Torrey Pines- buy now
Golden light on the Torrey Pines.
Torrey Pines, Del Mar California
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Santa Ynez Valley Painting, Santa Barbara
Shadows on the hills in the Santa Ynez Valley, in Santa Barbara County, California. Such beautiful farming country.
East Beach in Santa Barbara Painting
East Beach – buy now
Painted on location on East Beach in beautiful Santa Barbara.
Someone asked why I mostly have paintings of East Beach. Well, the answer is we usually stay across the street at the Motel 6, which as I understand it once cost $6 per night.
The thing is, when you are a painter and you are traveling, you really HAVE TO GO PAINT or you will go insane but you don’t want to wreck everyone else’s vacation. I try to compromise.
So a typical Santa Barbara painting day is, I get up just before dawn and try to be on the beach as the sun is coming up, and then I have a solid five hours to paint before we move on to lunch or wine tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley. So I mostly, but not always, just walk across the street to East Beach.
And I could probably paint on this beautiful beach every single day.
San Diego Sailboats Plein Air
Boats Plein Air- buy now
A nice sunny day at Shelter Island in Point Loma.
A while back someone asked me to post in-progress shots. I mostly do that on my Facebook page (KevinInmanArt on Facebook) because it goes straight from my phone, but here goes. This painting is from Shelter Island in San Diego.
Nothing special about my approach here. It’s a typical alla prima painting starting from the white. I don’t always work this way. I like to experiment.
One rule I was taught in art school was, “never draw with a pencil” – as you can see I’ve disregarded that rule here. Actually the best piece of art advice I ever got was, “only follow advice if you are sure you understand it – and if you want to.”
So why do people say “don’t use a pencil”? Two reasons that I can see- one, beginning students have a tendency to get too tight with the drawing and two, because if the pencil drawing is wrong, your whole painting will be off. But I say, do what works for you.
So here I’ve completed the plein air, alla prima portion of the painting. The next step was to leave it in a stack of paintings for several weeks/months and then I pulled it out, touched it up, signed it, and here it is.
Kensington, San Diego Watercolor
Sunday at Starbucks, painted over morning coffee from the patio.
A pen and ink and watercolor sketch of a midcentury gas station in Kensington.
San Diego Night Painting
San Diego Nocturne- for sale
The night the laundry room flooded. We live in an old Spanish style building with lots of patios and outdoor living spaces. I thought the water was so beautiful running out the laundry room door and along the tiles.
Crystal Cove Laguna Beach
Crystal Cove- for sale
This day in Laguna Beach had incredible light and atmosphere- clear glassy water and a dramatic dark blue cloudy sky.
Mission Bay Painting San Diego
Fiesta Island – for sale
Today’s plein air painting, painted on location at Fiesta Island in Mission Bay. Nice spot.
Donut Painting
Gnawed donut- for sale
Old fashioned glazed donut from Donut Bar in San Diego… delicious.
Ocean Beach Painting
Dog Beach – commission
This commission was based on an earlier plein air painting from the same spot- looking across the channel at Dog Beach from Mission Beach. I painted the plein air version on Dec 31, 2012 so it was officially my last painting of the year.
Santa Barbara Beach Painting
East Beach Twilight – commission
East Beach in the early evening- this commission is already sold to a wonderful collector, but here are more California beach paintings.
Hillcrest San Diego Pencil Drawing- of the Pinkberry
Pencil drawing of Hillcrest- buy now
I drew this over breakfast this AM on the patio tables at Einstein’s Bagels in Hillcrest. This is the Pinkberry. Halfway through the drawing someone came and parked a gigantic pickup truck right in front of me. I had to keep standing up and peering over its enormity to finish the drawing.
I’d intended to do a watercolor painting this morning, but the cap had come off my pen inside my bag and it dried out. And though the art store is just across the street, it stubbornly did not open in time to buy a new pen. So I worked in graphite.
Flowers on the Gazebo, Alcazar Garden, Balboa Park
Gazebo in Spring- for sale
Another open air painting in Balboa Park- the Alcazar Garden. I really like this spot to paint- I guess it’s probably described as a formal Italian-style garden but with a mix of Moorish elements added as well. Nice place.
Spreckels Organ Pavilion or “If it Ain’t Baroque, Don’t Fix It”
Baroque Columns – for sale
Another nice spot in Balboa Park, San Diego. I like the Rococo. Painted on location.
It was a Tuesday and crowded. Every Tuesday one of the Museums in the park has a free day, and this was the SDMA which happened to have a Plein Air show at the time. Probably the most informed passers-by ever.
Leadbetter Beach, Santa Barbara California
Leadbetter Beach- buy now
Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara. I think it’s also spelled Ledbetter Beach. Beautiful place.