Since April 2020 I have posted on Facebook a painting each day as a brief diversion from the lockdowns and other bad news this year. Neglecting my weblog, I’ll post in the coming days some of my better posts.
“Tenaya”, 9×12, oil on panel, plein air
What a magnificent scene! I still remember as a kid first visiting Tenaya Lake and over the decades regularly return to it both physically, and in my art doing plein air and studio paintings of the area.
One of the easily accessible alpine lakes in the high Sierra, Tenaya Lake is also one of the most spectacular. Named after Yosemite Ahwahneechee Chief Tenaya, it is nestled in a granite basin surrounded by soaring granite domes, peaks, and lodgepole forests. Along Hwy 120 (Tioga Pass Road), it is also a sports destination with hiking, swimming, and boating.
Yesterday I posted a plein air piece painted during a trip to Yosemite. From the “Studio Malliberejo” is another one from the same trip.
Since April 2020 I have posted on Facebook a painting each day as a brief diversion from the lockdowns and other bad news this year. Neglecting my weblog, I’ll post in the coming days some of my better posts.
“Yosemite Morning”, 12×24, oil on canvas, plein air
September 13,2020 · Today a picture popped up on my Facebook memories page of the most liked photo of 2017. I’ll post it again in my ongoing daily painting as a virus diversion. This is a plein air piece I did during a trip to Yosemite in 2012. I think I still have the painting, but since most my works are still in boxes waiting for their new studio, can’t check for sure. You can read more about that trip and other paintings here– http://www.donaldneff.com/blog/yosemite-high-country/
From the “Studio Zigorra”, “Yosemite Morning”, 12×24, oil on canvas, plein air
The sounds of crashing waves and seagulls drifting in the air was wonderful. The wonderful sky gradually went from morning overcast to nice and sunny.
The sun was wonderful.
Half the reason I paint is to just go out, sit, and ponder wonderful nature for a time. And I always bring back a remembrance of that moment.
Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters Association is a local group who, among other activities, holds a group paintout once a week, usually on Wednesdays. An art buddy, Al Shamble, picks the locations, and conducts the events. They met on Thursday this week at Asilomar State Beach in Pacific Grove, so I went and spent time with them.
Unusually, only about 5 or 6 of us showed up. I sat in my camping chair and for a couple wondrous hours did a little painting. Here’s a few pictures of the day.
Since April 2020 I have posted on Facebook a painting each day as a brief diversion from the lockdowns and other bad news this year. Neglecting my weblog, I’ll post in the coming days some of my better posts.
“Tee Time”, 15×30, oil on canvas
Today’s offering from the “Studio Up the River”, is for all the golfers. Some years ago I participated in a plein air festival at La Rinconada Golf Course in Los Gatos, CA. I did three paintings, two of which sold, but still have this one of the first fairway looking east towards the rising sun…just about time to tee off.
Since April 2020 I have posted on Facebook a painting each day as a brief diversion from the lockdowns and other bad news this year. Neglecting my weblog, I’ll post in the coming days some of my better posts.
El Camino, 16×20, oil on board
Historic California is the subject for today’s offering from the studio stockade. This is a plein air painting I did of the Mission San Juan Bautista. You might recognize it if you ever watched the Hitchcock film ‘Vertigo.’ The path is El Camino Real, the road built by the early Spanish missionaries to connect their missions. It is one of the few places you can see the original dirt avenue. It also happens to be the San Andreas Fault Line!
The quest started as a simple idea. I didn’t even know if I would, or even could finish it. After all, it was a commitment for a year. I didn’t know if it would turn out worthwhile, or just a stack of sticky panels for the scrap heap. I didn’t know if anything would be interesting or worth looking at.
I didn’t know I would eventually paint ghost towns in Silicon Valley, or haunted springs, or wild beaver sign in a metropolitan city, or the worlds largest homeless camp, or the world’s first ‘plein air selfie’.
I didn’t know eventually strangers would walk up to me, give me a hug, and say I brought back their fond childhood memories of days gone by in the “Valley of Hearts Delight’.
Little did I know it would grow with a feature on NBCTV, and other TV spots, articles by major publications, multiple showings in various venues, and a book.
Seven years ago today, I started a year-long quest to paint a different “Creek and River of Silicon Valley” each week en plein air, or on location. At the time, even finishing the year successfully was not known, but I ended up with 60 paintings of 43 different creeks all over the South San Francisco Bay area.
