Plein Air Painting in Three Rivers

Krista asked me to paint again with her at the airport bridge in Three Rivers on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Before I went, I hung out with Jackson a little bit.

He wasn’t very hungry because he let the gopher live. Didn’t even pounce.

I drove to the same place with its multiple No Parking signs.

This time, I had a tripod that the little cigar box pochade attached to. Gear management is one of the great challenges of plein air painting. I won’t be buying a $700-1000 easel set-up for plein air painting unless something really changes in my abilities and interests. But I will continue to experiment and try various arrangements.

My roommate in Monterey won this brush clip in a raffle and passed it to me. It’s pretty useful, but I only use one or two brushes when I paint plein air and don’t plan on needing more. I don’t like to own stuff that I don’t need, so I passed it to Krista, who is very determined to learn this method of painting.

With a tripod, I was able to stand to paint and use my stool as a shelf. The big wooden box was passed to me by a friend who changed his mind about wanting to paint, and it is a handy way to carry my stuff. It weighs more than I’d like, and it seems as if it opens backwards, so it may go the way of all excess equipment—into the hands of someone else who needs it. The verdict isn’t in yet.

This isn’t too bad, and maybe I will like it after fixing and finishing it in the painting workshop at home.

When the sun was off the scene, we started packing, and I turned around and saw this.

It’s all about the light. Always.

One thing that is happening to my abilities as a result of plein air painting is that I am noticing new scenes to paint, looking at sunlight instead of just the subject matter. Maybe this alone is worth the time, effort, and money spent on this adventure.

Simply Home

Bike Tree, 24×24″, $1400

Plein Air Painting in Three Rivers

For about 2 years, my friend Krista has been asking me to paint with her in Three Rivers. Last week we had an entire day without electricity, phones, internet, so it seemed like a good time to leave home and paint outside. Besides, it is always a pleasure to hang out with a friend, especially outside on a nice afternoon in our scenic foothill town.

I thought about places to paint, and it is tricky when every shoulder of the road is marked with NO PARKING signs. I decided that I didn’t care, and if anyone wanted to tow Fernando away, we would have a conversation about it, and it would turn out just fine. (Our sheriff is an artist.)

This view shows the curve on the right side of the road as it heads to the bridge.

This view shows the tall sycamore trees on the left.

I wanted both, so did a sketch to see if I could squish them both in. Good thing you know that I can draw, or you might be a little worried about the quality of this sketch.

Here is my substandard plein air equipment, perfectly functional for my limited interest in this method of putting paint on canvas.

Here we go, another sketchy messy beginning.

The light changed quickly, and then all the color was gone.

That’s fine, because I took the painting as far as I could figure out while painting on location. I just don’t understand how to smash all sorts of details together; maybe someday I will, but I can’t imagine that I would like the results. I think I will like this painting after reworking it in the painting workshop at home.

Krista and I had a great time together; it is very likely that we will do this again.

Simply Home

Silage, Silos, and the Sierra, 6×12″, $145

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.

Plein Air or Studio?

This is Asilomar State Beach, the first place I set up an easel to paint plein air, which means feet in the sand, wind in my hair, hair in my eyes, and easel fighting gravity.

This is my painting of Asilomar Beach, brought into submission in the confines of my painting workshop (i.e. studio).

This is Carmel Beach, voted the most beautiful beach in California or the US or ???, as first painted while sitting on a park bench, balancing a pochade box on my lap with my palette of paints on the bench beside, all the while wishing I was down on the sand with my feet in the water, minus the painting.

This is my painting of Carmel Beach, brought into submission in the painting workshop, with the able assistance of some photos where things hold still for a pair of minutes and color can be actually seen rather than squinted and guessed at in the bright sun (or deep shade)

But I’m perfectly neutral on the topic, as you can see.

P.S. At the opening reception of my show Simply Home, an acquaintance of many years said to me, “I’m going to tell you something that will make you mad.” Then he proceeded to say, “You draw better than you paint.”

What would he have said if he’d seen my plein air paintings before I retouched them??

Simply Home

Lemon Cove Oranges, 16×16″, SOLD

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.

P.S. This painting is the one chosen for the publicity for the show. Yes, it is oil on wrapped canvas, but I’m tired of typing that and fairly certain that you are tired of reading it too.

A Studio Painter, for Certain.

The week in Monterey was a great enjoyable time, and also a real learning experience. So many beautiful things to paint, it almost didn’t matter if we drove anywhere or just stayed put.

Plein air has never appealed to me, and it was stinkin’ hard, but I think I got better as the week progressed. I don’t love the process or the results enough to invest in a good easel/tripod set up (those run $700-$1000!) I’m still not convinced that it improves one’s skill; maybe it does if plein air is the preferred style, but honestly, I look at those paintings by people who are a Big Deal and think that someone needs to find a good optometrist.

