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Recent Posts
- The English Garden
- The Lettuce Garden
- Baby Painting
- Roadside Blooms
- Stables
- Watershed
- El Moro Clouds
- Coastal Gathering
- Outpost
- Agua Tibia Wash
- Rhythm of The Crashing
- Gliderport Oaks
- At Times the Sun Shines Through
- One of Two Harbors
- Dreams of Shark Harbor
- Rancho Escondido
- Above Avalon
- Catalina Yacht Club
- Coastal Living
- Shimmering Sea
- Warm Laguna
- Autumn in California
- Laguna Beach Vista
- Path to the Beach
- Boston Whaler
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.-
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Category Archives: plein air
One of Two Harbors
The town of Two Harbors occupies a portion of land called the Isthmus of Catalina Island. At this point the island of Catalina is only half a mile wide, and the bodies of water on either side of the town, are the two harbors. What drew me to this view- looking toward the southern side of the island, was the interesting shapes of the eucalyptus trees. After a foggy morning, when the sun finally broke through, the bright colors of the water, grass, and the orange colors of the hills, were exciting to paint.
One of Two Harbors, Oil on Linen, 12 x 16
Rancho Escondido
As our group drove across Catalina Island in search of places to paint, we notice some majestic tall sycamores in a valley below. The eucalyptus trees were easily 80 feet high. Unlike the eucalyptus trees that we see around more urban settings, these trees, had not been painstakingly trimmed, so the branches reached the ground, and the bark peeled off in large clumps.
Rancho Escondido, 12 x 16, Oil on Linen
This Valley is very near a winery that is being developed on Catalina Island. I wonder how accessible this place will be in the future. They are currently building a road that will go around the winery, so that there will be less traffic near the vines (in the 3 hours we were there painting, only one truck went by).
My interest in this scene was in capturing the differences in the nearer compared to the further eucalyptus trees.
Above Avalon
Catalina island is a beautiful sanctuary about 20 miles from the heavily populated Southern California coast. It is a real treat for a painter to arrive and have such a wealth of subject matter, so after arriving on a beautiful sunny day, I felt a little bit of pressure to not waste the last 2 hours of sunlight. I convinced Jesse (not that he needed much convincing), to hike up the western side of the island to a strand of eucalyptus trees. From there we could see much of the Avalon Harbor. When we arrived, we startled a large deer that had been standing in the clearing near the trees.
Above the Avalon Harbor, Oil on canvas 9 x 12
What struck me when I arrived at the scene was the striking difference between the sun and shadow side of objects, so I focused on the eucalyptus tree colors and the difference between the boats in shade vs. the boats in light.
Catalina Yacht Club
Last week I had the privilege of going on a 3 day trip to Catalina island with my painting friends, Jeff Horn, Michael Obermeyer, and Jesse Powell. Over the next few days I will post some more paintings. This first I did a couple of hours after landing on the island. The Afternoon sun was dipping, down, and I painted the Catalina Yacht Club on the water. The glare on the water leading the eye to the historic structure.
Catalina Yacht Club 12 x 16, Oil on Linen
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
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