San Gregorio General Store

Large group of painters today. Slow signing up, but got 8 by Saturday morning, and 12 actually showed! Quite a group. Had much fun together and gathered for chat, snacks and music afterwards in the store, which has always been a highlight of the coast for me.
Great place to paint. Aside from the obvious advantages of food, parking and bathrooms, there are numerous great landscape views, farm buildings galore, historic buildings, and people (this is a favorite stop with bikers and motorcyclists, plus car clubs.
I was trying out my new acrylic paint setup: Guerilla Painter 9x12 box on a tripod. Figuring out how to position my gear, etc. But that all worked fine.
What didn't work so fine was my poor attempt to capture a complex subject that has always interested me: the old crumbling gas station and road house. Too many lines, too many windows. Those who chose the easier side view of that same building did much better. I saw that too, but was too ambitious for my own good.
I'm having a harder time handling heavy body paints again. Hadn't done much if any acrylics for over 30 years until recently. Getting back to body paints after decades of thin fluid watercolor has been a painful learning experience. I'll get there, I'm sure, because I used to be proficient in acrylics and I like them much better than oils. With today's mediums acrylics can imitate anything possible in oil, no need to fuss with turps, slow drying, etc. They're handy, versatile, permanent and fast drying.
Just my sense of the thick paint isn't what I remember. Much harder to "draw" than it used to be. I'll get there, I suppose.
Here's the latest and don't laugh:

Painting Oyster Point

Small group today to paint out at Oyster Point Marina. But we had fun. Clear winter day with temps cold enough to be a bit challenging to paint. Not a bad result: acrylic.

Ne pleure jamais sur le vin renversé!

The painting group returned to La Nebbia Winery in Half Moon Bay today. We braved the potential rain and were rewarded with a lovely, though overcast, day.
I pulled out my 46 year old acrylic painting kit and took a whack at it. Not bad, not great.

Ridiculously Late!

Well, I was really surprised when I was clearing out my old Gopro to find that I had lots of somewhat usable (if boringly long) footage from last Summer's Bodega bike weekend. I recalled thinking I got nothing but junk, because the handlebar mount had slipped on Dave Levy's bike.

 (Dave was running the video for me, as I no longer risk riding since the bike accident.)

Quote of the trip:
       Jerry O to his Siri enabled dashboard: "Siri, direct me to this restaurant in Sebastopol."
       Siri to the car full: "Jerry, I DON'T have a map of the Ukraine."

I won't say this is the best video I've ever done, and it certainly didn't turn out the way I had anticipated. But just for fun I edited it into this ditty:

Foggy Funday

Not a bad day at all. Only 4 painters, and foggy as all get out, but we all got our paintings and had a good lunch to boot. San Gregorio State Beach south of Half Moon Bay.

These are two pastel pencil sketches, each on a different colored ground.

This one is Intense watercolor pencil, watercolor and ink.

Another No Pix Paddle

Thought I was being so clever, DIYing a Gopro pole to mount on the kayak. All kinds of plans for neat angles. Got a rotating mount to attach it to. Unfortunately, not quite stable enough to risk a $400 camera on!

So no go today for that one.

Meantime, Kunal and I had a very pretty November paddle anyway. Clear, calm water, bright sun and reasonably warm (better than predicted.) And for him, at least, an opportunity to sleep in. That never works for me. Ah Pacific Standard Time....Fall back.

So after 6 miles of 4 m.p.h. straight aerobic workout, Kunal says, "Time for our last sprint for exercise." I just laughed and explained that it wasn't in the cards for me. Four m.p.h. is almost the theoretical maximum hull speed for my boat, while his is between 7 and 8 m.p.h. He said, "You're trying to tell me that I have to be paddling at twice your speed?" No. It means that no matter how hard I paddle, I'm not going to sprint any faster than I've already been traveling.

Easy peezy paddle

Finally got off my duff and connected with paddling buddy, Kunal. What a gorgeous morning on the canals! Warm and light winds, bright October sky. Folks out in all kinds of craft. Ducks and geese.
Good speed and a very good workout. It's been a while since we did 6 miles and Kunal pushed a sprint into some headwinds at mile 4.
At the end, he said he really felt it. So did I, but glad to have done it.
Only fly in the ointment was that I forgot to charge up the Gopro, so no pix.
Have been working on a couple of creative kayak mounts to get better shots with the Gopro. First was a 2 axis gimbal to take the wobbling horizon effect out. Didn't work as planned and stopped trying to fix it.
Second was a DIY extension pole and that worked out very well. Idea is to mount this to front or back of the deck for elevated shots over my shoulder or looking down, plus good for side shots swung out from the bow/stern. We'll see how that works in practice.
Nothing to show for today but well worked muscles and satisfaction. That should be enough!

