Back to Bodega Bay

Once again I joined Howard Rees and a group of artists on his annual workshop to Bodega Bay and Tomales California.  This year the weather was spotty with mostly foggy and cool days.  We did have occasional sun and big clouds, but for the most part, we had to contend with the challenging conditions that heavy overcast brings.  Without light for contrast and color, most paintings become a study in gray.

The first day was along Bodega Bay painting the boats at dock.  A pleasant surprise occurred when a homeowner who lived nearby came out to see us and ended up purchasing my first painting of the trip.

First Painting of Trip, Purchased on location by resident (9x12 oil)

9x12 oil on canvas panel

With that very flattering start to the day, I had a bowl of very good clam chowder and then did this view of the same dock area in the afternoon.  I liked both of these paintings and felt that it had been a very good painting day. 

Schoolhouse beach, 2nd painting of the second day.

Our next day was a visit to Schoolhouse Beach just North of Bodega Bay.  It was foggy all day, but not too cold. I painted two scenes that day. 

Schoolhouse Beach  1st painting of the second day.

The first, a study of rocks along the shore, started out with promise, but I lost it somewhere along the way.  To make it worse, I succumbed to the temptation to add a half hearted wave breaking against the foreground rock.  Pathetic.  However, I think I am going to revisit this painting soon and see if I can't save it.  I think if I push the background rocks a little further away and create a bit of surf between the front and rear rock groupings, I may end up with a passable study.  The second painting of the day was of a point jutting into the ocean.  Once again, I think I can "finish" this painting with some bolder strokes in the land mass, giving weight and dimension.


 

Bodega Church  12" x 16" oil on canvas

 Day three found our group in Bodega, at the scene of the schoolhouse and church used in the film "The Birds"  I painted the church against my better judgement and ended up with a predicable result.  I should have rendered the entire scene much more impressionistically...and I may return to do that.  Finally, I turned my easel 180 degrees to paint a very small study of a fence running beside the road.  Howard helped me pull it off when he suggested a lighter background and also added the hot splash of light at the bottom center of the painting.  A nice study, in my opinion. 

Fence in Bodega  Oil 6"x6"

9 x 12 oil on canvas panel

On the last day of our workshop, the sun was out briefly in the morning, and I painted this scene on the main street of Tomales.  My goal was to capture the very impressive tree, with the barn as a secondary interest.  I totally missed the massive size and presence of the clump of trees and floundered with the colors of the foreground.  These was probably the least successful of all of the paintings on the trip.  I'm not sure it's worth the effort, but I may try to either 'fix' this one up or paint another version with this as a study in what not to do.  Although I was running out of gas artistically I decided to try one more as the fog settled into the valley once again.  This charming cluster of buildings could be seen from the front of the Shoreline School District.  Once again, the subdued colors and lack of contrast were a challenge as I resisted the urge to add bolder colors.  The workshop gathered for one last critique, and it was time to head home. 

Tomales Valley Scene  8 x 16 oil on panel

 The Workshop participants:

Howard Rees

Rusty

Ted

Norm

Renee

Vicki

Kathy and Sierra

 A good trip with wonderful people and artists!!

Painting at the School of Light and Color

Have you ever heard of "Meetup.com"?  I recommend checking it out if you haven't.  No matter what your interest, you're likely to find a group there.  Biking, hiking, knitting and of course, art, are just a few.  I have belonged to the Sacramento Plein Air Painters Meetup group for awhile now, and I've enjoyed many outside painting sessions with friends and fellow artists as a result.  Recently a new group was formed called "Sacramento Figure Drawing Group".  I joined with the hope of finding more opportunities to paint models and portraits from life.  Today I went to the first session I was able to make.  This one was at the School of Light and Color, a place I've heard of many times, but have never visited.  It was a good session with a very good model and many talented artists.  I wish I could name them all...and I look forward to the time that I can, but I did meet Susan Sarback, owner of the School and very gifted painter, as well as Terry Muira, whose work I have long admired.

My effort today was OK, especially given that it's been six months since I've done a portrait / figure from life.  Thinking about it, it's probably closer to a year, if the truth be told!  The Model was really exceptional.  I don't remember her name, unfortunately.  I went through the regular self conscious jitters that I often feel when studio painting with others and this was magnified by the level of talent in the room, but I soon got lost in the challenge of painting from life.  It's always a great experience...and often quite humbling.  I look forward to next time.





Oil on stretched cotton canvas, acrylic primer.
16" x 20"
About 2 1/2 hours.

