An Empty Main Street

This is the main street of Locke. Locke CA is an old Chinese settlement of workers who built the great railroads and levees on the Delta.  It is a wonderful place for plein air painting because of the old buildings with porches and dilapidated  alleyways. Some business is still active but it is a tourist destination.  The bikers love to come here and roar up and down Main Street.  We have great weather and yesterday we were there for a paint=out.  I worked wet into wet and boned out some buildings as it dried.  It was a big puddle for a long time but I came back with some dry brush.

Painting With Grandkids

The kids are here for the holidays and we are painting.  Did a quick rooster for them and turned them loose.  They took their paintings with them on a visit to friends so I don't have any to show.  It was fun.  By the way I let the watercolor blossom around the eye and it created the perfect circle for paining in an eye.

Windblown Cypress

Constant wind off the ocean creates beautiful changes in cypress trees.  These hardy trees stand up to the force but the canopy takes the hit.  Here, I painted a cluster of cypress trees on the hill.  The wind effect is evident.  A familiar scene for travelers going along the Pacific coast.  The light source is from the right.  The sailboats are there to create some informal balance to the composition. 

Over My Toes

This was a perspective study originally.  I decided to try it again with a wet into wet approach using bright colors.  The horizon line is 1/3 down from the top.  All of the buildings are below so a lot of roof is seen.  I imagine looking over my toes while sitting in bed.  The wet approach gives some blossoms which I used along the right side of the wharf.  The sky was also an experimental wash with several colors.  It was a fun piece to do.

Care Needed

It was a frosty start yesterday in Arbuckle, CA.  The sun eventually warmed the place.  I chose to paint the old railroad station and stay in the sun.  The station is actually fenced in with a large sign on it requesting donations for restoration.  I remember seeing this beauty several years ago with all sorts of things growing up through the platform and building.  These have all been removed and it just sits there naked.  I removed  the fences but I painted a rickety structure that has plenty of work needed.  The sun created some nice shadows from the exposed beams.

There was not a lot of activity in Arbuckle but a few cars stopped to pick something up on Main St.  A long train rolled by.  The large parking lot remained empty except for a few painters.  It was great to be outside.

Wash Day

Several years ago while painting in Acapulco, Mexico, someone took me to the river in the morning.  The water was shallow and strung across the water was laundry, hung out to dry.  There were rows and rows of sheets, clothes billowing in the breeze on makeshift clotheslines.  I climbed over the road fence with my easel and paints and trekked up the river bank.  It was not nice.  Rats scurried and there was garbage and trash all along the water line.  There, I saw the women, scrubbing the laundry.  Some of them had some shade from branches, others did not.  There was an assembly line from the wash tub to the clothesline.  I painted away as the sun rose and it got hot.  This is a redo of that original work.

Blue Car

More indoor painting as our temperature stays cold.  Just thinking about summer and Cape Cod warms me up.  This scene is a complete head shot as I remember Main Street in Harwich Port on Cape Cod.  There always seem to be people cruising up and down between the Kite Shop and George's Pizza.  I have done paintings of both these places many times.  This painting was done with a lot of thought about color.  Wherever possible, I put in complementary colors to create conflict.  I purposely put in many figures to enliven the scene.  My light source is 3/4 Right and I imagined the cast shadows.  All in all, it was an afternoon of fun.