On the Beach

Went to Troncones Mexico for a week. What was different was my timing as I have gone to this area for the past 20 or more years. No-one was there. The beach was empty and we had it all. Oh, at 7-9AM a couple of surfers show up and do their thing. That is it. The restaurants are open and everyone is readying for the Christmas crowd. That used to be me and my family. The paintings were done plein air and it was hot. I even painted with salt water, as I carried everything out to my spot. The tree painting fascinated me with its tortuous 'trunk' that supplied a healthy canopy of leaves. It went down into the sand and split into many cords which twisted as it supported the leaves. It is a great time to be on the beach.

Before the Storm

There is a big storm brewing and whether it will land or go out to sea is a risk for this swimmer. The man in the water gives the painting an estimate of how big the storm clouds are. It also is a focal point because of the color.I had fun playing with lost edges and muted color. I couldn't decide whether to place a swimmer or boater to create the enormity of the clouds.

This is a farm scene which I witnessed many times. It is from my imagination. The weather this week in Northern California has been smoky from all the fires. We did take a chance on Wednesday and painted but it was tough going. It is the first time I am anxious to have some wind to blow this smoke away. The town is quiet with few people out and most wearing masks. The schools are closed. I am an out door person. Where I live I can be in shorts most of the year. We don't expect these setbacks. We are Californians and worry about the people suffering from fire. It was horrible to imagine being stuck in traffic trying to escape and the fire closing in as the traffic stalled. My painting is on a bright fall day and has all my favorite things like barns, broken down trucks and chickens. I would much prefer to be on the scene painting it.

Davis Farmers Market

You will find me here on Saturday morning. It can be a very busy place. I always wondered how to paint the scene, so I took a few pictures and put a composition together. It is difficult to keep to value changes with all of the whites and shadows. The background of trees is very dark. This was fun and I will try a different approach next time, maybe, even find a place to setup for plein air.

A Quiet Place

We have been here before but there is much to see and paint. This is the Old Sacramento Cemetery. The sun is out and the shadows abound. The challenge is in getting the lots correct in perspective. The place is well maintained and it seems that every variety of plant and tree that can be grown in Sacramento is here. Some of the gravestone inscriptions are very humorous.

Old and Resting Farm

This scene is off Route 12 in Dixon. We were looking for some old farms or barns and came across this falling down building. It was difficult to get my arms around the scene. After several sketches I decided to paint a long view. Just a small hint of the delapidated structure can be seen. It was 'hurry up' once I started painting and it dried quickly. I just got through it before our group moved on. There is something that happens when you are rushed. Some brush stroke may be too wide or off target. The values may be off. As you look at it, new ideas arise. I love these accidents.

Dixon Farmland

Our group went to the farms of Dixon this morning. The sun was bright and the early chill burned off. We found this irrigation ditch that was having a bridge built. The gates of the dam were just being lifted. A great waterfall erupted but it was soon over. There are many of these ditches throughout the flatlands of Dixon and they are key to raising crops. I liked the sweep of the banks and the rocks lining the sides. A distant barn can be seen along with some green eucalyptus trees. The sky was streaked but I chose to put in some small clouds instead of white streaks.

Reeds and Muddy Water

Our plein air venture this morning took us just off Rt 113 east of Dixon. The hills were dry and yellow. The vernal ponds of spring are long gone along with their colorful flowers. This slough was the only water and only bit of green nearby. The eucalyptus trees are dull green and the banks of the slough are brown with reeds. Standing above the slough on a bridge, I tried my skill at painting the many reed islands. The blue sky added just a hint of blue water which was otherwise, muddy. The water was shallow and calm. I used a dry brush technique on the reeds but it was difficult to differentiate reeds. I rewet after drying and scraped some lines with my palate knife to indicate reeds. A trucker stopped and wondered whether I was fishing salmon. Not sure I would eat any fish out of this muddy water.

