Painting Plein Air in Monterey, Day 5 PM

The fog came in thick. We had planned to go to Big Sur, and took the chance that the fog would have cleared.

Nope. Our hope was to go the viewpoint just north of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, where a big deal painter named Bill told us to go in order to paint his favorite view of any place on the coast around Monterey. We could see exactly nothing.

I asked Roomie if she knew what was special about it, and she said it is the only place in California (or the west coast? or the world??) where a waterfall hits the ocean.

Move on, folks. Nothing to see here.

We were tired, had a lot of things scheduled that day including the evening, and didn’t want to hoof it down the trail lugging out painting gear, risk it looking too foggy, only to have 2 hours before we had to head back (we were maybe 1-1/2 hours from Asilomar).

We leaned over a bridge in the park to look at the stream which becomes the waterfall.

These are sequoia sempervirens, not our sequoias, which are sequoia gigantea.

Painting-wise, it was a disappointing day. No bridge, no Big Sur view, only one painting. But Roomie and I enjoyed each other’s company and enjoyed the drive. The last time I was on that road was on foot, in April of 2010. A friend and I walked the Big Sur 21-Miler. It was awesome! (The photos look a little weird in that post because WordPress is like every other tech platform, always updating, which we all know is a euphemism for “complication”.)

Plein Air Painting in Monterey, Day 5 (AM)

Day 5 was scheduled for painting at Rocky Creek/Rocky Point, and Rocky Creek bridge, which is shaped like the Oak Grove Bridge (but built 10 years later.) We drove to Rocky Point Restaurant, which is closed, but has a decent parking lot and some trails out to the point.

Looks easier than waves.

Better do a sketch first to see if all is well with this arrangement (“composition” in Artspeak). Yeppers, I can really draw, but little sketches like this serve as a map for how I hope the painting will turn out. I made the water area larger than it actually appeared while I was perched on my little stool, feet propped on a rock.

This one felt like a slog. I really wanted to paint that bridge, but it was tiny in the distance and barely visible in the mist and morning sun. I hadn’t driven so I couldn’t go looking for a better spot, and Roomie’s car was a rental so I couldn’t borrow it. Nobody was heading back to Asilomar so that I could get my car, so I just buckled down to work.

There was a crew of about 3 guys working. “What are you doing?” “Collecting seeds to rehab”. I learned later that the rehab project was paid for by a private individual. They were getting the fuzz from coyote bush, and one other that they didn’t know the name of in English.

Oh-oh, here comes the fog.

Bye-bye, view. Guess I’ll have to finish this from memory.

The view was gone-zo, just like the easel that I broke up with on Monday. I guess everyone out there on the point were also painting from memory.

Someone named Ryan Something-or-other was painting the painters while making a video about plein air painting.

I’m guessing it will be available for sale on Streamline Publishing in a few months.

I thought this lady looked kind of neato painting in the fog.

Plein Air Painting in Monterey, Day 4 (PM)

We were told that Carmel Beach was voted the Best Beach in the country. Or maybe it was on the west coast, or maybe “just” in California. It was tricky to find parking, and a place to paint sitting down in the shade. I found a low bench but was still able to peer over the shrubbery and through the cypress trees.

This time I used a miniature pochade (pronounced “po-SHOD”) box with a bungie cord holding the 8×10″ canvas board. Since I was on a bench, I put my palette next to me. The box lid is the support, but it wobbles because I dropped it in the workshop a week before I left and busted a hinge. Sigh. It has an attachable palette, but I didn’t want one more little thing to struggle with and ultimately get paint all over stuff because I was unfamiliar with how it worked.

Good enough to fix later. I NEED to walk on the beach!

The water was much farther away than it appeared, and the waves were MUY FABULOSO.

That gal waited until the waves got a bit tamer, and then she went in. I told her that I thought she was brave, and as I was waiting to see what she was going to do with those massive waves, I began to wonder if she was suicidal. She said that she might have been if she didn’t cool off from the terrible heat wave. What, 85°??

I could have stayed there all day. I keep thinking that if I stare at the waves long enough, I will understand how to make them look good in 2-dimensions. But without a camera, I don’t think I can really get a sense of where they are dark, light, fuzzy, clean-edged, and the patterns of water movement.

I seem to be destined to be a studio painter.

Plein Air Painting in Monterey, Day 4 (AM)

Every moment is filled. There are too many places to see, too many people to meet, too many places to paint. So, today’s blog will only show the morning painting session on Day 4.

Roomie and I skipped the morning announcements and found our way to the Carmel Mission. I love those 21 missions and give the credit to my 4th grade teacher at Ivanhoe Elementary School. I drew the Carmel Mission a long time ago.

The mission seems to be more of a museum than a church now , not opening until 10 a.m., and charging admission, so Roomie and I set up behind an elevated cross where we could look over the wall into the courtyard.

I propped my borrowed easel minus a tripod on the wall, and started with a horizontal format.

Nope, the tower was too tall so I flipped the canvas around. Looks square in this photo, but it is vertical, 8×10″.

This is the view, and that tree blocked the rose window. Nothing to be done except to try and paint the tree.

