Hillcrest Watercolor- buy now
Painted over breakfast on an overcast Sunday in Hillcrest- at Whole Foods Market.
Hillcrest Watercolor Painting, San Diego
Leave a reply
Tag Archives: street
Kensington Cafe, San Diego
Spring Forward at the Kensington Cafe- for sale
Painted over morning coffee on the patio at Starbucks in the San Diego neighborhood of Kensington. It’s a really nice area.
There were great views in all directions, including a stunning Sixties Functional gas station and a Modernist library with trees growing through the architecture. I didn’t paint the library though; I got too discombobulated from Spring Forward. I’ll have to go back.
While I am primarily an oil painter, I love the immediacy of completing a loose pen and ink sketch highlighted with watercolor.
At this point, I think I’m going to have to call this a series: Sunday at Starbucks.
Golden Hill, San Diego Watercolor
Golden Hill Watercolor – buy now
Painted over morning coffee out the window of Starbucks in Golden Hill. Eventually I moved out onto the patio, since it was a beautiful February morning.
Church in Golden Hill, San Diego
Church in Golden Hill- for sale
A plein air painting of a church- I think maybe a church converted to apartments, but I’m not sure- in Golden Hill, San Diego.
The church is Art Deco, I believe is the correct architectural period, but this painting session got shortened and I left out most of those deco details. It got fiercely hot on the hill on this January day, and even despite the UV umbrella, the UV hat, the special UV blocking shirt, I just felt like I was frying in my skin. My freckled, European skin. So I bailed! No deco for you.
San Diego Craftsman House Painting
Craftsman House on Florida Ave
I love this old, beautifully restored Craftsman. It’s on Florida Ave, a couple of streets away from my house.
This painting is part of my upcoming show at the Lyceum Gallery, opening Saturday, January 12th.
Reception Friday, January 18 from 6-8 PM
We’ll have a reception with wine and refreshments Friday, January 18 from 6-8 PM, at the Lyceum at 79 Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego. (Click here for more info and driving directions). If you are in San Diego, I’d love to see you!
Mission Hills Street, San Diego
House in Mission Hills – For Sale
I love the old houses in Mission Hills, and I was especially captivated by the shapes and colors of this one, with its rooms over the garage and Airstream trailer parked out front.
Sunrise on Cypress
Sunrise on Cypress Avenue in San Diego – For Sale
A rare clear morning. So close to the ocean we usually have fog, or at least that’s my impression since let’s face it, I’m not usually up this early.
This is a painting of my street.
Not up quite this early today to meet other painters in the California Art Club on the beach at Coronado, right by the Hotel Del.
I wanted to do a painting of the hotel also, but was running late for a parade in North Park!
I enjoyed the samba dancers:
Quonset Hut and Palm Trees
Quonset Hut and Palm Trees Painting – Buy now
We stopped in an industrial area. I’m not sure where we were- somewhere between LA and Santa Barbara. It was a little town with a palm-lined main street. I liked the quonset hut a lot.
I went to preschool in one- a quonset hut I mean. It was on Quantico- a military base in Virginia near Washington DC.
Hillcrest, San Diego Plein Air
Hillcrest Painting San Diego Plein Air – For sale
Morning light on the corner of Robinson and Park Blvd in San Diego. A short walk from my house in Hillcrest.
I like this corner because of the way the buildings pile up on the hill behind the art deco building in front. I like painting steep areas.
San Francisco’s vertigo- inducing streets are more famous- but San Diego’s got its fair share of knee-killing ascents. Painting the city on the hills is a new project of mine.
Here are a few of my favorites:
North Park from Hillcrest
Hillcrest
North Park
University Heights
North Park Cottage
Cottage in North Park, San Diego
A cottage in North Park, overhung by magnolia trees, in morning light.
And if you looked the other way that morning, you saw this:
Orange Tabby Cat Painting
Newport Ave, San Diego
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.
Morning Street in Hillcrest- Painting of San Diego
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.
U Heights Hill- Painting of San Diego
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.
An Inconvenient House Without Parking
The house behind this fence, beautifully bursting with bougainvillea, is for sale. It’s an old Craftsman with intact original windows- and no parking! For me, lack of parking is not a deal breaker (I travel by hot air balloon).
Rapp Saloon, Santa Monica Painting
I liked the way this old brick building (from 1875) was dwarfed by taller, newer structures around it. I was also intrigued by the atmospheric effects of the buildings in late afternoon light so close to the ocean.
This painting started as a drawing when we lost the car in Santa Monica. We’d parked on the fourth or fifth level of the garage- what we didn’t realize is there are several garages “near a J. Crew” which was my only point of reference. So after going all the way up and down two incorrect garages, we wound up in front of this building and I insisted I had to draw it. Mike went to find the car and left me to work on a sketch.
Time passed and I couldn’t get happy with the painting, so I abandoned it and forgot about it. More time passed, and my truck got broken into. While my GPS was stolen, this incomplete painting was not. I decided a square format would work better, so I started over and I wrapped it up today.
This painting is for sale.