Downtown Collinsville, CA

Our group painted in Collinsville this morning. Some painters were on the levee but I chose to look back at the town. The town ends at the levee. All morning there was a single pickup truck that passed me checking what the gathering was all about. Pretty quiet place but lots to paint. I was attracted to the palm trees that seem to be windblown. All of the houses (and there are not many) are raised up off the ground because of flooding. This info came from that lone pickup truck driver who came to check me out. It is always good to talk to the locals.

Natural Surroundings

Today was the Yolo Ag plein air paintout. The location was on the outskirts of Winters CA. A long dirt path led to his setup on a hill. Steve has a plan to keep the area natural and was so happy for us to be there. We had to stick to a narrow path because of tics and rattle snakes. (No snakes were seen.) It was hot and only 8:30AM. I set up my umbrella with my easel and did a value sketch. Suddenly, a burst of 9 wild boars came running by and there were many hawks sailing the updrafts looking for a meal. The land is dry and hardened as I found hammering in my umbrella. The hills are magnificent with shrubs and dry grains. The two large eucalyptus trees were together in a valley. One cast a partial shadow over the other so it was somewhat of a problem to completely separate them with light and value. This painting could easily be done using only yellow and green, but I love the challenge of mixing greens.

Suisun CA

Our plein air outing was to the city of Suisun which has a marina. The weather predicted to be very hot in California but not here. The wind were strong and cooled everything down. I had to put on a sweatshirt. You could sell anyone on Suisun living if the wind wasn't blowing. This is the origin of the delta breeze that keeps us all cool during the summer months. The country side if pocked with wind turbines. We had a couple of hours to paint and I chose a complex scene of boats. My plan was to stick to symbols and not bone out boat details. I used a staccato of spots of dark paint and a few bright warm colors. It is tempting to keep adding detail but I stopped and went to lunch at a wonderful Greek restaurant on the water.

2nd and G Streets

Natives know that the corner of 2nd and G Streets is a very busy place but not today. I was out early with my sketch pad and camera. The students are finished with school and Davis is a quiet place...no lines at the market, plenty of parking spaces and no or few speeding bikes. Summer is here and this happens downtown. I brought my sketches home and painted the scene. The trees are always a challenge with distant, middle and foreground ones. By making the foreground tree a warm green it comes forward and the middle tree is dark and has shade so it becomes the darkest.I did not sketch out shapes of leaves but left values to differentiate them. My focus area is the figures and car. I feel caught between painting foliage as a silhouette or fussing with edges and shapes. I suppose there is a time for each.

Yolo Bypass Marsh

Early on Wednesday, before it was too hot, our plein air group went to the Yolo Bypass. We have visited and painted here many times and it changes quite drastically with the seasons. It is a flyway and many birds find it during migrations. Several painters in the group are birders and never complain about this venue. To me it is a marsh and without the birds, I find difficulty in choosing something. In this painting there are different colors to the reeds growing. A breeze swept the waters out and I included that to pull things together. The water is very shallow in the foreground seeming to be more mud than clear water. Everyone found something they liked and there were some very nice paintings.

Mad Dogs and Watercolorists

Looking for a scene to paint is sometimes compromised by conditions. It was shady on the hill across from the parking lot where I did some sketches. There was no place that looked more accommodating so I continued right where I started. I took a photo after painting to show how I edited the scene. The challenge is to mix up lots of different greens. Everything is green. The water feature on the green belt is also green with algae but I cleaned it up in my painting. Even in the shade it still was very hot but no bugs and no-one out walking. I guess all the dogs are exercised early on these kind of days. "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun".

Good Morning Lake Solano

We gathered at Lake Solano in Winters, CA this morning. Perfect weather. A slight breeze interrupted the cast reflections of the trees and vegetation on the bank. At times there were ducks and two beavers swimming. It was a good day for everybody.

Nothing Like a Tree to Paint

Painted 3 watercolor scenes with different trees. Just when you think that you have it, you run into difficulty with trees. This is what I found when out plein air painting this past week. There is so much foliage. These leafy things are so vibrant in the spring yet, it is a challenge to separate them when you want to paint groupings. Early spring still shows a skeleton that is a great help but then they mesh together and form forests. The scene of 3 on the bridge was from a sketch I did of 3 generations crabbing in a stream. They use chicken parts and net the crabs. The little ones love it.