Painting Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Just 3 of us today at Pigeon Point from the painters' group. Ironically, we were in total fog and wind the whole day while the Bay sweltered in ninety degree heat! Painted one in pastel pencil, the other in Intense and watercolor. Opposite sides of the Point, BTW.
Good day out! I may even have some video, once edited.

Super Moon ("Corn Moon", "Harvest Moon") Over Foster City

Well, we had a blast! Great weather and great viewing over the canals last night.
A Kayakers Alliance meetup group of 12 met up and paddled the Foster City lagoon system to watch the sunset, then the moonrise.
We even had a basset hound all decked out in his own deck lights riding the front of one of the kayaks! He did not bay at the moon. (We did!)
Good fun.

Painting Port of Redwood City

Well, this one looks better at home than it did in the field. Still very frustrating working in oil paint. Almost said to hell with it!

Ardenwood Farm

Just 3 of us in the hot sun being over-run by a wedding party today. But I'm getting more of the hang of oil painting. Can't say that I like it as yet, though.

Promoting Samaritan House

Pen Voice - 145 - Bart Charlow from Peninsula TV on Vimeo.

Jack in a 'Yak!

Jack went for his first paddle in my kayak, Goldie. He had a blast!
At one point he decided that he was "catching a fish." When I asked where the fish was, he said, "Swimming away." Yeah, sure, the one that got away...
Row, row, row your boat.

Full Moon's A-risin' Over Foster City

This year is supposed to be the big year for moon gazing, as there will be 4 or more "super moons", when the moon is brightest since it's closest to earth.
Kunal and I took a kayak paddle at sunset in Foster City to catch the moon rising over the lagoons.
We waited....and waited....and waited....and got bored and docked. As soon as we were on land, lo and behold, the moon rose!

100 pictures?????

My painting friend, Rebecca told me that it takes 100 pictures before you feel like you're getting somewhere with oils. I can't wait for 100 pix! That's not my style.
Mark Monserrat (our "ringer") who is clearly an Impressionist pro, gave me some good pointers.
But overall, though we had some good times painting the flower fields in Half Moon Bay today with some old and new painters to the group, I'm not really satisfied with my work so far in oils.
OK, so it's only 2. But 98 more? No way!
And to make it worse (insult to injury), the cell phone photo below is a very bad representation of a mediocre painting....

What's Old Is New Again

I have stayed away from oil paints. Never took to them the few times I used them. But recently in decorating my new office I found that one painting I'd done 15 years ago looked good enough to frame and hang. Plus, many of my painting group do oils. So I thought I'd try once again. Something new to play with.

Bought a student grade wooden box and a tripod. Needed a handy friend to rig it up to work the way it should (which it now does), because this was the $60 version of a $160 kit. Took out the old water mixable oils.

Went out for a "test drive" on the oil kit yesterday. The setup worked fine. Takes a little time getting it all set up (and take down), but works as expected.

As to oil painting, I have a ways to go!

As usual with a new medium the first couple of times, it came out a bit naive to my eyes, though others liked it. Found that I need to learn how to handle the medium and water (this is mixable oil) better. Paints were also old, so not as buttery as expected.

And handling the wet painting at the end, it fell into dirt twice, and as I tried to brush it off I only destroyed some nice brush strokes! I need to figure out a lot here.

But I suppose it will all come together, as the other mediums did pretty quickly. Anyway, the ice is broken.

Let's see where this goes.

Vincent, you have nothing to fear from me.....yet!

A Place We All Know Well!

Out painting with the group today. We visited the Legion of Honor Impressionism exhibit together, then painted in various spots around the park, then lunched. Great group!

Another great Bodega Bay Bike Boyz weekend

Annual bikers excursion to Bodega Bay. Ate, drank, slept, played and had a great time.
Didn't get but one "painting" done. Actually an experiment with the pastel pencils I bought, and I've done so little in my life with pastels. Not bad....

The Better Mousetrap

Now you can beat a path to my door, world!

Woodside Store

Out painting with the group again. Small venue: Woodside Store Museum. Rustic setting.
We had a nice turn out with some new folks attending, as well as some regulars. Everyone seemed to get something to paint or sketch.
This is a quick one and a lousy scan (my scanner isn't the best).

This is an attempt to demonstrate what painting looks like to the artist. It's an experiment, so don't laugh too hard! I overdid the speed. Will know better next time.

Finishing a 34 Year Old Lady

Back in the beginning - before kids - I used to paint larger pictures in acrylics. Lots of them. Unfortunately, most were stored in our garage, where a deluge from a roof leak ruined them.

One of my best was a fanciful portrait of a seated woman. I didn't finish her all those years ago, meaning to get back to it, and always hesitated for fear of screwing up some interesting lines and effects. She was moldy and warped, but I figured I could save her if I could only find a way to mount her that would remove the warp in the hardboard surface. Framers refused to try it.

