Montara Beach May 2024

 Out at Montara Beach with the painting group today. Lovely weather, large turnout, some very good paintings. I got two: 8x10" pastel on Sienna PastelMat; 6x4" ink & watercolor on paper. B. Charlow 2024, Montara, CA.

And I am an author yet again!

 Who'da thunkit? Never had any intention of writing these books, but once they started there was no stopping. 

First book, "A Catskill Carnival", is really a memoir. History and very personal history of the Borscht Belt hotel scene I grew up in. 

Second book was inspired by reactions to the first one. I decided this time to make it short vignettes including the experiences of others, whose lives in the Catskills intersected with mine and my era there.

Have fun!

Pastel, Carmel

 Some of my pastels from this week's Carmel Valley Arts workshop with Bill Cone. B. Charlow 2024.

Carmel River Beach, Point Lobos, Rocky Point. All on PastelMat of various colors. Plus a couple of ink and watercolors from San Juan Bautista on the way down.

I am now an author!

 Just published my first book, A Catskill Carnival: My Borscht Belt Life Lived, Lost and Loved.

It's the real insider's story about growing up in a hotel, the lessons learned, and how I went from ambivalence in youth to passion in adulthood about it all. And it's all true!

It's quite a kick finally breaking a 50 year writer's block about this subject. 

My youngest son created the cover art and I do like it. Hope you do too.

A Catskill Carnival available via that link on Amazon or Kindle.

Rings My Bell!

Gorgeous day up at a friend's ranch on Skyline in Woodside, CA. You should have seen the horses. Had they only stood still......

I painted two today: 9x12" pastel on dark blue PastelMat, 6.5x9.5" ink and watercolor on paper.

B. Charlow 2023

Dunes Beach

 Out today with the Half Moon Bay painters group that I haven't been able to join for a long time. Down at Dunes Beach in HMB. 16x12" pastel on Maize PastelMat. I wanted to capture the light and shadow play on the cliffs and I think I got it.

B. Charlow 2023

Grasshopper Loop

 Grasshopper Loop in La Honda, CA. B. Charlow 2023. 16x12" Caran D'Ache Neocolor II on Bockingford hot pressed paper.

I was going for something like a Robin Purcell watercolor of the hills and I think I got it!

La Vache Qui Rit

 The second of my paintings today out at Grasshopper Loop in La Honda, CA. 8.5x5" gouache on paper. "Purple Cow".

Painted from memory in about 20 minutes while waiting for others to finish. My thought was to do something I never do in a way that I never do it, and that's exactly what this was.

So here's the childhood poem that inspired it by Gelett Burgess:

I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one,
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one!

La Vache Qui Rit indeed! He's laughing at me for sure. 

For the record: I painted this with some old dried up gouache that I don't normally use and just splashed around, which I never do. Found a lovely fat squirrel mop brush I don't normally use (not precise enough.) Painted an animal, which I do very rarely, much less from memory. Yet somehow Ms. Moo came out pretty well. My city bred buddy turned tail on the trail hours earlier when he ran across the small herd of cattle. I went out to look and started laughing, as there was not a bull to be found; they were all girls and dairy cows are as docile as can be. So I came back singing him "Wooly Bully". 

Mattie told Hattie, 'bout a thing she saw. Two big horns and a wooly jaw. Wooly bully, wooly bully.

China Camp Beach

 Out with the Burlingame Plein Air Painters group today up in Marin at China Camp Beach Park. Historic and scenic spot that I'd never visited before.

I snared two paintings. First is 12x9" pastel on dark blue PastelMat of one of the headlands surrounding the village beach. Second is a quick ink & watercolor 6.7x9.4" on paper of the beached boat near the pier.

Not quite what was touted....

Burlingame Plein Air Painters out at Mori Point today in hopes of catching the vaunted "superbloom". Unfortunately, there was only a bloom of mostly ice plants on top of the point itself, a seriously long hike with painting gear. So we spread out below and captured other scenes.

I got two. A 12x9" watercolor and ink (and a bit of gouache and Neocolor 2) on paper, and a 5x3.5" watercolor and ink on paper.

Searching for superblooms and finding....

 Not so easy in the SF Bay Area, despite all the lovely pictures posted of flowers. My group went out to Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont, CA, yesterday in hopes of spotting a big varied colored bloom. Nope, but there were instances of floral highlights.

It was cold as the Arctic with a stiff wind blowing, plus long straight uphill walks to the supposed best spots, and already ill with a cold, instead of lugging my heavier pastel or acrylic gear I opted to keep experimenting with Caran D'Ache Neocolor II crayons. Got two, one landscape from life and one take off on blooming Ceanothus bushes, both 12x9" on Bockingford hot-pressed paper. (Excuse the hastily done photos.) B. Charlow 2023

Lazy Day at Lazy H Ranch

 No wildflowers, but a lovely canyon, friendly beautiful horses, dogs and chickens. Fun day with good weather at Lazy H Ranch in Half Moon Bay, CA. Good painting group. I did one pastel on Sienna Pastelmat, 16x12".

Long Branch Saloon

 Back to Long Branch Saloon & Farm in Half Moon Bay, CA for some painting today. Snagged two quickies: 12x9" Caran D'Ache crayon on watercolor paper of a barn against the hillside; 3x5" ink & watercolor on paper of a windmill. B. Charlow 2023

Blooming

 We were rained out of painting today at GG Park at the Windmill. Too bad, because the tulips won't be there for long. But one of our painters is a school art instructor and she has a massive super well equipped studio, so we painted still life there. I did two pastels, one from life and one from imagination. See if you can tell. 16x12" pastel on Buttercup PastelMat; 24x18" pastel on lavender charcoal paper.

Retirement Job?

 When life gives  you (not lemons) blood oranges,  you make.... blood orange liqueur, blood orange candy, blood orange marmalade, blood orange salad, blood orange simple syrup.... and nowwwww...BLOOD ORANGE CHEESECAKE!!!

Not My First Rodeo (Beach)

 Rodeo Beach, Sausalito CA. 16x12" pastel on Light Gray PastelMat. B. Charlow 2023. It was cold and breezy, but despite the prior predictions, it didn't rain!

Farmer's Daughter, not the joke!

 Out in HMB today. Great weather and yellow oxalis on the hillsides. We were by the Airport and the Farmer's Daughter stand. Two pastels both 11.5x9.5", tree on Wine PastelMat and farm on Sand PastelMat. B. Charlow 2023

Bluffed

 12x9" Neocolor II crayons on hot pressed Bockingford watercolor paper. Moss Beach Bluffs on a showery wintry morning with changing light conditions and yellow oxalis on the fields. 

B. Charlow 2023, Moss Beach, CA.

Borscht Belt Tattler podcast is streaming!

 I don't often speak about our experience in the Borscht Belt at any length, but talked into this podcast by Patti Posener Daboosh of the Brickman. Lovely young Canadian woman is reviving tales of the Borscht Belt (long before her time, but she's fascinated) and making podcasts.

Mine just aired and is available:

Bart Charlow Borscht Belt Tattler podcast

Keep On Truckin'!

 This time with hot pressed Bockingford paper. Came out more "crayon-y", but it did work fine. More drawing/sketching in nature than painting, though I did use a water brush at the end.

This was a sketch of an antique rusted truck in an old gas station that was moved to Kelley Historical Park in San Jose, CA. Neocolor II on paper, 16x12". B. Charlow 2023.