Goat Skull #2

Here's another view of the skull which we have hanging in our living room. Joel bought it a long time ago in Mexico, I think. We have a cow skull too, which is beautiful, and huge. I'd love to paint it as well, but have to figure out how to hang it in my tiny studio and light it so I can paint a decent portrait of it. Anyway, until then, here is the goat.

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...

Empty Saddle

Here is a painting I did for a commission of the Empty Saddle Statue at the San Juan Capistrano Mission. Every year a mass and ceremony are held there to commemorate those members of the Viaje de Portola who have passed away the previous year. Here is a link which explains a little bit more about the ceremony:


http://www.missionsjc.com/pressroom/2011_040611.pdf


I worked on this during the past crazy couple of months. Now that it is finished and all the shows are over I feel a little aimless. I'll have to zero in on some new projects.

Also at this weekend's show I was honored to receive a second place award for my painting Bell Canyon Creek.

Limestone Sinks

A few weeks ago, as part of a program to open up previously closed wilderness areas in Orange County, I traveled with about 10 other artists in a big truck with all our gear to an area in the Limestone Canyon Regional Park called the Limestone Sinks, named for a geologic event hundreds of years ago which resulted in a landscape some have called a Mini-Grand Canyon. The view was truly spectacular, and so far off the normal routes as to be almost pristine. It was beautifully quiet, the hawks flying overhead seeming somehow more wild than when we see them swooping over the freeway on the lookout for unsuspecting prey.

I didn't finish my painting there, having chosen too large a canvas, but I got a good start on something and I was able to finish it in the studio.
I'll be showing this painting, (and a bunch more that I'll be posting in the next few days), at our upcoming Paint the Parks Show and Sale on May 20-22 in Irvine.

Palm Springs Early Morning

Here is a painting I did in the studio from a photo I took just after dawn. The light changes so fast at that time, I really can't capture it on the spot...but I love that quality of light so much I had to try and get it.

Mission Viejo Country Club Hole #3

This is the final studio painting I did from the study of a couple of days ago. It will be presented at a silent auction next Wednesday at the Country Club.

Mission Viejo Country Club Hole #3 (study)

Last Monday I was invited by a fellow artist to paint on the golf course at the Mission Viejo Country Club. It was closed that day to golfers, so I and about 15 other artists had the run of the place. We each had our own golf cart, and despite the dark moody clouds and damp, cold temperature, I had a ball. The products of our efforts will be displayed early in May for a silent auction.
This is the study I did that day. A little 8 x 10. I can't wait to get back there for a sunny day!

Palm Springs Morning #2

Here is a painting I did the next morning. I got there even before the sun came up. It was wonderful to be up at that time...something I can't seem to manage at home. Having a partner who works a swing shift may have a small amount to do with that.

Palm Springs Morning

Whew, finally getting a chance to post something new. We were in Palm Springs last week. Joel was taking photo workshops and I was playing the tourist, but also managed a couple of paintings. Here is the first, painted very early in the morning before the wind and heat of later in the day. I'm planning to submit these two to an upcoming show in May, so they are not for sale now.

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...

Bell Canyon Creek

Last Friday I went to Caspers Regional Park in search of more subjects to paint for the upcoming "Paint the Parks" show in May and found this beautiful spot. The creeks this year are all full and flowing owing to all the rain we had in December and January; and I've begun to see a theme for my paintings for this show, which for me should be titled, "Paint the Creeks". Anyway, here is Bell Canyon Creek painted as it comes through the canyon on its way to join San Juan Creek, which I painted yesterday and will post tomorrow.

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.

Back Bay Mustard

Here is a scene that I painted last week, or was it two weeks ago at the Back Bay. Anyway, it was the same day I painted the cliffs. I just turned my chair and painted in the other direction, looking at the bike/walking path that goes up the East side of the Back Bay.

The mustard that was covering the hillside was amazing!

Fish Market 21st. St.

Here is a painting of the Dory Fisherman's Market at the Newport Pier, really early in the morning when no one was there yet. I love how the morning fog and sea spray obscure the pier and make it look like a mirage.

Back Bay Bluff

I went to the Newport Back Bay yesterday because our Back Bay show is coming up in July, and the deadline for the juried competition is in June. This is probably my favorite place to paint. The breeze off the ocean is usually mild, there are many bird species to be seen flying about or feeding in the mud at low tide, and the silence is pure and restful. I can really concentrate there. I did 2 paintings yesterday. This is the first one, and is about 99% finished. Yes that is a gnat stuck to the canvas in the sky area looking just like a bird flying away in the distance. So, I left it there. Although, I will probably pick it off when the paint dries. Perhaps it will leave an imprint I can use to paint in a bird there. This view, by the way is painted from the south end looking north from about 2pm to 4pm.

Indian Canyon Afternoon

Here is a second painting I did while visiting Andreas Canyon, south of Palm Springs. I painted this looking back  toward the canyon from another palm grove at the same site. It was shady and cool from the vantage point I had, and it was just heavenly to sit there quietly and listen to the breeze through the palm fronds. The quiet of the desert is totally unique.
I'm off to the Santa Rosa Plateau tomorrow to paint spring flowers, and vernal pools, and maybe some cows.

Punta Banda Avenue-(Private Collection)

Here is a second painting I did in Baja. It's a larger one than I normally post here, 11x14 inches. I painted all of these with the idea that I wanted to give them to my hosts for the week in thanks for all their hospitality, and they did ask to keep this one. The weather was crazy this day too. It dawned sunny and cool, a perfect day to paint. We drove all around the small little village of ex-pat cottages but came back to this view of a long gravel street which is just outside the house I was staying in. So, we started off painting a bright sunny street with lengthening shadows and puffy white clouds in the sky. Then came very dark clouds from the south, like a big dark blue blanket which ultimately covered the whole sky, blotting out the sun, eliminating the wonderful bright colors and the shadows. So, I finally gave up and began to turn the painting I started into one that would be more subdued and subtle. No shadows, no bright colors, but a rich dark blue sky with forbidding clouds. But no, just when I've changed everything, the clouds disperse, (this takes almost an hour), and we are back to bright sunny day, beautiful cast shadows and puffy white clouds. This is a typical occurrence for a plein air painter, but one we sort of just take in stride, because it's so wonderful to be there watching it all happen.

Oaks on the Santa Rosa Plateau

Today, I am going out to the Santa Rosa Plateau, an ecological reserve in Riverside County.
It's located at the southern end of the Santa Ana Mountains and consists of 8,300 acres of Oak woodlands, wetlands, coastal sage and chaparral. It is a wonderful place to to hike. Easy trails, and the oaks really are so beautiful to see spread out over the rolling grassland.
I am going with some friends from my painting group to pick up some unsold paintings from a small show we participated in there. Since I won't be back in time to post the little painting I'm hoping to do out there, I will include a photo of the larger piece I was exhibiting that didn't sell. Hope you all like it.

Crystal Cove Garages

I spent the day finishing this painting of the Crystal Cove garages because I'll need it to submit to the  Gift Shop there for consideration to show there next year. Wish me luck. This one won't be for sale right now so that I can save it for the gift shop.