A Rainy Afternoon in Fair Oaks - Part 2

It's time to try the final painting.  I have a 30x40 canvas in the studio and I decide to tape off a 20x40 shape to retain the 1:2 shape of the sketch.  I tone the canvas with a warm gray in acrylic, but I dislike the canvas almost from the first stroke.  It is an inexpensive frame without a way to tighten the very loose surface.  The canvas almost flops as I paint on it.  Awful.  Another lesson learned.   I return to the store and buy a 18x36 cotton canvas...still not a great surface, but it can be tightened if necessary.  Next step: a gray tone to start.


8/8/10  I put a light gray tone over the entire canvas using acrylic.  I start by locating the 1/3 points horizontally and vertically, then sketch in the scene with charcoal, trying mainly to locate the major shapes.

Charcoal sketch over acrylic tone

 
My first idea is to block in the major masses with acrylic, then finish with oils, but before long, I'm beginning to think I may stick with acrylic all the way.  This is a painting that offers a lot of opportunity for glazing and acrylic is wonderful for that.  I haven't done an acrylic painting in more than a year...probably closer to two, so it's off to the art store for some missing colors and to replace those tubes that have dried into lumps.  A couple of brushes won't hurt either.   By the end of the first session, this is where I am.

End of first session

Corrections noted in charcoal

The second session is a struggle.  There's something wrong with the composition, but I can't locate it.  It strikes me that there is a lot of space between the car and building on the right and the buildings on the left.  The more I look at it and compare it to the sketches and the color sketch, the more it bothers me.  At the end of the day, with the acrylic already dry (oh, what a luxury for an oil painter) I sketch a new location for the pick up truck and building on the left with charcoal.  I feel better with this and I'll start over painting next time.

More corrections!

I start the third session with the idea of making the corrections noted and then beginning to develop the painting.  I'm aware that the entire piece should be darker and I set that as a goal.  However, I'm soon once again distracted by the arrangement of the buildings.  Taking up the charcoal stick again, I push the right building line more to the left, shifting the car at the same time.  I feel like I am closing down that empty center. 


I block in the new changes and begin to darken areas of the painting.  Such a long way still to go.  It's at this point in a painting that I begin to feel like I am wandering without a clue.  It's tempting to move on to something else, but I'll push on.

End of third session.  What a mess!

A Rainy Afternoon in Fair Oaks

Winters get me down, and this winter dragged on forever.  During one particularly heavy downpour in April, facing yet another gray day locked inside, I got in the car and drove around town just to get out of the house.  The sound of the rain on the car roof was comforting, the wipers rhythmic. As I entered Fair Oaks Village the rain began to come down in torrents and I pulled to the side of the road to watch.  Ahead of me the warmth of the light from the coffee shop stood out as a welcoming beacon in a world of gray.  I snapped a couple of pictures while sitting in the car.  Later I was looking for some painting inspiration and came across the photographs.  I liked them and decide to make a few sketches and create a panoramic view of the cafe, street and the edge of the park.  The first sketch looked like this....

I liked the idea and I sketched it again, this time with a little more attention to the shapes. 

I thought it was beginning to shape up, so I made one more sketch, this time going for a elongated panorama.

I felt that the concept was working nicely, but I was also very conscious of the potential imbalance of the composition, particularly with the only bright light to the right of the painting. In my notes on my sketches I wrote that the lightest area in the painting other than the sky and the reflections on the ground was actually the building to the left.  I decided to try a 'color sketch', not something I've ever done before, to see if this would bring some balance to the composition.  I was reluctant to use a new canvas on this experiment, so I taped off a 8"x16" section on a slightly used canvas and with oils I did a direct study in color.  I spent a little extra time on the sign trying to learn to paint neon for the first time...

Without really planning it, I moved the buildings slightly to the right, and inadvertently solved another problem.  The left hand vertical line of the building faces no longer bisects the canvas.  A big improvement.  At this point, I'm very happy with the subject.  I think the composition is OK and I feel like the grayness of the day has been captured.  I really like the subtle colors of the neon sign and the window.  I want to avoid the fictionalized Kincaid look, but I do want to have this light the focal point of the painting. And I want it to be the invitation to come in from the old and wet....as it was in real life.