So, I am fully committed to being a studio painter. It is good to have decided who I am, finally, at age 65, after 18-1/2 years of oil painting. Maybe someday I’ll get a wild hare and try to paint quick, thick, and sloppy slick (but I may not sign those).

However, I don’t consider the time spent painting plein air as a waste of time. It taught me a way to paint a little bit faster, how to focus more on the composition, that my easel was a major annoyance, and now I have the ability to paint plein air, should anyone ask me to do so (more for the process than the product).

A clean palette without sand and a level place to set it—such a relief.
A long-overdue sequoia painting is drying before scanning and delivery.
A little more progress on the Marble Fork bridge.
This is a commission of a giant tomato for someone in Florida.

You may have heard me profess my love of the beach in the past a time or two. I ordered a stack of snapshots of the beach and waves, along with some smooth 5×7″ boards (called “gessobord”) to practice painting waves and beach scenes. IN THE STUDIO!! FROM PHOTOGRAPHS!

BECAUSE I AM A STUDIO PAINTER!

So there.

Simply Home

Navel Contemplation, 10×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $200

Plein Air Painting in Monterey: One Last Peek

Among the 100 or so folks in Monterey at Fall Color Week, there were fantastic painters along with rank amateurs: my work fell solidly in the middle. I am a studio painter, and this whole thing stretched me. I could go on and on about what I learned, but I suspect that if you are not an artist, it will cause you to click off this page, maybe (horrors!) even unsubscribe (but ask me privately if you have questions about the value of plein air painting).

Liesel Lund painted this AND sold it while at the retreat.
Bill Davidson is kind of a big deal painter in the area and served as our guide to good places to paint. I think he offered this painting to us at a discounted price of $1000.
Pauline Roche was one of the first people I met while standing in line at registration. She painted this on the day I skipped out on Fisherman’s Wharf. She truly understands accuracy in architectural subjects, and I wish I had seen this view. Alas,I was trying to find a tripod for a borrowed pochade box that morning.
Wendy Ahlm was my favorite artist there. She had two different buyers vying for this painting while it was still wet. This is her website.
I forgot who did this. It is the view I wished I could get.
Pam Newell’s rocks blew us all away with admiration.
Wendy Ahlm did this on the first day when most of us were riding the Struggle Bus.

And then there are my paintings. I did 10 total, but only showed 8 of them in the room where we placed them each evening.

And thus we conclude our long series of blog posts “Plein Air Painting in Monterey”.

Now we can return to our regular blogging topics, and maybe I’ll actually finish some of these paintings to where I might confidently put them up for sale.

Simply Home

Here is today’s painting, done in the studio (because I was NOT going to carry my bad easel 4 miles), for Simply Home, a solo show at CACHE.

Salt Creek Falls, 16×20″, oil on wrapped canvas, $650

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00. 125 South B Street, Exeter, California

Plein Air Painting in Monterey: Sunset and Sundries

Although I am still going on and on about the week of plein air painting in Monterey, now that Simply Home has opened, I will show a painting from the show each day until I either run out of paintings or run out of days.

Each evening I ate dinner quickly, grabbed a to-go cup of decaf coffee, and scooted down to the beach for a little time before our evening gathering sessions. Everyone loves sunset at the beach in California, but most people stayed at the tables conversing and having dessert. It was just too loud in there for me, and the beach was calling.

I never did see the green flash because the sky was never clear in the west. Besides, I’ve never seen the green flash and wonder if it really exists or if it is like Sasquatch.

These photos are beautiful, but in Plein Air World, it is VERY BAD to paint from photos. You may use them for reference, but if you aren’t painting on location, your paintings will be SUBSTANDARD. So there.

(Oh yeah? Whatcha gonna do about it, eh?)

There were a few oddities that caught my eye throughout the week. (I used “sundries” in the title because of the alliteration.)

This car was parked near me when I sat on a wall painting. A very dressed up young woman appeared briefly, but I was too engrossed in my work to figure it out. Probably engagement photos.

This was behind the counter where we got our meals.

Yeppers, me too.

This house was next to the building where we had our Rah-rah sessions, and one evening it was lit up like this. Too bad about the car in front. I could paint it; our Fearless Leader told us to only paint houses when there are clearly cars there to indicate that the owner is home, because then you are likely to sell the painting! I was too busy to stand around painting houses.

Simply Home

Here is painting #1 from Simply Home.

Sunset Over the Kaweah, 16×20″, oil on wrapped canvas, $650

CACHE Gallery hours are Fridays 1:30-4:00, Saturdays 10:00-4:00, Sundays noon-4:00.

Plein Air Painting in Monterey: Sunrises

We were a group of about 100 people at Asilomar, plein air painting together, walking on the beach together, having meals together, meeting together in the morning and the evening, and sharing living quarters (unless we paid an additional astronomical fee for a private room).

With a crowd of enthusiastic painters, I had to work to find solitude. So, I walked on the beach or on the road overlooking the beach every morning. Sometimes I saw other people with our style of name tags, sometimes painting or walking, but also a handful of other morning folks along with surfers.

