Pelicans and Painting

Yesterday, I had the day off. I needed to go to Sebastopol to run errands, so I took my pochade box with me so I could paint a view of the laguna on my way to town. It was beautiful, as usual. What made it extra spectacular was a group of American White Pelicans that landed in the laguna while I was painting. At the moment they landed, I was looking at my painting and did not see them. I heard an impressive noise (as they swept their large beaks through the water) and looked up to see a group of birds such as I'd never seen before. At first I thought I was seeing swans; then I noticed their huge beaks. I was trying to figure out what I was seeing when a woman walked over to take a photo. She told me what they were and said they usually were found at the other end of the laguna. She also told me that they have an 8-foot wing span. We both stood watching them, and then they took off. They circled up slowly in ever widening circles; underneath their wings is a distinctive black pattern (on top they are pure, bright white). It was truly a magical experience to see them.

Spring Break painting

Painted on Wohler Road; acrylic on gessoboard. I have used gessoboard only a few times, but I like its smooth surface much more than canvas. It's more expensive, so I want to experiment with having boards cut at a hardware store & applying coats of gesso myself to save money. Used the actual palette of my pochade box as a palette for the first time. I had thought it would be too small, so I was putting down foil and just disposing of a layer whenever I needed new space. I found today, however, that since my paintings are so small, I don't need much space to mix paint, so it worked great!