The collection of 60 paintings is still intact and will be for the foreseeable future. I am still seeking venues both local, national, and international for showings, so ideas are welcome!
The Open Space Authority of Santa Clara Valley recently published an article featuring my year long quest to paint and Preserve Coyote Valley. I didn’t know about several other like minded artists also featured, and we certainly need to get together!
Second in my yearlong Preserve Coyote Valley Series.
Coyote Valley, a large expanse of farmlands, orchards, and scattered homes has been the subject of a war between the developers and conservationists for years. I am spending a year painting at least once a month a scene in the valley, either en plein air (on location), or studio paintings. You can read about my first painting in this year long quest here, and a video here.
We have had an unusual number of storms coming through the San Francisco Bay area the last week or so. For the second Coyote Valley painting, I decided to make it as much about the sky as the valley.
The painting is a barn along Kalana Avenue, a short street just over a mile long in the valley. I started this piece en plein air (on location), but finished it in the studio…probably about 70-30. I took a little artists license and moved some trees around, shortened the barn, but overall it’s about what it looked like.
Below are a few shots of the day.
Stay tuned for more. I still have to report on the Carmel Art Festival with some great drone video along the California coast!
Hokkaido is the northernmost, second largest, and least developed of Japan’s four main islands. The winters are harsh with lots of snowfall, below zero temperatures and frozen seas, while in summer it does not get as hot and humid as in the other parts of Japan.With unspoiled nature, Hokkaido attracts many outdoor lovers, including skiers and snowboarders in the colder seasons. Hikers, cyclists, and campers come during summer and fall.It is considered to have some of the best snow powder in the world.
I just returned from a couple weeks in Japan visiting my son, who recently moved to Sapporo, the capital and largest city in Hokkaido.After 5 years living in SW rural Japan, he wanted a change of scenery so moved to northern Japan and one of the snowiest metropolis’s in the world. Sapporo hosted the first ever Olympics in Asia, the 1972 Winter games.
Soon after we arrived, we realized it would be raining in a few days, so we took advantage of the sunshine, rented a car, and drove around the Hokkaido countryside for a couple days.Our first daytrip was south of Sapporo where we enjoyed rural Hokkaido and visited a couple lakes. The lakes in this area are all caldera lakes, that is, they are ancient volcanos.
The first was Lake Shikotsu-ku. We spent some time at the visitors center (we were in a national park), and I did a quick 90 minute study, plus a drone flight.The lake is very reminiscent of Lake Tahoe, except without all the boulders along the shore.
Lake Shikotsu
We then went on to Lake Toya, which was just as pretty, but it was getting late in the day, so flew the drone, and then headed home.
The next day, Justin and I headed to the Shakotan coastal area.What a spectacular coastline! It is much like the coastal areas of California, but with little Japanese fishing villages scattered throughout. We drove to the fishing village of Shakotan, had lunch, and then backtracked to a place I had spotted on our drive there to paint.
Shimadomarigyo Harbor is a small fishing harbor along the coast with a view of Candle Rock, an unusual natural monolith. It was a beautiful view, but the winds were around 20mph with gusts up to 40.Even my tubes of paint were being blown away. I moved to a boat shed to get out of the wind, but it was still too much to handle, so I made a quick study to finish the painting later.
The final painting is at the top of this weblog entry. Here are a few shots of the area…
I was disappointed the strong winds prevented me from flying my drone and capturing this amazing place from above, so this area is definitely on my list for the next visit!
There doesn’t seem to be as many temples and shrines in Hokkaido as in other parts of Japan.My assumption is this is because Hokkaido was the last area where the Japanese people populated.Prior to that, the Ainu indigenous people inhabited the area.
However, there was a little Buddhist shrine a few blocks from Justin’s apartment, called Nantoku Shrine, so I spent a few hours painting it.
Nantoku Shrine
The shrine in the painting looks a little askew, so will correct that when I have time.
The next day was still nice, so I went back to the same place and did another painting facing a different way.
Cherry Blossoms
Overall it was a wonderful journey and we saw new parts of Japan. I was a little disappointed I wasn’t able to fly my drone more, but when we were at places where it is allowed, the weather didn’t cooperate.
