Donald Neff Weblog

We just set the date for a solo show at James Harold Galleries this summer. I expect to have over 20 new paintings, including a series on Yosemite I have been working on the last 6 months. Both studio and plein air paintings will be on display. More details to follow, but the show will [...]

I just returned from spending the better part of the week at Morro Bay, California. My sister had rented a house there, and most of her family was there. The house was right on the beach…nothing between us and the water except a little iceplant and sand dunes.  We have had many family reunions and [...]

Today is the Carmel Art Festival‘s exhibit and sale. I had two paintings in the exhibit, shown in my last entry. There were lots of great paintings in the show. I am lucky to say I was in very good company! The crowds were quite thin, though. My guess is less than half the number [...]

I had started four paintings so far, wasn’t really satisfied with any of them, although one just needed a little touch-up and would be good enough for the show. Today, it was down to business!! I was up at the crack of dawn, and decided to drive down the Big Sur coast until I saw [...]

Today is the official start of the Carmel Art Festival. We have two days to come up with two plein air paintings which will be auctioned on Saturday. The weather looked to be great the entire several days. The last couple years it had been mainly foggy and rainy! I had gotten my canvas stamped [...]

I am off to Carmel today for the Carmel Art Festival. See the website for complete program and locations. My wife, Josie, will be coming down later for the weekend events. Hope some of you can come to the event. Below is the schedule, along with one of my paintings from last year. Thu & [...]

I just received an email that I am once again accepted into this plein air show. Last year was their inaugural year, and although a fun event, it seemed the show was put together quite hurriedly. This year, it looks much, much different! Entry was juried by several of the top plein air artists in [...]

San Jose History Park is sponsoring several artists paint-outs as part of the Breath of Plein Air exhibit. Today was about the only one I could make, so made my way through the unexpected heavy Cinco de Mayo traffic to the park. Only about 4 of us showed up. I normally don’t paint architecture, but [...]

I just returned from an all week trip to Denver, Colorado visiting my brother and chewing up some frequent flyer miles. I took my full paint set with the idea I might get to do a painting for the upcoming Nomadas Del Arte show. We spent a night at Black Hawk, the ‘Las Vegas’ of [...]