{"id":7939,"date":"2025-04-06T11:22:59","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T18:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/?p=7939"},"modified":"2025-04-06T11:22:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T18:22:59","slug":"block-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/block-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Block Party!!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the third year in a row, the Monterey Museum of Art <\/a>invited the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters<\/a> to paint and exhibit during their annual Block Party\u2014and for the third year, I was thrilled to be part of it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day started with check-in and setup around 8:30 a.m., where we had our canvases stamped and pulled our painting locations from a hat. For the third time, I randomly drew the Casa de Oro Garde<\/a>n! When asked if I wanted to swap for a different spot, I happily declined. The garden offers plenty of variety\u2014and let\u2019s be honest, having a nearby parking garage and restroom is great when painting downtown Monterey!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we are at check-in–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After check-in, the artists fanned out across historic Old Monterey<\/a>, setting up at charming historic old adobes, lush gardens, and bustling street scenes. We had until 3 p.m. to create at least one painting for the afternoon exhibit during the Block Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I chose to paint the iconic bell at the Casa de Oro Garden\u2014a replica of the 1906 Mission Bells that once lined El Camino Real. These were cast from the original molds, and the bell\u2019s frame, draped in wisteria and glowing in the morning light, made for an irresistible subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By noon I was about 80% finished and took a lunch break in my car and a mini rest.  After framing the piece, I took it back to the easel and added a few final touches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few snapshots of the show–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To my surprise and delight, I was awarded Second Place\u2014First Place went to the very talented Debra Nichols, and it was well deserved! Here’s a shot of our pieces–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the finished painting\u2014it feels complete, but I\u2019ll let it sit for a bit. Maybe a touch more sunlight in the foreground\u2026 or maybe not. It\u2019s definitely a keeper!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Bell, 9×12, oil on panel, plein air<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the third year in a row, the Monterey Museum of Art invited the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters to paint and exhibit during their annual Block Party\u2014and for the third year, I was thrilled to be part of it! The day started with check-in and setup around 8:30 a.m., where we had our canvases […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,13,9,4,2],"tags":[190,191,242,218,45,189],"class_list":["post-7939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-competition","category-exhibits","category-landscape","category-plein-air","tag-art","tag-landscape","tag-monterey","tag-oil-painting","tag-painting","tag-plein-air"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/MMBlockParty11w.jpg?fit=764%2C361","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4gXkU-243","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7939"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7956,"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7939\/revisions\/7956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}