With temperatures reaching triple digits, the lavender crop was ready early. We went out to beautiful Capay Valley to take it in and paint. Things were buzzing with the pickers ranch hands. The fields appear to have a lavender cloud over them with the green base. It brought me back to years being in southern France seeing and smelling the field of lavender. It was a bit difficult to find shade for painting but the setting is so nice with the blue sky and Capay hills in the background. Thank you to the people of Patchwork Farm.
During the quarantine I've been trying several ways of showing the arboretum. For a couple months I have painted all over the paths that wind through the beautiful plants and trees. I do not want a realistic painting of them. What first calls to me are the shadows and the lights created by all of the vegetation, so that is what I emphasize in this painting.
The morning plain air painting was again at the arboretum on the UCDavis Campus. Davis has had black bear sightings on two consecutive days and named the bear(s) Gilligan. Not sure he was here today but was on my mind. There is so much material on the campus for painters. We have a huge Veterinary school and hospital next to the arboretum at one end. They ofter have exotic animals in the yard. I really don't have an excuse for putting the bear in the painting. It does strengthen the value and depth.
It is Wednesday which is about the only day that is different for me. We have a small group that goes plein air painting on Wed. For the past month we have explored many areas of the beautiful arboretum on the UCDavis Campus. We freely park and move about and then join up to show our paintings. It is a group that has been together for a long time. We keep our social distance and were face covers when together. Today we were in the Redwood section. The sun was out for awhile with a chill in the air. We have been in the 90's over the past week. I paint quickly and have been experimenting with rather abstract landscapes. I do not bone out details of branches, leaves or most shrubs. My second painting was rather blah when I looked at it so I used gouache on the two foreground trees. I like the result although I only have the 3 primary colors in gouache and find mixing difficult. I doubt I will be using it for entire paintings anytime soon.
. Our plein air painters have been enjoying the sights at the UCDavis Arboretum. We have traveled the length of it finding things to paint or sketch. It is an amazing place with no traffic and very few people. My watercolors are all quick sketches wet into wet. The opportunity to do this is so therapeutic with all the sheltering involving the rest of the week. I used a yellow sky and bright red spot to contrast with all of the greens present. Reminds me of children who always put the sky in the corner of their drawings. One painting is a spillway that runs down the hill into the pond. Right now it was dry. I find the outings an opportunity to do some fun experiments.
. The arboretum is alive with trees and flowers and practically no one there. I have been painting different areas. No problems with parking as the school is not in session with the virus. Love mixing all the different greens needed at this time of the year. It can be challenging. I am using a credit card and a palette knife paint some of the structures. Most of the scenes are painted wet into wet. Here is one I did last week.
Found a photo of mine from years ago. I was on the bank in front of an auction house sketching and painting the Chatham downtown scene. I was always challenged by the whites and grays of the houses and buildings on the Cape.
This is my take on the imagined spring of the downtown in Chatham. It has nothing to do with the current crises of closes business and stay at home customers.
One would think that fog and watercolor would be a natural. There are many ways to do it. Whitney tried putting the paint down and rubbing it out and later turned to misting the shapes to show fog. After all, fog is just rain drops causing loss of the sharpness and color of what is in the fog. In a painting with fog the value scale is at the lower end, perhaps 3-5. In order to show fog you put color and definition into the foreground shapes. Others make up a color for fog. There is paint on the market that is labeled fog. Mixing a grey and doing a graded wash is what was done in this painting. A little color and definition starts to appear and then the rock shapes are definite and colored. In the past I created fog by using a graded wash of sky color and then washing it away. I watched the fog over the Golden Gate come in and leave blue sky above, so I washed the fogged in areas with clear water. I'll bet there are more ways to do it.
. This composition evolved from a house that I sketched in Mendocino, CA. The result was just a house so I decided to add. Eventually, the house was reduced to nothing special and I added the landscape. Finally, I put the cows in front. I'm not sure any of this fits with the lovely little town of Mendocino except for the cottage. This is fun making up scenes with no pressure to do anything. I'm ready to start abstraction. I have always felt that abstract art was on a different level. A good friend just died. Her gallery published an obituary with pictures of her abstract work. Their interpretations were wonderful. I always liked her work but she would never tell me the story she was telling.
There is something nostalgic about VW buses. This is a very old model as I remember. They were commonplace during the 6o's. I did not own one but had friends and when it appeared, a good time was ahead. There is a shop in Sacramento that works on VWs and often I see the old model buses. I have painted them into several of my paintings done on Cape Cod because I see them there. It is a bit more difficult drawing it from memory.
