Painting Excursion

Yesterday was a gorgeous, sunny, 80-degree day. I packed up my painting gear and my dog and headed to the hills of Cazadero to paint. There were many beautiful views to choose from; I finally set up across the road from a very sculptural dead tree. Wilson slept while I painted. As usual, the solitary time in nature was soul-soothing. While we were there, a photographer from Santa Rosa magazine drove up and asked if he could photograph me painting for an article he's doing on beautiful drives to the coast. I've never heard of Santa Rosa magazine, so I don't know if I'll ever see those photos. My painting still has a ways to go.

Looking at nature....

"About form and roundness, Hawthorne said, 'Let color make form; do not make form and color it in.' This is the main difference between looking at nature from a linear point of view as opposed to observing masses."

---Lois Griffel, writing of painter Charles Hawthorne in her book Painting the Impressionist Landscape: Lessons in Interpreting Light & Color

Fur Babies

Here you see the beginning & ending of a painting I just finished. These cute boys are Latte & Mocha. They are litter mates, but they don't look alike. Their faces are quite different, and Mocha is bigger than Latte. They are the babies of my friends Coop & Cindy. I've been wanting to paint them for awhile, but I wasn't sure I could pull off their furry coats, so I kept putting it off. Finally, I just decided to give it a go. I'm pleased with the result; it captures their faces nicely, and I think I did well at not overworking the painting. The photo somehow doesn't capture the white highlights in their fur.

Armstrong Woods vistas

These are two of the paintings from my spring break week, when I hung out a lot in Armstrong Woods Park. It is always a challenge to paint all the greens in nature, and I need a lot more practice!

The Russian River

One day during my spring break, it was very overcast. I painted in my car near the mouth of the Russian River. The very cool light seemed to make the red brush by the river extra vibrant.

Jeff Horn said...

"The goal of all this is simply to live in the world & make a statement about being in the world. Any day in which I have the opportunity to paint is a day I know I have been here. To paraphrase Robert Henri, there are moments in a day, moments in our lives, when we seem to see beyond the usual. It is the beauty & order of those moments that the painter tries to reveal & share."
--California painter Jeff Horn 

Spring morning at Duncan's Point

This was painted one morning at Duncan's Point, south of Goat Rock Beach. The coast is spectacular at this time of year for all its brilliant color. The morning I painted this, the sky was quite pale, which made the bright colors stand out wonderfully.