A Dunigan Barn

We headed to Dunigan, CA and onto back roads. The fear today was the heat. Yesterday, I was in Vacaville, CA and it was 103 degrees. This barn was set back from the road with trees behind and on the sides. There was a big willow tree which I tried to paint. The morning was cool, partially cloudy and the breeze was wonderful. We were doing a sketch-crawl and there was a rush to get something done. This was my effort. We moved to a second location and I found that I was out of time. I had an eleven o'clock appointment back in town. I packed up and drove off only to get lost on these dirt roads, that weave through this farm country. Finally, I resorted to GPS and found my way out. Arrived at 11:30AM.

Remembering Good Fish

Was at a workshop in Folsom this week and was asked to paint a picture that shows value. I had no sketches and was in a poorly lighted hotel room with 21 other attendees. I had a dream the previous night of being back on Cape Cod. I was raking in clams and eating fresh fish. This is what they call 'day boat' in restaurants. It brought a picture to mind. The local fish shack. Don't you remember the longest days of your life were waiting for school to end so you could get on with summer vacation. It's all packed into this scene of best memories.

Man on a Boom

Despite thunder, lightning and rain, we headed out for plein air painting. We went nearly to Birds Landing and turned off at Shilo Road. The rain had stopped and the sun was out. The sky to the west was still black and all we had were some puffy clouds moving quickly. I was here before. The church that I painted has been restored. The church grounds with a grave yard are meticulously manicured. That is not what I like for subject matter. I sketched some trees and hills and was now ready for another location. In getting out to my car I realized all the activity on the road. There are very tall eucalyptus trees being trimmed and all the equipment was in action. A man hung high above in a bucket at the end of a long boom. Another was high in the trees. Both were cutting limbs and dropping them to the ground. Later, they would be ground up. I was captured and why not try sketching and painting the scene?

An Almost Green Scene

The sun is shining, the sky is blue without a cloud and our Wednesday plein air gang are ready to paint. This venue is off a small country road that runs along a huge olive tree orchard. Very little traffic passes. Plenty of birds are communicating. Everything growing is green from the fantastic weather we are having. Even the creek has a green color. I have been here before and seen the creek encrusted with a blanket of algae. It is on its way. I started with wet paper and put in the sky and pond. They nearly dried in minutes so I blocked out a tree and growies on the left. It was a matter of squinting and adding darks to give some depth to these. My initial sketch had a value change from background light to dark in the foreground. You can learn so much from being there, on location and painting.

Fenway

This is my friend Fenway. She is my daughter's dog. I have painted her before but never a closeup. I took a photo and painted an image in a very loose manner on wet paper. These projects are challenging and fun. I know an art instructor that enlarges an animal photo, prints it and then sends his students to the window to trace it onto their art paper. They then paint in the colors like a 'paint by the number' project. Everyone goes home satisfied with a finished painting. I'm sure there is merit in this exercise but little originality is exercised.

The Chair Metaphor Painting

When authority has no support it is useless. This exercise was to paint the chair as a metaphor. Most chose to paint a negative image of a chair. I used my iPhone flash light to project shadows of a chair. Several different chair angles were projected with light and roughly drawn with a pencil and then painted. The exaggeration can be appreciated when compared to the actual chair size shown on the left. The images can be very large but are only a shadow of a chair without any support. It needs legs to stand up. Have you ever encountered a chair that only projected a shadow?

Value Training

We have spent 3 weeks on value change using watercolor media. These last two demos were for graded washes and tree shapes with value change. Everyone has worked hard on this series and produced good results. It amazes me how quiet the class becomes as they try to determine how to paint shapes that are determined by value. I'm sure their squinting at projected images have added many new wrinkles to their faces. It is so rewarding to have a class get this involved.

