Plein Air Morning

Spent a beautiful morning doing plein air work in Armstrong Woods with my friend and amazing artist Douglas DeVivo of The Blue Door Gallery in Guerneville. Douglas worked on plein air collages and I painted. As always, the tranquility of nature provided perfect inspiration.

Spring Morning in Armstrong Woods

I love this spot in Armstrong Woods Park. It is breathtaking. I went there to paint one morning over my spring break. It is one of the most challenging vistas I try to capture because there must be 95 different shades of green. I think I will keep trying to paint it for the rest of my life....

Work in Progress #1

A couple weeks ago, I got home earlier than usual from work, so I threw my paints into the car and headed to Armstrong Woods, to one of my favorite spots to paint. I've painted this view before, but it was in the spring so the colors were completely different. I haven't touched the painting since the day I started it, so it has a long way to go.....I hope to paint the same scene again in the winter.

View of Armstrong Woods

This is one of the paintings I did at Armstrong Woods Park over my spring break. It is always a challenged to paint a place with lots of different greens. I don't use any tubes of green paint; I mix all my greens from a variety of combinations of blues, yellows and reds. The variations of green seen in nature is mind boggling! I have been painting a lot lately in preparation for a show at Studio Blomster in Guerneville. Tomorrow I'm meeting with David Blomster, owner of the gallery, to talk more about the show. It will be my first solo show...an exciting adventure!

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!

Back to Armstrong Woods

Yesterday morning, I went back to Armstrong Woods Park because it had been so beautiful the day before. I painted from the location you see pictured for about two and a half hours. I really like it when a painting is successful, but yesterday I kept thinking, "I get to spend the morning in this landscape; who cares how the painting turns out?" Still working on the painting; will post a picture when it's done.

Armstrong Woods Morning

This morning was beautiful---warm & clear. I got up early so as to get to Armstrong Woods Park with time to paint in the morning light. Here is a photo of my setup; my pochade box & brush stand perched conveniently on top of a large stone. It was so tranquil in the park. I only saw a few people the whole time I was there. There were plenty of sounds, but they were sounds of birds, and bugs, and trees swaying. I love painting en plein air for the quiet time in nature it gives me!

"Evening Light"

I live near Armstrong Woods Park in Guerneville. My friend Greg is a park ranger, and he used to live in a house at the top of the park. One evening my wife and I went up to visit him. The views and the evening light were beautiful. My wife stopped the car on the drive back down and snapped a photo of this view.

Watercolor sketch

Two days ago, I experimented with painting in watercolor in my sketchbook after first putting down a layer of white gesso. I did this in order to smooth out the surface of the handmade paper a bit. I used my small travel watercolor kit while at the library to paint this picture of Armstrong Woods Park. I had been there with my wife the previous evening to watch the sunset. As we drove away, we saw the moon in the distance.