At Ft Ord Dunes State Beach near our home in California, earlier this week, was an amazing display of nature. For several days, dozens of Humpback whales were frolicking close to shore, feeding, breaching, slapping, spy hopping, and other activities. Enjoy this short video I took mainly from shore with my iPhone 13, but also a few shots from my drone of some stragglers after most were gone. Be sure to turn the sound on.
Well, I originally didn’t plan on telling anybody about this, but just for the record, last Wednesday’s painting was a total dud. It happens. Frequently with artists.
I went out with the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters again. The venue was the Monterey Wharf. We painted there last February, and while everyone else was painting Del Monte Beach, I painted a boat in the wharf. This time, I was going to paint the beach. Only one other painter showed up, Al Shamble, who picks and coordinates all the venues for the group.
Generally, I consider these paint-outs more artist social events, and don’t try to produce a great painting, but this time, my piece was a total dud. I kept painting and scraping it for a few hours, and then, since I had to attend to other things that day, packed it up and left.
The best part of the morning was just sitting on the wharf, hearing the waves, listening to the seagulls, watching a little kid learning to surf, and viewing the sea lions playing around the sailboats. Actually, it was a pretty good morning!!