Roomie and I painted together, and I quit before she did. She is accustomed to plein air painting and knows how to push through to a completed painting whereas I reach a point where I just give up, figuring on fixing all the messed up places later.

So, while I waited for her, I walked to the gate and held the camera on the other side of the slats for this photo.

There were so many flowers in bloom in the garden, both inside the gate and outside. This is Lady Banks rose, which blooms in about April in Three Rivers.

Check out the matiliha (matilija? matilijah?) poppies!

Good enough. I want to finish this at home, get all the architectural details right and fix that dominant tree. I don’t know why it was so hard. I texted my friend JC this observation: plein air is desperately difficult.

But I KNOW I can make this painting look better (when I can reclaim my life and have some uninterrupted studio time!)

One last photo, and then we headed to our next destination for afternoon painting. I think I could fill two weeks of just painting at the Carmel Mission (and then taking them all home to fix).

Plein Air Painting in Monterey, Day 3

Day three was a test of my gear: could I fit what I needed into my trusty red daypack and carry my 3-legged stool under one arm and the loaner pochade box in my other hand along a trail?

Yeppers.

We started at Garrapata State Park, along the bluffs on Highway One.

We painted all morning, then headed to Point Lobos. (I wonder if there were ever wolves there??) We were hot and tired after several hours of painting in the sun, but my roommate said that I HAD to see China Cove (she had done reconnaissance the previous day).

Well holy guacamole, it was spectacular! Several people, including my roomie, stopped at a particular spot, but I wanted to explore a bit farther. Look at these options!

A
B
C

A blew me away with the color, and it was where my little group set up. B was my first choice, but there was no place to set up without blocking the trail. (We were warned that we’d get a ticket if we blocked the trail or set up off the trail.) C was also quite intriguing, but again, there was a lack of set-up space. I also considered another place because it had a bench, but the view was meh compared to those first three.

So, I ventured back to my little group and just got in line because there was space and there was shade.

This photo doesn’t do justice to the green-blue of the water.

I was contending with the cable at the edge of the trail.

I didn’t take a good final photo. I’ll have to finish and scan it when I get home so you can see it.

It was a good painting day, almost finishing 2 paintings, with only detail left to really polish them off. Thursday is a day in and around Carmel.

P.S. There are so many other things about this adventure to share besides my painting progression and locations. I might continue the series next week after I am back home.

Plein Air Painting in Monterey, Day 2

After a fight with my stupid french easel on Day 1, a lovely lady lent me a pochade box, or maybe it is a box easel. All I had to do was find a tripod to set it on. “All I had to do”. . . ahem.

The talking lady on the phone directed me about 8 miles to a shopping center in another town, where I checked at Michael’s (no tripods, only the same shoddy kind of easel that I already own), and then at BestBuy. Turns out that camera easels are inadequate, so I left empty-handed.

The talking lady then directed me to Old Fisherman’s Wharf, where I found a pay-to-park lot, saw too many cars and people but recognized no one, so instead of painting, I went in search of a sad little house.

“A sad little house?” you are probably asking.

Yeppers. One of my drawing students has a photo of a certain house in Pacific Grove that he just loves. I found it without the help of the talking lady (because I had looked at a real map in advance and this time kept a sense of direction) and took many photos for him. That redeemed the morning.

However, I came here to paint so that I can learn to paint better, not run around on useless shopping errands and chase down photos of houses. So, I settled in at the little lodge where I am staying to practice using the new-to-me pochade box while finishing a painting from yesterday.

It was time to field-test the new set-up. I drove around the peninsula, hoping to get a good view of the Point Pinos lighthouse, but alas, it was closed and fenced off. So much beautiful rocky coastline to choose from, so I found a spot, PARALLEL PARKED (YEA ME!!), and gathered my gear.

This spot will do quite nicely.

Because the pochade box has no tripod, I have to schlepp a little stool along to sit on in order to hold the box on my lap.

Enough already. I can finish this later. I want to go down to beach now!

Yesterday I was surprised by the lack of shells on the beach. Today I discovered why there aren’t any at the Asilomar Beach—they are all in this little cove!

Am I learning to paint better? Am I getting better at plein air? People say nice things about my paintings, but they are all so very encouraging and genuinely nice that it’s hard to know if they mean it.

Mostly so far I have simply struggled with my gear. Wednesday we will be going to 2 different places, both slightly hard to get to, requiring car pooling and some “hiking”. I put that in quotes because of so much hiking experience in Mineral King, but this may prove to be more difficult than expected due to my poor gear management. As always, more will be revealed. . .

Plein Air Painting in Monterey, Day 1

On Day 1, we stayed at Asilomar. People needed to get accustomed to their equipment, the schedule, the weather, the whole situation, so it made sense to stay on the premises, which are walking distance to the ocean.

Our room is so tiny that I am keeping my supplies in the trunk of the car. After assembling what I thought would be useful for the morning painting session, I headed to the beach. My easel is heavy and cumbersome, so when I saw this, I thought it might be a good place to paint.

But the ocean was calling me, so I soldiered onward.