I think this is yarrow.
Looking east had a nice sky one morning when we had clouds, but I preferred looking at the ocean.
It seems that if I painted that colorful sky piece, it would look fake.
More looking east in the morning on the cloudy day.
Each morning had a very brief moment where the foam looked almost pink.
And then it went magically bright.

Tomorrow I’ll show you some of the new friends I made.

Meanwhile, back to the future:

Architecture at Asilomar

Many of the buildings at Asilomar were designed by Julia Morgan, the architect best known for designing the Hearst Castle in San Simeon. She is also known for many fine buildings in Berkeley, AND a building at the Springville Hospital (for TB) here in Tulare County, now torn down due to earthquake standards.

Pencil drawing of Wayside at the Springville Hospital

Roomie and I were assigned a room in The Stuck-up Inn.

Our room was shockingly small for two people and all the painting gear. The room assignments were a mystery, because some of the people who paid for a single room had rooms that were much larger. Weird.

It had rooms around a central courtyard, where I sat to paint one afternoon after I had a fight with my easel.

I thoroughly enjoyed the living room each morning before the sun came up. It was a place to be alone (so thankful no one else thought of hanging out there!), to stretch, to read, and to experience some solitude before taking a pre-breakfast walk at (or on) the beach and joining the teeming mass of painters.

In spite of the space limitations, I was completely charmed by the age and the details of the building. As Roomie said, it forced us to spend more time out painting. I was very thankful for the fact that we were so compatible.

Crocker Dining Hall
Main building/lodge/office/etc.

Next time, I will show you photos of the sunrises and other things that caught my attention in this week of painting in Monterey.

Meanwhile, back to reality:

Plein Air Painting in Monterey, Day 6 (PM)

Piños Point Lighthouse was pulling me, just like that Rocky Creek Bridge. I love architecture and really like to paint (and draw) a blend of man-made and God-made subjects.

The trouble was that the lighthouse has very limited hours. By the time I finished painting at Lover’s Point Park, there were only 1-1/2 hours hour left when the lighthouse would be open. Since it cost to get in, I didn’t think such a limited time was worth the money—by the time I got set up and really into the painting, it would be time to go. So, I drove around looking for a few different views.

I finally found a place next to the adjoining golf course with the lighthouse in the distance. It isn’t perched on the cliffs, but is back a ways. You can see it isn’t ideal, but sometimes an artist has to do what she has to do.

This time I decided to draw directly on the canvas panel, to save some time.

Now, where will I put my little stool? There is no space, and it makes me too low. My main limitation (besides finding a parking place) was that when I sit, there are often shrubs blocking the view. In this case, it was a picket fence.

AHA! I will sit on Fernando’s hood, a less than ideal situation, but remember, sometimes an artist has to do what she has to do.

I got a few basics down, and realized it was ridiculous to paint that way. The slant of the hood (“HEY! Get back here, paintbrush/palette knife/palette/paper towel!”) along with the wind raging from the ocean behind me made it untenable. So, I took some photos to use later.

Forget this. I am a studio painter, and I need to sit quietly and look at my photos to complete this painting. I returned to Asilomar and set up in the living room of the lodge where I was staying.

Alrighty then! I like this, and will like it better when I detail it to pieces.

This was a good way to end my 6 days of painting at Fall Color Week at Asilomar. I will show you some other parts of the week in a few more blog posts.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch. . .

Plein Air Painting in Monterey, Day 6 (AM)

Five days of painting plein air should have built some skill and some confidence. I learned two things: I paint better alone, and I paint better when there is no sense of being rushed. So, I headed to a place called Lover’s Point Park in downtown Pacific Grove.

I skipped the morning Rah-rah meeting—fun, painting tips, instructions but a waste of good painting time, left earlyish in my own car, and found a perfect parking place in the shade. It was close to a wall where I could sit with the borrowed easel box on my lap and my stuff on the wall next to me. Before setting up, I walked around a bit to choose a location. Yes, I was influenced by the proximity to Fernando (my car).

Next, a sketch. Choosing a view and doing these sketches reminds me of choosing something from a dinner menu at a great restaurant. Anything is great, so there’s no need to spend a lot of time dithering.

This’ll do.

Let’s go!! I felt confident enough to paint 11×14″, knowing that no one was waiting for me to finish, and not getting all bowed up about how fast the light was changing. I also didn’t overhear anyone else talking about “gorgeous light”, “yummy colors”, or “a pop of color”, or how they needed to “scrape” their painting because it was awful. All this chitchat stresses me out, although I can’t say exactly why that is.

It’s always good to step back, something that’s a bit harder to do when sitting with an easel box in one’s lap.

Might be good to photograph the scene again.

I kind of like this one, but still think I can do better in the studio. It was a fun place to paint, with lots of people stopping by to admire or ask questions. I talked to 3 little kids who all love to draw, and gave each one a business card, “free art”.