After Monet produced his series of water lilly paintings, can anyone else take them on? It is a beautiful subject and coincidentally the “birth flower” of July. When I was at Lake Alta recently, I took a number of reference photos. I wish I’d done some onsite sketches, but the photos I took are making … Read more
Here’s another plein air sketch from my recent long weekend at Lake Alta. I guess it’s a “dappled light” theme. Speaking of that, I just received a new book on Joaquin Sorolla (by Blanca Pons-Sorolla) that just amazing. Talk about a master of dappled light. Blog post on that coming soon. In the meantime, enjoy … Read more
I’m so lucky to live in a city with so much beauty to paint! I’ve neglected it too long, often looking for inspiration in Carmel, the Central Coast, and elsewhere. I may eventually paint citiscapes again, but for now, enjoying the beauty of the coast. The only work not from San Francisco below is from … Read more
I had a great time painting snow in The Seirras last week. I love the shadows, and white in light and shadow are so fun to paint. Have you ever seen a John Singer Sargent painting with white bed sheets? The colors he finds there are amazing. This scene is behind the Miller’s place on … Read more
I had all week off work, so spent it with a group of long-time friends at Alta Lake, in the Sierras. Unfortunately, the fires continue across the state, including two near the lake. The smoke was particularly heavy in the mornings, which is when I painted this. To make the most of it, painting a … Read more
It’s been a long 8 days, exhausting. I’m happy with the quality of my work this week, not estatic about sales (sold 4), but that is pretty much out of my control. I think the paintings I’m bringing back are great quality and will eventually sell. If you’re interested in these, make me an offer, … Read more
One last painting today, and my art supplies are on their way home. I turned in “Alta Lakes #2” as my personal best for judging. I do think it was my best work, but it was small (8×10), turns out the smallest one there! Judges like larger work, I learned that at San Luis Obispo … Read more
Two paintings completed today, the Quickdraw (see previous post), and this one done in the valley. I had fun with the color in this one. The photograph is terrible, lots of glare, and the line of trees running up from left to right are not that dark…I’ll try to re-photograph tomorrow. So far, looks like … Read more
Started the day by just exploring, no particular destination. After getting a feel for the area, I decided to find a North-facing view with water, so I could paint a combination of shadows and light. I ended up at Alta Lake, a lake accessible through 5 miles of offroad. Before you reach the lake, you … Read more
This the second of two plein air studies I did at the Miller’s Memorial Day weekend at Alta Lake. As I said, the color used to paint the barn and the wooden patio tables was the same, so there’s a color harmony between the two studies (see the still life in the study posted yesterday). … Read more