Is that PEBBLE BEACH, the fancy golf course over there??

After walking around a bit, taking a few photos, and thinking about the options, I did one quick sketch to confirm my choice.

Next, I wrestled with my heavy, rebellious excuse of an easel, finally getting it situated.

Here is a series of progression photos.

The painting was interspersed by conversation with passersby and other painters. We were told that it is best to not look at other people’s work while painting because it causes discontent and do-overs. As a result, there was much joking about wiping off canvas and starting again after seeing other’s efforts.

Painters were set up all along the beach.

The painting session was also interrupted by occasional walks into the water.

The kelp was very thick, and although I didn’t see a single shell, I did encounter this jellyfish.

I took one final useless photo, thinking it would show me the scene in order to finish the painting later. Alas, it was too bright out to see the screen of the camera, hence the “useless” description.

I didn’t really like my painting, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it better and it was hot. Didn’t matter, because this is all about practicing and learning. So, I headed to the other spot that I had chosen in the morning. It was in the shade, rather chilly, which was a nice change. An employee of Asilomar stopped by where several of us were setting up to remind us of the “excessive heat warning”. I almost fell down laughing but managed to restrain myself.

I’m liking this one and will definitely finish it later. I even got one final useful photo because I was able to see the screen of the camera. (Okay, not so useful. You can see how the light changes over the course of 2 hours.)

However, I am wondering where to buy a new easel and if I can find a trash can large enough to accommodate this sorry excuse of a plein air easel.

More will be revealed. . .

Travel Thoughts

Today (writing on Sunday night) I drove 242 miles to Asilomar, a conference center on the Monterey Peninsula for Fall Color Week, a private painting retreat with PleinAir Magazine’s Publisher Eric Rhoads and about 100 strangers. I got lost on the way, because it is sometimes nay, always tricky to both navigate and drive. I couldn’t get the talking lady to work, couldn’t find myself on a map, so I just resorted to commonsense, kept my sense of direction, and here I am.

Traveling by car means space isn’t very limited. I am used to traveling light, doing without, and making do, but this time I just kept adding things as I thought of them. More shoes, more pants, another sweater, another tool, another book, on and on and on. Ridiculous.

First impressions: beautiful building, long line, friendly people in line.

A friend polished my headlights and then helped me wash Fernando the day before I left. Didn’t matter, we were still shown very little respect on the freeways. Why is it that going 70 in a 65 still brings tailgating and contempt? I may have been imagining the contempt part. . .

This is the Stuck-Up Inn, where my room is.

This is a drive I’m not used to, (duh, I got lost) so the scenery was interesting. Why are there no boats on the San Luis Reservoir? What will happen to all the orchards of dead almond trees? Those golden hills against the blue sky would sure be worth painting, but there is no place to turn off the highway. Why is there so much litter? Where are all these people going?

The beach is walking distance

I have been to Asilomar before. About 15 years ago, a friend and I came to Monterey for the Big Sur marathon (we walked the 9-miler) and then we came here so I could gawk at these beautiful Craftsman style buildings, designed by Julia Morgan. Wow.

The dining hall (great food so far).

One thing that was a little worrisome was rooming with a stranger. No problem! Liesl and I are immediately compatible. . . she was very relieved that I get up early in the morning, and I echo that relief. The room is very small, so it won’t be easy to tiptoe around. She might go out painting first thing; I most likely will go for a walk (THE BEACH!!)

The backside of the room where we registered.

Monday morning we will be painting close to the conference grounds so we can get used to packing our gear and learning to use it. All the people are very genuinely friendly, and many have participated in these events before.

A quick stroll down to the beach after dinner.

So, I will be posting whenever I can find time and have something to show you.

The grounds have good walkways and adequate lighting. HOWEVER, all the buildings look alike, the lanes are curvy, and it is a confusing place of 107 acres. I’ll get it figured out this week.

Loser to Best

This little painting was a loser because it wasn’t good enough for anyone to part with his hard-earned dollars, despite the fact that my works sells for prices that won’t scare anyone.

It is titled “Tulare County’s Best”, and although it shows what I believe to be the best that our rural Central California county offers, it wasn’t my best work.

It was my best plein air work at the time, because I was new to that style of painting.

But plein air painting isn’t my best work. 

Shut up about “best”!

I repainted it, and here it is, now deserving of its title.

Tulare County’s Best, 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125

OF COURSE IT LOOKS BETTER IN PERSON.

Better Painting

After I took a plein air (on location) painting workshop, I tried to incorporate some new techniques into my normal studio method of painting. I didn’t like the results, and apparently, no one else did either, because those paintings didn’t sell.

This one in particular was troubling, because I thought the subject matter would overcome any difficulties.

After goofing off for weeks, I decided to warm up to painting by improving this little loser.

Better sky

Better snow

Better distant mountains and hills

Better Painting

 

 

When it is dry, I will scan it so we can all scratch our heads in bewilderment about how I could have ever thought the painting might sell in its earlier state. 

Guess I was blinded by love for the subject matter of Tulare County’s best features.

P.S. I didn’t mess with the orchards or wind machines because they look fine.