Spring Mud Puddles

Our group went out a country road to find a painting location. A large stack of wet rotting hay next to a pickup truck was my subject. You can see the tracks where cars or trucks have driven through the wet mud. I was challenged to paint these mud puddles and get some cast reflections. In the background is the blue mountain chain of Winters. All went well until time to leave and I got my car caught in the mud. The front of my car just went deeper as I tried to rock my way out. The hay bales saved me. With lots of help from my fellow artists who stuck pads of hay under my tires, I eventually got out. The car was covered with mud. Stopped in a carwash on my way home but some mud still remains. I also have plenty of mud inside. Quite an outing.

My Mexican Beach

This isolated beach is pristine except for a few bodies near the surf. It is nice to have such a getaway. You almost want no one to know about it. Obviously, some have found it and even live in this paradise. A couple of features to this painting include the wet reflections of the beach people. They are just hinted but create a wet sand. The other is the back lighting creating silhouettes of the tall palms bringing them close even without details.

Last Look at Dreams Resort, Huatulco

Got a taxi to a harbor promoted by our guide in the hotel. It took about 5 minutes to get there and then I trekked through a jungle with water and vines onto the beach. I then realized that I was only a mile or so from our beach. Needless to say, I walked back after the painting was done. It was very hot.

Santa Cruz Harbor

This cozy harbor with steep banks is where the large cruise ships stop. They use that long wharf. I arrived early to paint and down below me was a parade of sailors in white, marching to a drummer. They did this for about an hour. Probably good to get that over before it gets too hot. Reminded me of my basic training in Lubboc, Texas in August. We started at 5AM. Huatulco is misleading to those arriving on cruises as well as air. The harbor is not commercial. As you wind your way out to resorts, the roads are clean with white curbs and manicured green verges. It is in contrast to other areas found in Mexico. The apartments are tucked into the hills. There are several layers of mountains, including the the Sierra Madre. The trees have a rust color yet the foliage does not fall. The rains don't come until June. Anything green is being watered.

Morning in Huatulco Old Town

I brought my painting gear into town and there were 3 tour buses. This is not a large town, but a simple Mexican layout with a central park and a church. A cruise ship was in port and the buses were from there. They eventually left and everything quieted down. A local asked where I was from, we got to talking and he directed me to this upstairs coffee shop on the corner, as a good place to paint. No one was there but me. By noon it was full of regulars. You had to know where the stairs were to get there. I was pretty much finished by noon but got a lot of comments and was surprised by the many who spoke English. One fellow asked if I would be back next year because he wanted to buy a fishing reel from Walmart. It is wonderful to get lost in your painting and then wake up to a totally different exchange.

Climate Change

Returned from Mexico last night. Went on a charter with a group of golfers. I do not golf but brought along my paints and found some places for plein aire painting. Took my time (approx 2.5hr) because it was hot and humid. Everything dried quickly which was helpful at times. The location in Huatulco was sunny, warm and swarming with vacationers. Maybe a thousand at the resort which was all inclusive. I never experienced this before and had difficulty dealing with all of the food and drink. I saw an article which called this type of vacation, 'Fly and Flop'. It is really right on. There seemed to be a waiter for each client. This scene was viewed from above the hotel with a morning sun which shaded most rocks. As the morning wore on, the rocks became more white. There was little surf or waves.

West Davis Pond

We have good painting weather. Our group was out painting from the bike path running along west Davis pond. The trees are bare of foliage for the most part but there is some green vegetation in the background. I had trouble developing a focal area in this painting. The bare trees were back lit with the morning sun. This gave them a very black and deep value. When I put in the couple on the bench for my focus area, it was no competition with the dark trees. I lightened the tree value but I was still not satisfied.

A Road Less Traveled

It has been awhile since I've posted but I have been painting. Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken", indicates to me that one must make a choice. Things have recently unsettled and getting out to paint has been difficult at times. Today was a sunny warm day in northern California. I did a quick sketch and painted this scene in an hour. Love mixing up the greens. We live near a ditch that runs beside the bike path. I often walk the dog down here when not muddy. I know this road well and had fun climbing down into the ditch and painting.