I haven’t been out plein air painting since the Carmel Art Festival last May. Far too long. So when the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters scheduled an outing at Rocky Point, that wild stretch of Big Sur coastline just south of my house, I decided it was time to get back out there.
It was overcast on the 25 mile drive to the point and the first hour or so of painting, but the weather forecast was pretty accurate, and the sun came streaming out late morning. A pretty good crowd of a dozen or so showed up, quietly concentrating on their work. I spent about two hours on the piece.
Below are some pictures of the day. Some photos courtesy of Jackie Campos Bleisch.
Frequently when you are painting in direct sunlight, and bring the painting indoors, it becomes ghostly dull. Colors flatten and shadows lose their depth. True to form, that’s the way it turned out. Some artists use an umbrella to shade the painting and alleviate this problem. I carry one in the car, but it is such a hassle to set up, I rarely do. Many times it is just too windy.
Here is the painting after about two hours work. I’d say it’s a keeper with a little touchup–
Continuing my dive into experimenting on whether Artificial Intelligence can improve an artists work, I asked ChatGPT how to improve the piece. It gave a pretty accurate echo of what I’d already been thinking about improvements (shown below).
This is a lovely plein air piece—you captured a strong sense of atmosphere and the rugged coastline really well. Since you only had a couple of hours, you got the essentials in, but here are a few ideas for improvement that could help push it further:
Suggestions for improvement:
- Value contrast: The mid-ground cliff could use a stronger dark/light separation to make it pop against the water.
- Edges: Sharpening a few edges in the focal area (maybe where the waves crash on the rocks) would give more energy.
- Color harmony: Adding a bit more warmth (orange, sienna, or subtle pinks) into the rocky areas could balance the cooler greens/blues.
- Atmospheric perspective: You already have soft hills in the background, but pushing them slightly bluer and lighter would add depth.
- Water movement: Suggesting more directional strokes in the water could give it more life and rhythm.
If you’d like, I can generate a new JPEG for you with digital adjustments that reflect these improvements (higher contrast focal cliff, enhanced warm notes, softened background hills, livelier water).
Below is the painting ChatGPT came up with. Although I like some aspects of it, the painting is probably a little too saturated and contrasty. It doesn’t really reflect what we were seeing that day.
I’ll touch the piece up in the next week or so, and return here with a final version.