Little House on Campus

Finally, the weather cooperated for our painting group. The forecast called for rain so we chose a site close by in case it was wrong. The morning turned out chilly but no rain. The sun was bright and this little yellow house on the University campus just jumped out wanting to be painted. It was on the airport road so I had a few visitors while painting and that was a good distraction. I also worried about someone practicing take-0ffs and landings at the University airport. All of which kept me from thinking about being cold. As Californians we don't often deal well with weather issues. I just returned from the warm sunny coast of Mexico. The contrast with painting here is how long it takes paper to dry with these cold temperatures.

Painting the Davis Arboretum

Our plein air group was at the Davis Arboretum this week. A beautiful day and place to paint. The trees are still green with no fall color to be found yet. Everything is well maintained in the arboretum which is on the University of California, Davis campus. I painted on 2 different days because we had some clouds on one of the days. We don't see many clouds here in Davis. Both paintings included Putah Creek which runs through the campus. It is always a challenge to mix different greens to match the values.

Solitude

I went out early this morning to the Univ of California, Davis Arboretum to do some sketching and painting. Only the birds were making noise and then some very young campers wound past me in a long single file of bicycles down to the creek. A woman sat alone on a bench staring ahead at the vista that included the creek. I started sketching the scene and she remained absolutely still on the bench so,I included her in the sketch. She was silhouetted because of the back lighting and only some blonde hair showed color on the top of her head. She disappeared when I started painting and then reappeared in the exact pose she was in previously. I painted for more than an hour and she remained almost to the end. I doubt she was aware of me painting. The arboretum is a peaceful place with its plants; a perfect place for meditation.

Arboretum Morning

It is still warm enough in the morning to paint on location. This is a plein air painting of the local arboretum on the University campus. I keep waiting for fall colors to show, but they have been slow developing. The challenge in doing this scene is to mix a lot of greens. New gamboge and thalo blue, French ultramarine and new gamboge, raw sienna and ultramarine, burnt sienna and ultramarine mixtures give a nice range of greens. The shadows were quickly changing but it was a wonderful feeling, painting. It is an idyllic place with busy runners and gardeners all around. Everything is well kept. Seems like the ideal place to give a workshop.

First Rains

Painted this morning from under a bridge. The light was not the greatest but watercolor and rain are not a good combination, so we stayed dry under the bridge. The plein air painting was done at a remote site on the University campus. There were 7 of us braving this first rainfall of the season. The steady drizzle and brought some leaves down. I decided to use only 3 primaries to paint the scene. I figured on using greys, so mixed raw sienna, permanent rose and manganese blue. These combinations provided all the colors that were needed. One issue though is that my paper (Arches 140 cold press) stayed wet and the paint always diluted out and made it difficult to get edges. There was no way to dry it while painting.

Path Along Putah Creek

It is going to be hot today.  I was up and out early to do some painting.  I even arrived before the summer campers.  They did eventually trail along this path several times to go for a swim and I got lots of nice comments on my work.  The Creek is down the bank on the right.
I mixed several greens to get some value changes.  The darkest greens were distant and the closer greens had more yellow.  They cast very strong shadows.  I was very content to be there painting and staying cool.

Abandoned Housing

Way out, on the back forty of the campus, there exists a group of old houses that are not maintained and belong to the University. Most likely housed faculty a long time ago.  The buildings are clustered around some large shade trees.  Plenty of squirrels and other critters became frantic on our arrival.  Their routine  was interrupted by of a bunch of artists setting up to paint.  What a great spot for a studio.

This morning was very sunny and I tried to capture the intense cast shadows on the structures.  They changed quickly as the morning moved on.  I had several sketches to mark the shading and cast shadows and this was a great help.  I will be back.