Heart's Desire Beach, Inverness, CA

This is a nice state park at Point Reyes, CA.  We arrived early with no one in sight and started painting.  Soon, the beach filled up with picnickers, swimmers and party goers. The trees close to the beach are laden with moss which hangs down.  A few sailboats anchored off shore and we met some boaters who live on board and home school the kids.  But, it all started off very serene with a blue sky that did not have a cloud in it. 

Marshall Boat Works

Painted this morning in a boatyard on Tomales Bay in Point Reyes, CA.  Beautiful blue sky and lots of boats.  I selected a few along with a couple of the trash barrels, posts and wires that seemed to fill the yard.  I did it all in 2 1/2 hrs.  It was quiet with a few people on passing on bicycles.  The best thing is that the boatyard is next to an oyster farm.  I bought some ice and took a couple dozen oysters home for dinner.

Sails on the Lake

Spent the morning with Mikey and his watercolor class.  Resuscitated this scene from a black and white print that he had.  Lots of good pointers.

Rice Harvesting in Woodland CA

Was at the Conaway Ranch this morning trying to find a place to sketch and paint.  It was cool and breezy looking over 26,000 acres of rice fields that had been harvested.  Lots of birds in the water and trenches of the field.  I spotted this harvester that was back lit with the rising sun.  Below was a water channel and there were many grasses that reached very high along the borders. 
The way that I proceeded was to wet the sky area and around the harvester down to the horizon.  I dropped 3 primary colors in spots and then tilted the board and mixed them.  I laid it down on the road to dry but it was quickly found by ants.  Next I wet the harvester and distant bank of the waterway and dropped 3 primary staining colors in and mixed them.  A halo was left around the harvester and some grasses with a candle.  Back lighting produces a silhouette so no details were painted on the harvester.  The foreground was warmer and again, all grasses.  I painted these and left a little white for the water. 
Overall, I liked the concept but this is probably a studio project.

Two Minute Gesture

Each week I try to spend time sketching the figure.  The two minute gesture pose is my favorite.  No fuss over detail.  I try doing these with different approaches; volume, continuous line, geometric lines, pen and ink and watercolor.  The results continue to amaze.  I have volumes filled with these sketches and have not made an attempt to save them from smudging.  Now is the time to start and maybe they will be useful for paintings. 

Lunch at the Burro Burracho

Made reservations this morning to spend a week at a favorite place in Mexico.  For many years now this has been a winter retreat and I have done lots of painting and conducted workshops.  This is just a week with the family in November but it will be fun.  Just thinking of it made me get out the paints and paint one of the local spots, the Burro Burracho or the drunken burro.  The memories of surfing, sun, casual dining and just hanging out are potato chips for the soul.  Can't wait to get there.

Cache Creek Remnant

The sun was bright while we were painting this morning in Esparto, CA.  The Cache Creek runs through with its stone riverbed.  Right now, the water level is low and debris from previous storms line the banks.  I found this spot with an old tree and set up behind it for a painting.  You can see the low water level in the background and the carved out river bank.  Everything is very dry.  This scene will change when the rains come in early winter.  My tree stump will probably relocate when that happens.