{"id":8220,"date":"2026-03-14T13:35:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T20:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/?p=8220"},"modified":"2026-03-14T14:08:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T21:08:45","slug":"aah-feel-sunshine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/aah-feel-sunshine\/","title":{"rendered":"Aah Feel Sunshine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A few weeks back in my \u201cAah Feel Good\u201d post<\/a>, I was out with the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters (MBPAPA)<\/a> at Garrapata State Park<\/a>, right along that wild Big Sur coastline. It was classic coastal fog, socked-in so bad that some moments you could barely make out the ocean crashing below the cliffs. My piece turned out solid enough to probably be a keeper after a little studio touchup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the California Art Club<\/a> was having a paint out at the same location, and it was bright and sunny!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quite a few fellow artists showed up.  I am not sure the count but there had to be at least twenty artists scattered along the cliffs.  It was also great to reconnect with some artist friends I hadn\u2019t seen in years.   Here’s a few pictures of the group painting along the coastline–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the drive down Highway 1, I was contemplating: Should I just paint sunshine right over that foggy version and finish it off? Or start fresh? I polled a bunch of my painter buddies on-site, and every single one told me: \u201cDon\u2019t you dare! That foggy one\u2019s already good\u2014leave it alone!\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0 So, I set up at the identical viewpoint, grabbed a panel the exact same size, and went for it: Garrapata Twins<\/strong>! One moody and atmospheric in the mist, the other bursting with golden California sunshine.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a few pictures of me out painting (one photo courtesy of Nancy Takaichi<\/a>)–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The new painting, I think is also a keeper after some TLC in the studio.  Here is a snapshot–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After touching up both, I am tempted to frame the pair as a diptych, fog vs sunshine.  Here is a shot of both them stacked in the studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What do you think? Diptych or not? I\u2019d love to hear your take!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Update—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had a few short videos I’ll add after publishing this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n