I painted this a few weeks ago, but it was a study for a wedding gift and I didn’t want to spoil the surprise. 8 x 13 inches, oil on linen.
Tag Archives: california
Sunset Cliffs
Lots of things happen on the cliffs. On the week I painted this there were two cliff rescues, with fire trucks and big winches. There was someone cliff diving and tourists taking pictures of it. There was a delivery of a classic corvette to a beachfront mansion. A street was closed off for a gas leak you could smell for blocks. And painting happened.
Coronado Beach
Painted on the beach in Coronado.
Del Mar Bluffscape
10th Street, I think, in Del Mar. A fun place to paint with the trains going by on one side and the surfers climbing down the cliffs on the other.
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.
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.
Coronado Beach Plein Air
Heat wave in San Diego. When I started this yesterday it was very clear and hot, with strong gusty furnace like winds.
I didn’t quite finish, so I decided to go back this morning. The light, though, was very different today. Sort of like the apocalypse, with a brown haze over the sea horizon (which lifted eventually as it usually does) and a strange murky quality to the air.
Sometimes you have to choose between the act of copying what you see- that’s what Monet was generally trying to do, as accurately as possible – vs poetic license with your color. It would have been easy enough to edit the color to match a brighter, prettier day, but I decided to tread the path of angels and painted it over with today’s overcast light effects.
Lifeguard Tower, Ocean Beach
Painted on location on the Dog Beach.
Tijuana Street
Hot afternoon, TJ.
Termite Tent, North Park
Before moving to San Diego, I don’t think I’d seen any buildings in fumigation tents. Like trolley and telephone wires crossing the sky, dumpsters in alleys, and trash cans lined up like soldiers for inspection, I think they add a really exciting decorative element to the urban landscape.
This is an older piece, probably from 2013. for sale
Overcast, Laguna Canyon
Gray morning in Laguna.
Coronado Beach Painting
A nice, relaxing morning painting at the beach.
Surf at Cabrillo
Painted down in the surf at Cabrillo. for sale
I painted this last year in Cabrillo. It was an absolutely perfect day.
Dog Beach, OB
Painted on location on the dog beach. We got some rain recently- rare around here, and for once the area did not smell like urine.