North Davis Pond

A beautiful day for painting, Our plain air group gathered at the North Davis Pond which is near my house. We all arrived ready for cold since the temp dropped to 35 degrees during the night. It quickly warmed up and all of the extras soon came off. There was still some color in the trees despite the winds this week. It was a good day to be out painting. Painting is therapy as I felt so good and met many of my neighbors.

Rain Over Davis

The rain arrived overnight and the Yolo Bypass got its fix. This is a stop on the migratory bird flyway and I have painted it many times. It is quite a large area with lots of marsh and water. I gave it some large thunder head clouds and lots of color on the far hills. During my teaching this past month we painted clouds with lots of successful paintings resulting. It is interesting since we do not see many cumulous clouds in our skies.

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.

Atop Berryessa

Our Wednesday plain air group went to Lake Berryessa Dam on a sunny warm morning. The rock formations are alluring so I settled by the roadside to paint them. It was tricky and far more difficult than I imagined. The morning sun was coming up so shadows changed rather quickly. This is always a challenge with Plain Air painting but with all the different rock edges casting shadows, it is daunting. I sketched out what I wanted to paint and put in some shadows. By the start of painting, the cast shadows changed and continued changing. Never the less, it was a good outing.

I did this painting earlier in August but I am fascinated with the color complements I didn't do it justice with the range of color in the first attempt so i did it over today. I love the yellow against the blue and also against the violet. It is a simple composition but very effective. I also did more detail in the foreground.

Loading and Unloading at the Airport

I am back in California. Where I live, it is rare to see interesting skies for painting. This is what watercolor is excellent at capturing. Recently saw a painting of an airplane with a bright cloudy sky and white airplane so decided to try painting one in a wet into wet style. It is relatively fast to do it in the studio since I use a dryer. I like the stark white of the plane contrasting with dark shadow.

The Last Days of Summer

Lots of painting and lots of guests. That has been my summer at Cape Cod. I have not posted all of the work. Some of it unfinished but this will serve as a bookend. I bought some new brushes, mops with good points and in 3 different sizes. They will be all I need for plein air work. I learned patience in watercolor and for me that is a big change. I like to paint quickly and do a couple of paintings when out. There is much to like about slow going with repeating washes. I did this painting of 3 boats plein air and used my new brushes. It is difficult to leave Cape Cod. Had some wonderful times. My grandchildren and children visited. We shared some tasty meals with all the fresh fish available here. I never slept so well. See you next summer.