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Experiments in Paint
Painting is one of the most challenging endeavors. With every subject, and every painting there are new challenges and lessons learned. I think of each painting as a new experiment. This journal documents the journey.Archives
Category Archives: plein air
Coastal Living
Last week Jim Wodark and I went south, to the La Jolla coast to find a place to paint. La Jolla is an affluent seaside community along the Pacific Ocean in San Diego, home of University of California, San Diego, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The sky had high clouds which caused the sun to appear and disappear sporadically.
Coastal Living, Oil on Linen 12 x 16
I saw women in tank-tops, walking along the road bordering the ocean, so I made the decision to wear only one sweatshirt. As it turns out, painting along the cliff edge, in the shade and breeze can be very cold, as I was finishing the painting, I found myself shivering. Afterward, my friend Jim Wodark and I ate at Smashburger. The “San Diego Burger” was delicious, and I am sure that we will return, not just for the beautiful scenery, but also for more Smashburger .
Also posted in painting progression, Seascape
Tagged La Jolla, painting process, Plein air
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Shimmering Sea
Even though it is January, here in Southern California, we just experienced a little heat wave. On Friday, I went to Laguna Beach on the north end of Heisler Park and set up to paint. I had worn several layers of clothing, but ended up painting barefoot and shirtless. Despite the warmth, it is still winter, which means that the light still rakes across the landscape at an acute angle and the light can be blinding.
Shimmering Sea 11 x 14, Oil on Linen
What drew me to this scene was that as you looked across the water, the foam on the water caught the light of the sun, yet to adequately capture that, I had to depict every other value as much, much darker. The second problem I faced, was the color of the water. As I looked at the water, I thought it looked violet then green then blue, red, yellow, orange, all at the same time. Clearly the hue was very desaturated, so I chose a color (violet), and increased the saturation (chroma). I thought that it may be an interesting contrast to the yellow glare. Lastly, I exaggerated the “S-shape” of the sea glare to lead the eye through the painting.
Warm Laguna
Painting in the late afternoon light is challenging because the scene in front of you changes so quickly. It also can be rewarding. Sometimes as I scan thumbnails of my paintings, I feel a “sameness” of color palate, a lot of yellows, blues and greens. Painting in the waning afternoon light, changes all that.
Warm Laguna, Oil on Linen 12 x 16
On a Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago, I set out to the North Laguna Beach trailhead with a commanding view of Laguna Main Beach, set up, and began to paint; knowing that like it or not, the light would be completely gone in 90 minutes. The warm setting sun, caused the sky to be a pale green, the distant hills to become lavender, and the foreground trees to light up in oranges and reds. This painting is “looser” than others I have painted recently, but I guess that is the trade off, when you are racing the sun.
Also posted in impressionism, Laguna Beach, Seascape
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Autumn in California
This week it was clear that the painting that I wanted to do involved sycamores. The America’s East Coast has the beautiful fall foliage of the maple trees. Here in California, we get the more subtle golden orange colors of the majestic sycamores. In the last few weeks, sycamores have started to turn.
As you may have noticed, these paintings are in a 1:2 format (they measure 6 x 12 inches). I have been invited to participate in a small paintings show at the Debra Huse Gallery on Balboa Island, (all the paintings must have these dimensions). It will be very interesting to see how other artists tackle both this small size and the interesting shape.
The light colored sycamore trunks have beautiful cool colors. If I accentuate the blues of the trunks, I can more easily reveal the orange of the autumn leaves.
Laguna Beach Vista
This morning, I had a sudden change of plans which left me with an unexpected day to paint. At the recent art show I noticed several paintings of Laguna beach with some beautiful eucalyptus trees. My friend, artist Carolyn Hesse-Lowe, an artist from San Diego, told me about a path into the Laguna Wilderness area at the top of one of the residential streets in north Laguna. It was an interesting location, and I could see that there were several ways to paint the scene. In the future, I may try this scene in a more horizontal format.
Laguna Beach Vista 11 x 14
There is another aspect of this painting which I found interesting and enjoyable. I used more paint than usual and applied the paint quickly (see below a detail view of this painting), I also usually tend to paint at a “higher key”, in other words fairly light paintings, and I made sure to not go too light, so that I would have enough of the value scale to make the crashing waves the lightest value in the painting.
Although, both trees were eucalyptuses, i exaggerated the difference in color between them.
Also posted in Laguna Beach, Seascape
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Path to the Beach
Although trying to photograph at night might not yield much color, when we are out at night, we do see color. The color, however, is affected by the cool light of the moon, and because of the decreased light, the color is desaturated. When painting a nocturne, I find that the lightest lights are lighter than I first imagine.
This Painting was made on the last day of the Laguna Beach Invitational, before Randy Higbee’s (King of Frame), final day framing party. 
I will rarely use this type of composition (Converging line), but I thought it would be nice in this case to include this thumbnail to explain the composition type.
Path to the Beach (Nocturne) 12 x 16, oil on linen
Boston Whaler
Sometimes fatigue or desperation work in your favor. Last Tuesday, during the invitational, the marine layer had kept the coast largely in fog. By the afternoon, it appeared as if the sun might be able to break through the haze, so I headed to the public dock areas on the Newport Peninsula. There I saw a Boston Whaler. I liked the bright orange color of the seats that were exposed to the sun. Beside it, floated a grey zodiac with a yellow tarp. The paint on this picture is more loosely applied. I like the effect and plan, in the future, to be a little more liberal with my paint application.
Boston Whaler 12 x 16, oil on linen
Also posted in impressionism, Seascape, Sketch
Tagged Boston Whaler, Newport Peninsula
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Canyon Light
On Monday, the second day of the Laguna invitational, I decided to paint the fading light of the Laguna Canyon. I had mentioned in a previous post, that when the light changes rapidly, some artists will choose to do a small field study, and then work the painting into a larger size in the studio. Instead of that approach, I chose a smaller canvas, and mixed enough paint to be able to apply the paint rapidly during the 20 minutes or so in which the light effect is visible.
Canyon Light 9 x 12
Thanks to Doug Stotts a fellow artist who happened to be painting on location and took this picture.
Also posted in Laguna Beach, Landscape, Sketch
Tagged Dusk, Laguna Canyon, Plein air
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Solitude
Thank you all for coming to the Gala event tonight, at the Laguna Beach Art Museum. It was a lot of fun to see the work of my artist friends. We had a whole week to paint anywhere in Orange County California, and 44 artists brought a lifetime of experience to interpret the landscape.
Many of you who have visited the Crystal Cove Historic district will recognize this iconic little structure, an outpost. It’s color is a beautiful bright sea green that just shines in the daylight. At night, however, everything changes.
Solitude 11 x 14 Oil on linen
The Backyard Shed
I have been painting this week in the 13th Annual Laguna Beach Invitational. Honestly, I feel like I had a rough start. On Sunday, I attempted a painting that felt very forced. Every brushstroke felt labored. On Monday, I was starting to feel a bit apprehensive when I drove to Silverado Canyon with my painting buddy Jim Wodark (who was also painting in the invitational). Behind the old Silverado Cafe, near the creek, we saw some houses underneath a beautiful sycamore tree. The shed in the back had a small sign that said “Dukes’” which I suspect belonged to a horse or a freakishly large dog. I liked the way the clear and cool October light reflected off the various surfaces, including a blindingly beautiful green lawn.
In the end, I chose not to submit this painting, but I really enjoyed painting it. I started to relax and have a much more productive week.
The Backyard Shed 11 x 14
Golden West College Group Show
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