plein air

Winter in Yosemite

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I usually take a painting trip to Yosemite around this time of year. There are no crowds, lodging costs less than half of normal, the air is crisp, and maybe cold & snow around. This year my wife wanted to go, so we booked two nights at the Ahwahnee Hotel. As the date approached, the weather didn’t look too promising, but we decided to go anyway.

We arrived Monday and it was still sunny, so after checking in, I rushed out and did a quick painting down the road. The sun was starting to dip behind the towering cliffs by the time I spent an hour or so on the painting…

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The next day we awoke to a slight drizzle. I don’t mind painting in the rain, but it usually ruins the painting. So after a leisurly lunch, we drove around and I took lots of pictures. The one below was particularly striking to me as the sun almost peeked through the storm clouds.

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That afternoon, it was still slightly drizzling, so I found a spot under the eaves of the Ahwahnee and did a painting of the grand hotel herself. I usually don’t do buildings or architecture, so considered it good practice. Below you can see my easel and the scene I painted–

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Below is a snapshot of the final painting–

Ahwahnee Hotel

As we left Wednesday, snow flurries were starting to waffle down and I really hated to go. The 4 hour drive home was in constant rain, but the California countryside was wonderful glowing with a bright green from the recent rains.

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American Art Collector Ad

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I don’t do much advertising in art magazines, but decided to put one in the American Art Collector magazine in conjunction with the Nomadas del Arte show I will be showing in Dallas beginning early April —

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Clearing Weather

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I certainly have been remiss in posting to this weblog. I have had many painting trips all over California since my last post here. Many of you know I have a fan page on Facebook which you can find here. It is much easier to post pictures and text on Facebook, but I have to remind myself to not be too lazy and take the effort to post here.

The California landscape just begs to be painted after a winter storm as the skies are filled with lots of puffy cumulus clouds, have changed from gray to a brilliant blue, and of course the air is fresh! We have had a series of rainstorms the last few weeks, sometimes raining for days at a time. Another weather front went through last night, and it was clearing off today, so I drove up into the foothills behind my house and did a quick painting. I have painted this spot before overlooking San Jose, but after the recent rains, a small pond was more pronounced and the grass a most emerald green. The field in front of me had a herd of sheep, and the occasional bleeping and cowbells, or rather sheep-bells, just added to the atmosphere.

I set up right by the road and finished an 8×10 in a little over an hour. Below are a few shots from the trip.

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And below is a quick snapshot of the painting.

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James Harold Gallery Show

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Just returned from 4 days at Lake Tahoe. James Harold Gallery kicked off a solo show which will last most of the summer. The theme for this show is gallery wrap paintings. Gallery wrap means the canvas wraps around the support frame and has a 1 inch side. This side is painted so a frame is not required. I did a number of miniatures, diptychs, and one large painting for the show.

I won’t go into a blow by blow of my trip, but will include just a few snapshots below. The best news is as I arrived Sunday, a collector was already purchasing one of my paintings!

Sunday afternoon was a reception, and I painted in the gallery. Below is me with some of the new paintings. This was actually taken today just before I left and I had on my painting garb–

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It was sunny and warm the entire time. Monday, I hung around the east shore doing a little painting, but mostly just taking snapshots for future painting studies. Although a bit windy, Lake Tahoe colors were in their splendor–

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Tuesday, I drove to Virginia City for possibly a change of scenery to paint. Virginia City is the site of the famous Comstock Lode, at one time, one of the richest mines in the world. For a time, it was also the home to Mark Twain who worked for the local newspaper. If you are ever in the area, it is a wonderful place to visit as the historic old buildings have been restored–

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Here is the scene I decided to paint looking down on part of Virginia City–

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The sun was so bright, I had to huddle in the shade behind my car rear door in order to judge colors correctly–

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After an easy morning & one last visit to the gallery, I headed home this afternoon.

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Los Gatos Plein Air Event, Part II

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Today was the main event for the Los Gatos Plein Air Event. I submitted three paintings the evening before to be auctioned off today. Below are quick snapshots of the three works I completed in the last couple days–

redwoods
“Just a Trickle” * 16×12 * Oil

Los Gatos Creek
“Los Gatos Creek” * 12×16 * Oil

Los Gatos California
“Hicks and Shannon” * 8×16 * Oil

After arriving at the event, I realized I had left my camera battery in the charger at home, so had to take pictures with my cellphone. Below are a few shots—

My three paintings hanging in the show–

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Timothy Lundell, the emcee for the event handing out awardds–

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All three paintings sold at silent auction.

