Storm rolling in off the Pacific at the Dog Beach in OB.
Tag Archives: 5 x 7 inches
Sunset Cliffs, San Diego
Rock and Surf
The original title for this one was Rock And Bird Shit, but I hate to be crass.
Street, Ocean Beach
This mid century building and its stumpy date palm really spoke to me about the vernacular here.
San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
Seen from the Molo across the water. Ah, Venice. This is my last picture from the trip, except two from Rome that I’m iffy about. To celebrate, I’m going to replicate a supper we ate there- pasta alla norma followed by chicken milanese (basically a breaded chicken cutlet.) And plot my next trip!
Il Redentore
Palladio’s famous church on La Giudecca. This is one of the views I especially wanted to paint in Venice, because I wanted to feel the connection to art history and the veduta tradition that originated here.
On a Dock, Venice
Piazza San Marco, Venice
I was absolutely fascinated by the acqua alta, or high water in the lower streets in Venice. It laid out for me the engineering feat that building this city was- and the ongoing challenges as well. Not sure how to express this sentiment but I’ll try- even though it’s surpassingly beautiful, the sheer will, determination, and stubbornness of the long ago Venetians to build a city in the water impresses me even more.
Foro Romano
In no particular order will follow the rest of the pictures from my trip to Rome and Venice.
I wanted to visit some of the classic sites that inspired so many 18th century “view” paintings (or vedute in Italian.) That’s where it all comes from, a hundred years before the Impressionists, and those historical pictures got in my head a few years ago and started me painting them here in San Diego.
I didn’t realize it at the time but this isn’t the vantage point I had intended to paint. I think I should have been on the other side of the Capitoline hill, which is the vantage point (I think) from Turner’s famous version of this. That painting was on the cover of copy of The Silmarillion I stole from my sister when I was kid. I loved that picture.
St Mark’s, Venice
There’s a lot of history in St Mark’s, a lot of birds, and a lot of tourists!
In old paintings of Venice, Piazza San Marco is full of promenading aristocrats. Now, of course, there are selfie sticks and Indian men selling light up helicopter things.
Even though Venice is seriously threatened by rising sea levels, it struck me that the crowds of people are a lot more ephemeral. Most of them are just here for a few days- St Mark’s Basilica has been here 1000 years. And still, as you can see, under construction.
Acqua Alta, Piazza San Marco
I just got back from a 2 week painting trip to Italy, which was beautiful. There was a lot of weather, which is a nice change coming from sunny California- though there’s only so much painting anyone can do in pouring rain.
I was really taken with the acqua alta or high water in Venice, especially in Piazza San Marco. Hardy souls with galoshes or wet feet splashed through it, but my goal was to keep my feet dry. That was not an easy task, because some of the streets were flooded too.
Here’s Piazza San Marco, flooded in sun. I also saw it flooded in rain and with puddles at night- as well as dry in all kinds of weather.
And yes- it’s not a very accurate drawing. I shortened the campanile to fit on the panel, among other things.
Del Mar Sketch
NFS
I usually try to get my plein air pieces to a higher level of finish. This one didn’t quite get there.
I decided to post it anyway because I thought you might find it interesting to see work in such a raw state. So often, we are exposed only to polished work- which sets an impossibly high standard for students.
Even though this piece didn’t make it, it’s still handy for me to be able to pull these studies off the shelf and double check the light, the atmospheric conditions, the colors in the water and so on, how it made me feel. Also the things you notice while spending time in a place- trains going by, many surfers, the wind too strong for my umbrella- all the little details that might be important in a future piece, especially one conceptualized in the studio.
Red Rocks Plein Air Landscape
Last week I was in Las Vegas, tagged along at a conference. Not really a gambler. I spent the days painting in the desert and the evenings eating conference appetizers and drinking seemingly unlimited quantities of white wine.
Evening, Coronado
It’s always tough painting into the setting sun, but I gave it a shot. Painted on the beach in Coronado.
I’m trying out my new ultra lightweight easel setup. This weighs less than 3 lbs total, including the somewhat rickety $8 tripod. I like to travel light- this is going to be great for trips.
Coronado Beach Plein Air
Painted on the beach in Coronado last week, before I left San Diego for a few days in Las Vegas. Just got around to photographing it today.
I’ve been playing around lately with a more conventional approach to Impressionism. In this piece, Pissarro’s ‘petite tache’ and palette and what all. My approach to painting doesn’t tend to come from that place- I got here via a winding path out of modernist abstraction that eventually led to being on a street corner with a paint box. So it’s fun to tinker with the style, so familiar from childhood visits to the National Gallery of Art in DC. We’ll see if it becomes a thing.