I had a photo of this old house which I sketched from and painted a value study. This study was missing something so I put in a VW Bus. One of the discoveries that comes from value studies is composition and connecting shapes.
. I've painted a lot over 6 years in Sausalito. There are terrific views of the Golden Gate from Fort Baker where you can set up pretty close. I am not there now. This painting is from memory and many sketches done. Fog comes in under and over the bridge. This is the cooling system for the Sacramento Valley. This cool fog travels up the Delta and keeps us cool during the night. Many a summer tourist to SF has arrived dressed for warm weather only to learn that it is the coldest time of the year. Sausalito is in Marin and stays warm until the very end of the day. I will return and do some plein air work in Sausalito.
. It's only 3 days to the start of spring. After weeks of beautiful weather with sunshine and temps in the high 70s and 80s, we are cold with rain and dark skies. This adds to the misery of isolation and quarantine from our pandemic. It does mean painting but I'd prefer to be out doing plein air. As I manipulate my photos I want to see value changes and the real thing. When plein air painting, it is like taking an exam with all the answers in front of you.
One of my great moments as a child growing up in New England was the 'no school whistle' that sounded after a big snow storm. It meant breaking out the board games and playing music with my sibs. There are some similarities to the current quarantine with the corona virus, painting plus the board games. I pulled out some photos and did some sketching and painting and there went nearly an entire day. This painting is a scene of a favorite bike ride in Winters CA. There is no shortage of places to paint in this area. I like plein air painting there and take it all in including the smells and sounds. It is a favorite.
. The morning sun was shining and our group traveled out to farm lands east of Davis. As you can see from the photo this barn was not much and was quite distant in a large field. I set my easel up and did a value study trying to decide if should go any further. Everyone else was settled in with various trees and roads, so I decided to paint, making several changes. This is the warmest weather (74) we've had this month and I was very comfortable. I love painting old barns and bone yards. We have lots of them to practice on. If they are not old looking, I know how to transform them and give them some aging.
. It was a beautiful morning. Our group came looking for an old barn. Actually, there were several old barns, barking dogs, lots of junk, eg. cars, tractors, sheds, etc. on the site. Sunflowers were farmed last year and the field was ready for planting. I did several sketches and added and eliminated until I finally found something for painting. I sketched more on my watercolor paper and then even added more while painting the scene. It was one of those days. Warm, sunny with just a little wind. No-one around other than our group. I should have taken a photo, since the painting is very different with my additions and rearrangements. It was fun to fuss with the painting and hope that I didn't do too much. I've always lived with the rule that watercolor painting is like golf; the fewest strokes wins.
. A tornado came in from the ocean and hit Harwich on Cape Cod. We had the warning but couldn't believe it until we heard the screaming wind and retreated to the basement. It was over quickly but the cleanup lasted. The chain saws and grinders greeted us every morning. Every tree and arborist in New England seemed to land on Cape Cod and worked throughout the summer. I didn't have to go far to sketch the damage. I did some paintings plein air. Recently, I saw a painting done on a full sheet in watercolor that reminded me of my sketches. I couldn't wait to paint another from my sketches.
. This morning I was visiting a large marina to paint some boats. In setting up I tried to find shade from he hot sun. Under a large palm I found myself facing this little enclave jutting out into the bay. I did this painting in an hour and then went off then to paint sailboats. I did attract visitors who were also walking under the palm trees. We had a lot in common, since everyone was on vacation and looking for something to do.
Away for a week and returned 7Lbs heavier. That by itself, tells you how good it was. Marival is a new resort with wonderful staff and 5 class restaurants. I can cook and consider myself a food critic. This was the real thing. I avoided all inclusive resort until 3 yrs ago. This was really amazing with someone always making sure I had something to drink or eat, during all my waking hours. I lose all self-discipline at ‘all inclusives’. They maybe on the New Years list of resolutions next year?
This plein air painting was done from my balcony. These wonderful palapa buildings are high above the beach. They are huge. The ocean is pretty calm in this bay but with plenty of whale activity. I tried painting the resort from several areas but quit early when food and drink arrived.
. Just back from Mexico and out with my Plein air painters. This morning is warm, about 60 degrees, and the hills are green. The trees are not yet budding but it won't be long. These are perfect conditions for painting. The sun creates some shadows as well as rim lighting on some tree limbs. The water is running fast as it is coming down from the dam just up the canyon. Ducks even appear every so often.
