Reworked Painting

This is the reworked version of one of the paintings I did (and posted earlier) during my Spring Break vacation. I altered the colors to increase value contrast, and I'm much happier with this version! I'm going to give this painting to my friend Geri, who is a fabulous chef, and who invites my wife and I to her home twice a year (at Thanksgiving and Easter) for an amazing feast. So....a trade....my art for her art!

Final paintings of Spring Break

Rain will start tomorrow, so today was my final painting excursion of this vacation week. The sky was full of perfect clouds today. The painting on top was done on Green Valley Road in Sebastopol; the other painting was done overlooking the Laguna down the road from Analy High School. Yesterday, I began using a different, lighter yellow: cadmium yellow light, as recommended by artist Kevin Macpherson for a limited palette. For both these paintings, I used only 4 colors---the cadmium yellow light, along with ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, and titanium white. It makes the whole process simpler to use so few colors, without really limiting any color possibilities for the paintings, since so many colors can be mixed from those four. 

Dramatic skies

Yesterday, the skies were unbelievably beautiful and dramatic. As I drove out of Guerneville to run errands in nearby towns, it seemed to me incredible that this show in the sky--completely unpredictable from day to day--is available to us earthlings every day. I am far from capturing even a bit of its splendor, but it is fun to try. The first painting I did (top) was painted from the parking lot of Martinelli Winery on River Road. The second painting was painted down the road from Analy High School in Sebastopol, looking out over the laguna. My practice this week, of completing as many small paintings en plein air as possible, has certainly been humbling. I will keep at it, with the conviction that with time and practice, improvement will come....right?

Spring Break painting #1

Yesterday, I went out in the rain to paint from my car using my new pochade box. The setup worked great. This is a 5" by 7" painting of an old church in Guerneville. It appears to be someone's home these days. The blue sky is made up; the actual sky was pale, pale gray but I thought it needed to stand out more from the building. There were cars parked in front along the street; I just painted greenery instead. Lots of the magenta underpainting shows through, but I don't mind it in this little sketch. It was great to be relaxed and painting! 

Still working on this one....

Adjusting colors. It's not done yet....

Work in progress....

My favorite beach to walk, and such a happy thing since it is only a 20-minute drive from my house! Once school is out in two weeks, I hope to come here often to paint...

Fava beans

Painted last summer, of fava beans from Middleton Farm bought at the Sebastopol Farmer's Market.

Pear and tangerines

The photo of this painting somehow doesn't get the colors right; I think they are deeper in real life. Originally, this painting just featured one green pear on the plate. The composition didn't work, so I repainted it, changing the color of the pear and adding the two tangerines.

English church

A friend gave me a black & white photo of this church and I decided to try painting it. I thought it would look more dramatic than it does.