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.
I’ve wanted to do a painting of the Embassy Hotel in Hillcrest for a long time, but I had a hard time deciding which facade would make the best painting.
I finally decided on this one, because I liked the simple, functional look of the brick, contrasted with the elaborate Italian/Spanish/Moorish fantasy palace style architecture of the street facades.
I like those facades too… maybe another day I’ll paint them!
San Diego Urban Painting is for sale.
Golden late afternoon light in Santa Barbara, California, with the mountains rising in the distance.
Santa Barbara Landscape is for sale.
Shadows and light splash the hills looking East in the sunset.
San Diego Landscape Painting is for sale.
Climbing a steep hill in the woods, with twilight painting the Western sky.
The eucalyptus trees in San Diego are some of my favorite painting subjects.
San Diego Landscape Painting is for sale.
The rolling hills above Santa Barbara, dotted with California oaks and livestock. We saw horses, cattle- including longhorns- ostrich or emu (can’t tell which)… and then eventually we saw the inside of a winery tasting room.
We went to Fess Parker Winery. Fess Parker was the actor who played Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone on TV back in the day.
At the winery, you could buy miniature coon skin hats to put on wine bottles. Very tempting, but we chose to spend our money on wine instead.
A sun splashed alley in San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood. I love old buildings and the idiosyncratic way neighborhoods get built over time.
It’s a busy time in San Diego, with Comic Con winding down and the Pride celebration about to begin.
Happy July!
Dramatic cliffs overlooking the beach in Santa Barbara, CA. A golden afternoon.
I love the soaring, graceful lines and cathedral-like vaults made by mature eucalyptus trees.
Like the iconic Washingtonia palm, eucalyptus isn’t a native species to the California coast. Because of that, there’s been a backlash in recent years about planting both these beautiful trees along streets and in parks and neighborhoods.
I can see the logic, though I wouldn’t say I agree with it… because I love these trees!
This stand of eucalyptus is on the edge of Balboa Park, and leads into a Hillcrest neighborhood of gracious old homes.
The hills step off into whiteness
-Sylvia Plath, Sheep in Fog
Sylvia Plath was a dreary lady, but her poems are full of stunning imagery, and this is the line that came to mind while heading up into the cloud bound mountains above Santa Barbara.
I was intrigued by the deep greens and bright blues of the water, and of course the crowd of sailboats around Dana Point. From the pier, I did a bunch of drawings of the water and the beautiful seaside town, and this studio painting from those plein air sketches.
This is the second painting in a series of 3 plein air pieces I’ve been working on in Balboa Park in the shade of the eucalyptus trees. I’m hoping to finish the last one tomorrow.
I’ve been working on a series of three plein air paintings of this location in Balboa Park. I love the combination of colors and the hot sun contrasted with the cool, deep shade of the eucalyptus trees.
As a pale, freckly person, I like to paint in the shade. 😉
