were important early on to catch rainwater as well as for water storage. Some have been turned into extra rooms. They also become sheds with add-ons. I have painted many of them and, recently, used their simple shape for a lesson in my art class. The goal was to minimize brush strokes in a wet into wet format. We also wanted to leave lost edges in the painting. This was my demonstration done in the class.

Beach Parking

This is another variation on an alley to the beach in Sayulita, Mexico. I painted and sketched many of the routes to the beach and have used them for paintings. We stayed out of town and the beach extends quite a long way from town so there are plenty of paths to the beach. I think that the horse was for hire in this situation.