Santa Ynez Valley Landscape Painting is for sale.
Sunny skies, golden summer grass, and deep green shade in the Santa Ynez Valley, near Santa Barbara, CA.
We spent a long weekend in Santa Barbara earlier in the summer, and I just discovered this and a couple of other paintings that I forgot to post. It’s a beautiful place.
We joined a wine club the day I started this painting up in the hills over Santa Barbara… and that wine shipment should arrive any minute now!
Georgia Street Bridge, San Diego Painting
From the southeast corner of University Ave, in Hillcrest, looking up at the retaining walls of the Georgia St bridge over the avenue. This painting was a long time coming. I started it last winter and pulled it out periodically since then, working, wiping off the paint, giving up for a while.
Most recently I made one of my feeble efforts to clean the studio and found the painting again and I thought SURELY THIS TIME I can finish.
Palm Trees in Ocean Beach- San Diego Painting
Palms lining Newport Ave in Ocean Beach, San Diego. This converted movie theatre is now a Wings.
Painting of San Diego Museum of Man
Afternoon light. Oil painting of the tower and dome of the Museum of Man in San Diego’s Balboa Park. This is the second version of this painting- the first, plein air version, painted from the Cabrillo Bridge, I did in oil pastel.
I rarely work in oil pastel- I usually prefer chalk pastels because they layer so nicely, and it’s easy to correct mistakes.
San Diego Painting- Bougainvillea in North Park
Morning in an alley in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood, with a riot of bougainvillea growing over a fence, backlit by the early sun.
San Diego Painting is for sale.
Trash Cans in the Alley, San Diego Painting
Trash cans lined up in a sunny alley. I like painting in alleys- it’s very peaceful.
Morning Street in Hillcrest- Painting of San Diego
I like cityscapes where the buildings are layered, in this case, by time as well as height. Georgia St in San Diego.
Santa Barbara Painting- Sunset Light
The perfect ending to a beautiful day in Santa Barbara, California. The light there has a special quality. Mellow, diffuse in the marine haze, and gently golden at sundown.
Santa Barbara Sunset Light is for sale.
Painting of San Diego- North Park
From the Georgia St Bridge, looking out over North Park.
This is the second version of this view of North Park I’ve painted. Well, technically it is the first version, but the first layers of color didn’t dry fast enough (I’d been experimenting with a different oil painting medium), so I impatiently started over with a second version.
After finishing that one, I lost my steam for the first version and put it away for I’m not sure how long, at least a couple of months. But recently I found it in a stack of half-finished work, and decided to give it another effort.
For sale at my Etsy shop.
Garden With Morning Glory Flowers
I love this peaceful backyard, with its overhanging mimosa and magnolia trees, velvety lawn, and the cheerful morning glory overhanging the fence. They have bougainvillea too.
In this painting, I was trying to capture the way the light streams across a landscape in the evening, creating long shadows against a bright sky.
San Diego Paintings in my Etsy shop.
I’ve been making some changes to my process lately. One thing I’ve been trying, and I’m not sure if I think it’s successful, is drawing lines freehand instead of using a ruler. On the one hand, I like the sketchy quality that emerges. On the other, I like things to be crisp.
I’ve been intrigued lately by the idea of doing tourist paintings. I’m more drawn to the opposite of landmarks- random, run-down places, or just an everyday street- but I like the idea of painting landmarks as well.
Canaletto’s career was based on them; Renoir painted his own versions of Canaletto’s Venetian cityscapes. And of course we have the rich legacy of Paris Impressionist street scenes. Monet, to me, was the star of that genre, but there were quite a few Impressionist masters. I’ll see where this idea takes me.
Also featured here: Gamblin Portland Grey! I’m always on the lookout for better ways to paint our cool, overcast mornings.
Balboa Park Painting is for sale.
