January Sunset at El Moro Cove

As some of you may know, Socalpapa, the group I exhibit with,  lost its brick and mortar gallery space on the Newport Peninsula last year. Not to be defeated however, an on-line Gallery presence has been established in partnership with DailyBrushwork. Our second show is now up and paintings are exhibited for viewing and purchase. Please click the link here, and you will be taken to the first page of our current Winter Exhibition.

I have one painting in this show, "January Sunset at El Moro Cove", 8 x 16 inches, unframed,  $600. It's a studio painting I did from the smaller one I painted on-site that will be showing at the Crystal Cove Gallery starting next week.

Windy Day at El Moro Cove

Last Friday it was really windy here in south orange county. The usual Winter & early Spring Santa Ana winds were gusting to 30 mph, so instead of going to paint at our scheduled location at Irvine Park, which becomes a wind tunnel under these conditions, I headed out to Newport Coast to my new favorite spot to paint, El Moro Cove. Just this year it is open to the public after a couple of years with no occupants, and a few decades at least before that when it was the home of some very lucky people living in trailers right on the beach. There are spectacular views of the cliffs to the south and also of Reef Point to the north of the cove. I plan to go back and back and back.
Anyway, what I hoped would be a non-windy day, being below the cliff line and so protected I thought from the vicious east winds, turned out to be a battle to keep my hat on and my stuff from blowing over. I was able to work for about and hour and a half, and then had to pack up and leave. I'm pretty happy with what I got though, and didn't need too much touching up. It will be at the show, "As Time Goes By",  this coming Sunday. (It's supposed to rain though, so those of you thinking to stop by, look out for an update from me in your in box.)

Also, if you haven't signed up for my seasonal, maybe even monthly newsletter from the new website I'm on click here.

Sunset Promenade

Here is a painting I did for a special exhibit at Crystal Cove later this month. The theme of the show is "Past and Present". It's the third I've done for this special one day event, but because I sold the other two, I took this one down to be in the gallery right away.

I did this from a study I did there the very end of January. As I looked up the coast I could see a long line of people enjoying every last minute out on the beach before the sun set. Their figures disappeared into the sea-misty atmosphere and the fence in front of me just glowed in the rosy light. It was a beautiful afternoon to be there.

Bird's Eye View

Here is a painting I did of the rocks and the sea down at Crystal Cove. It's hanging in the gallery there now and can be purchased there or through me. I hadn't done a rock and sea thing for awhile, so thought it was time. The hardest part though is getting those birds to sit still!

Goat Skull #1

Here is another object here in the house that I've wanted to capture on canvas for months and months. Feeling burned out on landscapes, this was another big, but fun challenge. I'll probably keep coming back to this guy...

San Juan Creek

I spent the afternoon Tuesday at Caspers Park trying to get this view of San Juan Creek.

There's still so much water it's sort of amazing. I'll definitely be going back I think, but for a first go I'm pretty pleased...

Last Light at the Back Bay

On Wednesday I was at the Back Bay again to try and do some more paintings for our show in July. I met a friend for a small painting of the same cliff I always paint; I might post that one tomorrow. But after he left at about 6 pm, I headed around Back Bay Drive to the same spot I painted "Early Morning Fog Bank" from. I had this idea that I wanted to paint the same exact scene but about 12 hours later, so I'd have a morning painting and an evening painting of the same scene. This is what I came up with. It stayed remarkably light. I was there until just before the sun set at around 8 pm.

Back Bay Eucalyptus

I was back at Newport Back Bay on Thursday afternoon and evening, painting a favorite stand of eucalyptus trees on University Ave. on the other side of the street from the YMCA.

This view is from the first path leaving the parking lot of the Muth Nature Center. At sunset the colors of the trees and bark glow with deep orangey greens and reds, while the  sages, buckwheats, mustards and who knows how many more kinds of chaparel type plants just light up the foreground. Another painting to save for our exhibit in July to benefit the Back Bay.

Early Morning Fog Bank - SOLD

I went out again early this morning hoping for fog at the Back Bay. I have this picture in my mind of the bluffs reappearing and disappearing into the foggy mists. When I got there though, it was a little too late, about 7:15 am, and the early morning fog was breaking up, with every once in a while a beam of sunlight breaking through to strike the bluffs across from where I was painting. I tried to capture this fleeting moment and this looks close to what I saw. The cliffs of limestone, or whatever material they are made of, absolutely radiate light when the sun strikes them. It's incredible. A beautiful breezy Memorial Day morning, and another painting to save for our Socalpapa Back Bay Show: July 23,24 & 25.

Agua Caliente Noon

I finally got around to finishing the last large painting I did when I was in Baja. This one was painted from the same spot where I painted the estuary; I just turned to paint what was in the opposite direction: basically an empty lot with weeds and the back of some sort of storage building I think. It was fun to try and turn something infinitely mundane into something else entirely.

Baja Morning

Here is another larger sized painting that I did the last painting day we had in Baja. We stayed near Agua Caliente which lies south of Ensenada right where a point of land - Punta Banda - extends west into the pacific containing and creating somewhat the Bahia Todos Los Santos, (or the bay which Ensenada overlooks). A striking part of the geography here is a long spit of land creating a tidal estuary, fully 5 miles long and affording beautiful wetlands effects as the tide ebbs and flows. We arrived about 8:30 am just as the tide was beginning to flow back in. This is a view I painted looking almost due East, with the beautiful green hillsides of the point backlit by the morning sun.