Ojai Preserve at Sunset

Ojai Preserve at Sunset

Original oil painting, 8x10

SOLD

I've been painting with my friend Chris Beirne to prepare for our art exhibit in September. Recently we were scouting a painting location in Santa Barbara and we ended up back in Ojai. We decided to head over to Chris's favorite painting spot on Besant Road, to paint as the sun was setting.

The meadow where we painted is called the Ojai Preserve, an open space with walking trails and Eucalyptus trees in the background. As the sun dropped lower in the sky, we set up to paint. The trees behind me were casting a shadow on the road and there was a red/orange tint in the background in my scene. The light was shifting which gave me a more dramatic value range to work with. We painted for about an hour before the entire scene was engulfed in shadows. The beauty of painting at sunset is the warm glow the sunlight casts on everything, however, you have to paint VERY quickly.

After I returned home I did the painting above in my studio, using my plein air painting as a reference.

I have to add some information about this palm tree, since I love to paint palm trees. It's a California Fan Palm (Washingtonia Filifera), the only palm native to the Western United States and an iconic palm tree in California.

View of Bay Bridge, San Francisco

View of Bay Bridge, San Francisco

original oil painting, 8x10

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The Bay Bridge is an impressive site.  You can catch a glimpse of the bridge from many streets in San Francisco.  It's actually a pair of bridges spanning the San Francisco Bay between San Francisco and Oakland.  A western span connects downtown San Francisco to Yerba Buena Island and an eastern span connects the island to Oakland.  It has one of the longest spans in the world, which it feels like when you're driving across it.

My painting shows the Bay Bridge in the distance on a street in San Francisco.  In the foreground, on the left you can see a typical San Francisco building with curved corner windows.  When painting cityscapes it's difficult to decide how much detail to include in the painting.  I simplify the information while trying to suggest a sense of depth and space.  Then I hope to find a balance that works in the painting.

The Cove, La Jolla

The Cove, La Jolla

8x10 original oil painting

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We spent Christmas in La Jolla with my family. The weather was beautiful, 80 degrees, and we were half a block from the Windansea beach. We were also near the Cove, a swimming and diving beach that is sheltered by sandstone cliffs.  La Jolla Cove has some of the clearest water of all San Diego beaches.  It is also part of the San Diego La Jolla Underwater Park Ecological Reserve .

In my painting above, the shallow areas of the water are emerald green with some yellow hues.  As the water gets a little deeper the color turns ultramarine blue with some gray tones.  On clear days along the ocean front, there is usually a line of reddish-purple haze near the horizon line.

San Francisco Street 4 (in progress)

I'm working on a larger version of the painting I posted last week.  I liked the painting so much, I decided to paint a larger version 16"x20."  I started the painting by laying in the values using transparent red oxide as an underpainting.  I'm about half way done. So far I really like the painting.  It can be a love/hate relationship when I'm working on a painting. We'll see how it comes out when it's finished.  I'll post the finished painting.

San Francisco Street 3

San Francisco Street 3

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

Finally, I'm back to painting after the holidays.  The sun is moving higher in the sky and I'm getting direct sunlight in my studio again. 

The painting above is a street scene with a cable car line.  I don't always know the exact location of my photographs, because I'm often taking pictures as I'm driving around San Francisco in my car.  (I do wait until I'm at a stop sign or stop light.)  I like to include cable cars because they give the paintings a sense of place and they make a nice focal point for my paintings.

O'Farrell and Jones, San Francisco

O'Farrell and Jones, San Francisco

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

I'm back to painting the City.  October is a beautiful time in San Francisco.  After a long foggy summer, the sun is shining in San Francisco.

When painting scenes of San Francisco it can be a little tricky to capture the sun on the streets.  It depends upon the height of the buildings and the time of the day.  Usually artists prefer to paint in early morning or late afternoon light because the long shadows create drama in compositions.  But in San Francisco, it can be better to paint and photograph at noon with the sun directly overhead. On some streets, midday is the only time the sunlight can break through the tall buildings.

The cable car in the painting above is a replica of the old car on the O'Farrell and Jones Street line. I like the red color that the cable car brings to the composition.  I also like the warmth in the street where the sun hits, I've added a little yellow to the cool gray to warm up the color on the street.

Endless Summer Show

Endless Summer Show

50-50 III, Sanchez Arts Center

The fifty 6"x6" paintings are finished and the show is installed at the Sanchez Arts Center.  I painted beach scenes, beach volleyball games, surfers, sailboats, cyclists, motorcycles and a few vintage cars.  My theme expanded to include things that I came across or happened upon while painting for fifty days.

Two days before I began to paint, I picked up 50 6"x6" small wood panels for my artwork.  I chose to paint on gessoed canvas rather than the wood.  Each painting started with a transparent red oxide tonal underpainting to help me with value.  I really have to think about value while I'm painting, it doesn't come naturally to me. (Value is defined as the relative lightness or darkness of a color.)   

After each painting dried, I glued the finished paintings to the wood panel.  At the end of July I was getting behind schedule when my brother and his family visited.  My niece Ann helped me glue many of the paintings to the panels.

To see more of my paintings in the show visit my website on the available paintings page.

Below is a photograph of the installation of the fifty paintings.  The show runs through October 2nd at the Sanchez Art Center.