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Los Gatos Plein Air Event

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Been painting for the last couple days in the Los Gatos Plein Air Event. As typical in these events, the artists have 2 days to paint two or three paintings, and then the works are auctioned off. The auction is tomorrow in Old Town Los Gatos.

Although I have been painting for many years, the first plein air event I ever entered was the first/last Los Gatos Plein Air in 2004. Since I won first place in that event, my painting is the poster for this years event.

A couple shot from the last couple days–

My first painting was along Los Gatos Creek, just by the main street bridge. You would never know you were steps away from a bustling Silicon Valley suburb!

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I next drove up into the Santa Cruz Mountains and did a redwood scene. I had just been at this location with the Los Gatos Art Association, like the scene so much, decided to do a larger piece for the show.

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The next day I was up bright and early. I did a painting at the corner of Hicks and Shannon. This was at the edge of the city limits of Los Gatos, but again looks like you are way out in the countryside. The fog was just beginning to clear the tops of the mountains, and it was a wonderful scene! There were a number of deer around, including 4 bucks all together!

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That evening, there was a reception gala for the artists at the California Cafe in Old Town Los Gatos. Just a few shots of the event–

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Tomorrow is the main event where they will hand out awards and auction off the paintings.

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Summit Road

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Summit Road runs at the crest and most of the length of the Santa Cruz Mountains. It is marked as California Hwy 35. Offering views of the Pacific Ocean on one side and the entire San Francisco Bay area on the other side, it is one of my favorite Harley rides, and Alice’s Restaurant is a world famous motorcycle hangout. Los Gatos Plein Air group was painting today along Summit Road, so I decided to join them. I will be in the Los Gatos Art Festival this week, so wanted to paint locally, and then drive around the area to pick out some places to paint this Thursday and Friday.

A group of 8-10 were there when I arrived–

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That’s David, Maria, Patty (property owner), Rebecca, and a few others. I brought only 6×8 panels, so decided to paint the redwoods on the private property we were on. Below is a scene with my easel–

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And a quick snapshot of the final painting–

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It turned out rather well. I will probably return to this spot when I paint for the competition later this week.

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Carmel Art Festival Day 4

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Today was the main event for the Carmel Art Festival. Judging was in the morning, a silent auction in the afternoon, awards ceremony at 5, and live auction at 6. After a leisurely brunch, I hung around the show while Josie went shopping in downtown Carmel. It was a good show. For the first time, you could bid for paintings online. All the paintings in the show can be found here.

Below is one of my paintings, followed by a few shots of my ‘panel’–

Soberanes, big sur, seascape, california
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I ran into Eric Rhoads, publisher of Fine Art Connoisseur. Here is a photo of him taking a photo of Brian Blood, this years first place winner in the festival–

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A live band played–

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Live sculpting —

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The awards ceremony–

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All-in-all, it was a great show. I had been expecting slow sales, due to the economy, but paintings seemed to be selling at a brisk pace!

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Carmel Art Festival Day 3

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Today was the second full day of painting for the festival, and two paintings had to be completed, framed and delivered by 8 o’clock this evening. I had two paintings from the day before, both good enough to put in the show. Today, I was going to concentrate on Point Lobos in the morning and if I got another good painting, spend the afternoon touching up and framing.

After hiking the North Trail at Point Lobos, I found my spot painting Bluefish Cove. I had painted this several times before from different vantage points and light. It was fogged in, which is what I wanted as I wanted the far rocks of the cove to appear as ghosts in the distance.

Here is the scene and my easel set up–

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The painting turned out fairly well, another possibility for the show. Hiking back to the car, I ran across several other Carmel Art Festival participants, including Alfredo Tofanelli shown below–

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I spent the afternoon touching up the two paintings I would enter and framing them, in time to drop off at the show. The pressure was off, so time to relax!

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Carmel Art Festival Day 2

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Today was the first full day of painting for the Carmel Art Festival. During the competition, you have two days to paint and present two finished and framed paintings for auction. I headed out at the crack of dawn back to Point Soberanes, where I had been the evening before. It was a little foggy, but lifting and I was hoping to catch the light just right. Well, I did, and it was perfect! The fog was just breaking and the morning sun was spotlighting just where I wanted! Below are a couple shots of what I was painting.

I painted this spot for the first Carmel Art Festival–

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This was the scene I wanted to paint this morning —

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My easel set up on Point Soberanes —

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After almost completing the panorama, it was time to head to a different spot. I drove around a little, and ran into Michael Bagdonas and Robert Sandidge painting the same scene by the side of the road–

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My easel set up along the beautiful California coastline for another painting. The peninsula you see in the distance was where I had been painting earlier this morning–

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I had completed two paintings today, with a little touchup, both keepers for the show.

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