House on Eureka in Davis

A group of artists arrived this morning to see and paint in Kris Bell's newly finished gardens.  Her yard is spacious and has lots of plants started.  The design and landscaping were recently completed.  It is well done and gives rise to many great spaces for plants.
I love the street view of the house because of the very tall mature trees that line it.  They really dwarf the houses along it.  I tried to capture that in this painting.  I tried out some of my new green mixes.  It was a nice sunny day and I met many of the neighbors while painting.

Utah Creek Trail

What a difference a summer makes. Painted here in the spring with greenery and budding trees. After a continued draught everything is dry, dead and dusty. I was out there on Wednesday morning with my plain air group. Lots of sneezing and itchy eyes with the stuff blowing around, but I'd rather be painting.

Waitng for the 9:19

Took my group out on Friday morning for some plein air painting. Big turnout but the sun went in and the sky clouded over. We decided to paint a scene that included some of the Davis Train Station with our theme 'waiting for the train'. Being Friday with an up-coming holiday weekend, there was plenty of activity at the depot between trains. My initial sketch had some shadows so I put them in at the end. It is a problem painting at the station, since parking is limited to two hours. We made the most of it with some quick painting. I had a foreground to fill in but time ran out so I cropped it. (No parking tickets.)
I really value the time painting and teaching my group. During these sessions, I don't take the time to carefully paint, but I just let it go and try lots of things. I like to save time for some individual help and critique. The time goes quickly.

Davis Train Station

It was sunny and about 80 degrees and I had to get out and paint. I wound up at a favorite site, the old Southern Pacific train depot in Davis. This is a busy place with students and teachers coming and going. At this time it was very quiet. The station has undergone remodeling over the years.
I did all of my color mixing on paper, direct glazing. It is much more juicy when done this way. I try new colors and try them on the paper. It would be better to try them on a scrap piece of watercolor paper before, but I have not done that. I can usually remove or add color so that it approaches what I want.

Old Country Bridge Over Creek

It was raining at 8:30AM but a few of us went on our Wednesday Paint out. The sky stayed overcast and finally started to warm. Hey, what is this? It's the end of April in California. Rain is usually an exception at this time of year. It is a given that every day will be sunny and warm from this time of year. There was only slight shadow cast from the rust eroded rails on the bridge. It is a gravel road but the bridge road was concrete and smooth. Only one car came through all morning. Plenty of birds chirping and someone shooting off a shot gun in the distance. It is a great day to be out in the country. I do not know what species of tree is growing up out of the creek. While it looks like a wide trunk, it is actually a group of tree trunks growing next to each other.

Davis Icon Gone

It's fun to go back and review previous paintings. I painted this structure 23 years ago. It was a tower seen from the highway driving by Davis to Woodland. It is gone. Rarely, do I make changes in a painting done in the past and signed. As I look around my walls at paintings there are many that I would like to tweak this way or that.
I remember painting this. I felt at the time that I was too close to get a good perspective and it was so hot, that I just wanted to finish and get into the shade. Things were drying so fast. I have since found a trick to keep the painting wet longer. A couple of drops of glycerin in the water does the trick. Too much and it will take forever to dry.

Spring in Willowbank

It was a chilly morning and I found a sunny spot to set up and paint. Lots of green veggies to deal with. Mixed a lot of different greens on the paper. The tree in the foreground was massive; I'm not sure what variety of tree it is but lots of little green leafs starting to pop. The tree was done wet on wet. I painted a silhouette of the trunk and branches with clear water and kept dropping in color and it turned into some wonderful colors. The figures at the end of the path were put there so there would be some reward for following the path out. It turned out to be a good morning painting.

My Muse

The Muses are nine goddesses in Greek mythology who control and symbolize 9 types of art known to Ancient Greece,  My muse is a depot.  It is a source of inspiration for me, with its wonderful Spanish architecture.  It is an icon for Davis, CA.  I gather my paints and setup somewhere around the building and jump right in.  There is some urgency at the station with travelers waiting and little kids waiting for different reasons.  The big engines roar into and out of the station.  I am nearly always engaged by someone while painting.  It maybe a traveler, a greeter, a homeless person who will stay and monitor my progress.  This creates a deadline as I work to develop a finished painting.  Maybe this is why I am attracted to the station; my procrastination ends.

Giants Along the Freeway

I've painted these mega silos before but from the highway side. This morning the sun was on the other side so this is the backside, so to speak. The pickup truck and phone pole give an idea of size. The owner was out to talk about his plans for the silos since they are not used for this. He used to have old trucks parked alongside but he moved them to the farm. The train track runs along the side of the buildings and was going by as I painted. The furrows have been placed and it is time to plant.
It was a fine day for plein air painting with the temp about 73 degrees.

Train Station Therapy

There is a wonderful restored Southern Pacific Station in Davis and it has been a source of resuscitation for my painting. It is so therapeutic to set up and paint it with all of the sounds and people rushing off to near and far places. I had the company of Jeff the homeless guy today who gave a running account of the homeless life and why he chose to stay in Davis. He has lots of info about the trains. I finished this painting in 90min as the parking police continuously monitor the parking with some kind of gun. You can not repark, so you have to leave. Jeff was also off to use the internet. It was a good morning.

Early Morning Davis Commute

My muse is the Davis Train Station. I have painted it so many times plein air, that I can put a painting together in 20 minutes and it is fun. I tried a yellow, red and blue sky to indicate the rising sun and gave the people long shadows. I have painted the station in the early morning and that is the east where the sun comes up. Because I wanted a tall exaggerated front of the station I painted it on the vertical. Most of my work (99%) is done on a half sheet (15x23") and when I frame, it has a 3.5" mat around it. They are all for sale.

Back home with my muse

Whenever I need to get started painting after a break, I return to my favorite subject, the local train station. I know it so well, that I can paint it in my sleep. I like to set up somewhere around the structure and I always see something new. I knocked this one out in about 20min.