The struggle continues in Part 2

A Painting Day on the River

Sometimes, in spite of my best efforts to screw up a good thing, it all works out right.  Case in point: a day of painting on the River with Cindy and Bill Corp on their houseboat.  Bill and Cindy had extended an invitation to join them with the plan being that we would paint on the River and at the same time, work with Cindy, who is an emerging painter.  As Bill put it, Cindy would "learn from your putt".   It sounded like a heckofva deal to me and I accepted...and then promptly forgot the date.  Sunday morning I set off for a painting day at the Wildlife Refuge off I-5 and Twin Cities Road to paint.  Partway there, Bill called.  "just checking to make sure you haven't forgotten us."  OMG.  Of course I had forgotten!  But miracles do happen and there I was, car loaded with painting gear and heading in the right direction, if not the right place!  A quick detour and I found Cindy, Bill and Ernie Wester already on the Corp's lovely house boat ready to go.  (Ernie is the very accomplished painter from Locke...a great guy, great painting companion and even greater artist.)

Our Floating Painting Platform!  And Restaurant! Cindy and Bill's Houseboat!

Ernie Wester...not only a fine painter, but he can cast off a houseboat like a pro!

After a brief cruise of likely painting locales, we settled on a small island and decided to paint from the dock.  Cindy and I picked a sailboat at anchor in the River and Ernie found shade under a tree and painted it.

Cindy and I picked this vista for our paintings.

 We set up on the dock.....

Ernie finished early and watched Cindy and I struggle.

and painted this lovely scene.

Cindy showing off the afternoon's results...a nice landscape.

My only photo of Bill, taken with iPhone. 

 This beautiful afternoon was topped off by a delicious dinner prepared by Bill as the rest of us goofed off and painted. Here Bill gets a well deserved break after dinner is finished and the table has been cleared.

What a perfect day on the river...beautiful scenery, good company and great hosts.  Thank you Bill and Cindy!

Chili Cook Off and Paint out in Locke

Back to Locke again!  This time, painting was a close second to the annual Chili Cook Off.  It was a beautiful summer day (incredibly, one of the very first of the year!), and the cook off and painting were both successful.  The chili was great, the beer better, the crowds fun but mellow.  All the Locke regulars were there, if not painting.

David Peterson giving a demo

Martha Esch had to 'man' the shop all day, so she didn't paint.  But she did manage to talk David Peterson into giving us a demo of his watercolor technique.  David's style is loose and colorful.  He's quite well known around the area and is one of the people who keeps the Sacramento Fine Arts Center running with his endless volunteer work. 

One of David's watercolors

Ning Hou stopped by to chat for a few moments.  Ning's gallery is in Locke, but we don't see a lot of him.  His work is internationally known and much in demand.  His work is in the permanent collection at the Crocker Museum and the Sacramento Conference Center, just to name two that I happen to be familiar with. 


I painted in the morning and had a fairly successful effort.  I've mentioned before what a challenge it is to paint in Locke plein air.  I'm beginning to figure out that the only hope is to paint an "impression" of Locke, otherwise, it is just overwhelming.  So here's my impression of Locke on Chili Cook Off day with main street closed off. 

"Chili Cook Off in Locke"   Oil on 16" x 12" canvas panel  Plein Air

Revisiting a Plein Aire Painting - "Foothill Farmhouse"

As I have mentioned before, I have a stack of plein air paintings done over the last few years.  Most are not worth keeping, and when I get the time, I'll strip them from the stretcher bars and toss most of them.  However on days like this when inspiration has gone on vacation, it's fun to pull one out and play with it a little.  I try to imagine that it was a student's painting and I wanted to punch it up just a bit.
I found this one today and put it on the easel.

I did this one several years ago painting along Highway 160 just before the turnoffs to Jackson and Ione.  It actually wasn't a bad effort and even now I think it works as a plein air sketch.  But in looking at it for awhile, I thought I could see a few possible improvements.  All of the tree clusters seem very flat.  The groups on the left and right edges are particularly so.  Also, as is often the case in my plein air work, the backgound seems too dark, although it does accentuate the trucks of the palms.  The painting suffers from two centers of interest....those palm trunks and the farmhouse itself.  Maybe by graying the background, the trucks will also be slightly less prominent.  Finally, I wanted to break up the severe line along the roadside.  

After an hour, here it is.  the first thing that jumps out at me is the flat sky.  It isn't really as blue as it appears in this photo (I used cerulean blue), but I sure lost the interest that was in the original.  I think the background is much improved, although it didn't lessen the impact of the trunks of the palms.  Actually, I like them.  I was able to de-green the painting somewhat as well.  Breaking up the edge of the road now allows your eye to wander up into the painting.  The painting has a softer feeling throughout with that hard edge gone.  Finally, the trees have a bit more dimension.  When it sets up a little, I'll go back and lighten the sky.  

I don't know that this painting was really "improved" with re-working, but it was fun with a couple of lessons learned or reinforced.  

Keep Painting!