Donald Neff Weblog

Many of you know we just returned from a cruise to the Panama Canal. It was a round trip out of Ft Lauderdale, Florida. Although there is usually not much time to paint on these outings while in port, I always take a small paint set just in case. Although I generally paint in oils, when traveling, especially international, I bring a small acrylic set as they are so much easier to travel with. There is no need to purchase turpentine at the destination, acrylics dry in a few minutes, and many other advantages.

On this cruise, I managed to do two paintings in the early morning in two ports before the activities of the day. The first was early morning in Aruba. A rain squall had just cleared and the early sun splashed a pink glow throughout the sky. The scene is the harbor just off the main boulevard. You can’t see it, but the Island Princess ship is just to the right. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a snapshot of the entire scene, but included one of the buildings to the left.

The next was in Limon, Costa Rica. I painted an old yellow boat anchored in the harbor all alone. Below is a snapshot of the scene, and the painting.

After I viewed this painting online, I definitely have to take the black doorknob off the front white cabin door. Looks sort of like a Disney character, doesn’t it?

Each painting took about an hour. Whenever I go on a trip, these are the best souvenirs I bring back…remembrances of sitting for an hour or so and soaking up the local atmosphere while putting it to canvas!!

I have now done 9 of the 12 paintings in the new series introduced in a previous blog post. I am painting each one to about 60-80% complete, then will finish them at once so-as to ensure continuity and progression of colors, and values, etc. The series is 12 paintings (maybe a few more before I am done) of an event in 2006 which took about 15 minutes. Each canvas is 24×18 vertical orientation.

I previously referenced Warhol’s Campbell Soup Cans exhibit of 1962 when he painted 32 ‘paintings’ of all the Campbell Soup Can flavors mainly because my series are all the same size and orientation.

I won’t reveal the subject matter yet, as people are still guessing. Legend has it that some of the rock formations I am painting helped inspire Walt Disney when they designed the “Big Thunder Mountain Railroad” roller coaster. A little research seems to dispel this myth, but you never know. Below is a quick snapshot (using my iPhone) of another partially completed work which is somewhere in the middle of the series…

Last weekend we visited friends, Dennis and Beverly who live in the Sierra Foothills just up the hill from Sonora, CA. Pete, my bike riding buddy, his wife Malou, and my wife, Josie drove up for the weekend. Besides doing the regular Gold Country touristy stuff, on Sunday we drove up to Pinecrest Lake, close to the Dodge Ridge Ski resort. It was a beautiful day, and of course brought my paints. I ended up doing a couple small ones. Photos are below…

Below is a view of Pinecrest Lake. It is sometimes referred to as ‘Little Tahoe’…

Yours Truly painting…

Below are a couple quick snapshots on site of the two paintings I finished. Each one took about an hour…

Thanks Dennis for the photos!

Last week I started a series of twelve paintings. I won’t reveal exactly what the subject is, but the series comes from a 15 minute experience I had in August of 2006. I actually started the series then, just sketching on each canvas, but shelved it until now. Now that it is revealed, I will have the impetus to complete it! Hopefully it will be one of my “Magnum Opus” to date…Warhol’s Campbell Soup series of paintings come to mind. Below is one of the almost complete paintings in the middle of the series. Anybody want to guess what the series is about??

My nephew, Jeff was spending a few nights in a tent cabin at Costanoa, so I decided to ride the Harley up the coast and paint, spend a night, then paint back down the coast. I left around noon Monday, and my first stop was Greyhound Rock. It was nice painting there as I could sit on a park bench with my easel.

First stop was Greyhound Rock state park.

A fellow from Frankfort, Germany stopped by. After chatting a bit, he took a photo of me painting.

Here is a quick snapshot of the painting at Greyhound Rock. I left the lower right a little unfinished as it was time to move up the coast.

Next stop was Pigeon Point lighthouse. I have been planning on doing a large work of this coastal landmark, so decided to practice.

It was blowing so much, my canvas was shaking all over the place, so I didn’t even attempt to paint the lighthouse, but rather all the surroundings.

The tent cabin for the overnight stay. After a nice bbq steak dinner, and some campfire philosophizing, it was off to bed.

The next morning, I decided to stop at Greyhound Rock state park on the way back down the coast as the park benches were very welcoming.

A quick snapshot of the second painting by Greyhound Rock.

This is the painting mentioned in the previous blog from my motorcycle travels down Highway 25 south of Hollister, CA. It is just about done. I will let it sit for a week or two, and then finish a few details. Right now I am titling this “Hollister”, but might change that once it goes to a gallery. It’s a 30×40 oil on canvas.

They are growing a lot of grapes in that area now, and the green you see on the top of the distant hill are grapevines. I have some more interesting studies of these rolling grape fields, which I might do in the future.

Here is a larger jpg of the painting if interested.

One of my favorite motorcycle rides in the bay area is Highway 25 south of Hollister, California. It is a great motorcycle road out in the middle of nowhere with wide sweeping curves and long straightaways. We usually do it 3 or 4 times a year. I have actually done several short videos on the ride you can find on youTube HERE and HERE.

The area is a constant terrain of farmlands, barns, old ranch houses, abandoned buildings and wide open spaces…a painters paradise. When we ride, it is usually a group affair and very few stops. Every time I go, I tell myself I am going to bring the RV down sometime and just paint for a few days.

On a ride we did several weeks ago, it was just Pete and me, so we stopped quite a bit so I could take pictures along the way. My pastoral scenes are becoming more popular, and I wanted to do a big California Hills type scene. Today, I started a 30×40 which is a composite of several photo studies I did on the ride. I won’t give you a day-by-day account like the last big Yosemite painting, but below are a few pictures from the ride, and the sketch in of the painting.

OK, this is the last post about this painting. After I returned from the Carmel Art Festival, I realized the entire painting looked too ‘busy’, so I took out more clouds. Now there are more areas where the eye can rest. I declare it finished, but of course if it hangs around I might be tempted to touch it up here and there.

I traditionally make a visit to the Monterey, Carmel, and Big Sur area about a week before the Carmel Art Festival, to get fresh ideas for the competition. The Carmel Art Festival is like many plein air events in that the artist has a few days to complete a number of paintings, and then the works are shown and auctioned. I generally like to have an idea of what I may paint. Although very familiar with about every nook and cranny from Santa Cruz to Big Sur, am always looking for fresh ideas.

Took off today, and I mainly wanted to explore the Elkhorn Slough area (which I have painted a number of times before), and then move down the coast to the Big Sur area. I went via the “back way” to Elkhorn, and ended up doing a small painting of one of the tributary areas. I had great company, a flock of Great Egrets were close by. What a magnificent bird!!

Below is the spot I painted…

And the small painting, a 6×8 in about an hour…

I then drove down to Carmel and visited the new gallery showing my work, Gallerie Julianne. I had dropped some works off several months ago when they were just getting going, and now, they are in full swing. Dave, the owner, manages a beautiful space, one of the best in Carmel, in my opinion.

Driving down the coast, I had planned to do another painting, but the winds were at hurricane force, so just drove, hiked, and explored…

The late afternoon sun urged me back to Elkhorn to see how the light looked, and the Great Egrets were in the same lagoon to welcome me back.

Time to go home.