So the woodworking instructor at Little House came to my rescue. He made me a nice redwood frame to which the hardboard substrate could be screwed down. It worked!

So after 34 years, I framed her, cleaned her up, and finally put some finishing touches. Didn't do too much still for fear of messing up something good.

Here she is "Banty Rooster" (nickname of a former student who said it looked like her) before and after.

She will hang in my new office at Samaritan House.

Central Park San Mateo Painting

Another good day with the Burlingame Plein Air Painters. This time at the rose garden in San Mateo's Central Park. Not that much that grabs me for subject matter, but everyone pretty much settled on the gazebo in one way or another.

This one came out a bit cartoonish for my taste. 

Plein Air Painters at Montara May 3, 2014

Went out to Montara to paint with the group at the light house station. We had a good day of it.

Some even thought that they'd spotted the whales off the coast in their annual migration (and they are in the area now doing that.)

Tried to get a video of the actual painting process, but the camera was aimed too high on my head. Next time.

I wasn't thrilled with how the painting came out. Something wrong with the values. But the underlying pen sketch was pretty good. I've wanted to paint this building (the lighthouse keeper's home) for a long time.

Pescadero Paint-out

Led the painting group on an outing in Pescadero today. Big group attending. This group is developing well and it's turning out to be a very good thing for me, because I get out and paint without waiting 3 years for the next vacation.
I found this little scene at the end of the main street. The old IDES facility was pretty typical coastal architecture.
It started out as a simple pen sketch, which I liked. Could have left it that way too. But decided to add color pens, pencil and watercolor wash anyway. Fine, but different.
Very odd that the perspective has some distortions, because that was the way my "eye" obviously "saw" it, sort of like it was through a wide angle camera lens.
Anyway, here it is:

Spring Fling on the Canals

Kunal and I took advantage of a fabulous morning for a paddle. Low wind, warm air, bright skies.
I hadn't realized that my camera disc was half full, so I missed filming the best parts of the jaunt: canoes, outriggers, dragon boats, paddle boards - the canals were busy!
Ah well, 6 miles anyway and lots of fun.

Painting at La Nebbia Winery

Had another great painting meetup with my group on the way to Half Moon Bay. Always wanted to capture this scene, which you see as you whiz by on 92 heading back to the Bay. Had to huddle behind some yellow fire hydrants so I wouldn't get run over by the cars zooming by on the road.

Paddling with Kunal

It's probably been a year (more?) since my paddling friend, Kunal, and I connected for a jaunt. Today we got back into the swing of kayaking. Gorgeous weather here in NorCal.

Also testing my new Gopro 3+ again, but this time with a better speed SD card. I think this will make all the difference.

Unfortunately, my flexible mount adding Intova mounts to the system isn't doing all that well. Too much weight swinging on too long a lever, and a joint that's very hard to screw in tight enough for the load.

See for yourself:

Poplar Beach painting

We had a good sized group painting out at Poplar Beach (Half Moon Bay) today. Most of us got our works nearly finished when the fog rolled in on us unexpectedly. We were laughing. Good lunch together sharing backgrounds and techniques. This painting with others is the right thing for me.

Old and new

The old part is me! Haven't been exercising enough. Out of paddling for past 2 months and I really feel it.

Today I got myself out in the gorgeous weather and it was great, as always. Only problem was that my usual fast pace for 6 miles became more of a slow pace for half that. OK, so I need to get back out there regularly.

New is my Gopro Black 3+ camcorder. Takes great pix/vids as you can see. I was also experimenting with a new mounting rig. Same old Gopro suction mount, but added a twisty setup (Intova Pod with special mounts on both ends) that's almost 20" long to take different angles easily. Unfortunately, it wasn't secured sturdily enough, so back to the drawing board.

But you can enjoy the crisp video just the same. Well, it should have been crisp, but I think I have the wrong SD card for this fast a camera. I'll swap that out for next time and it should be less choppy and grainy.

Landon's visit

My two grandsons

Enjoying both Landon and Jack!

We're on a roll, fooks!

Landon Drew Charlow, son of Jamie & Alex Charlow, entered the world today at about 4:40 PM on Monday, Feb. 10th.

Rumor has it that he has a short surf board and a guitar on order.

Barbara's Fist Trap

Always wanted to paint this very colorful restaurant, located in Princeton harbor, just north of Half Moon Bay. Out with the painting group this morning. We inspire one another to get to it!
I overworked this one a bit, ironically, since I had simplified the lines somewhat. Still decent.
Started with colored ink, some lines of Inktense watercolor pencil, then transparent watercolor.

Say Cheeeeeeeessssseee!

Picture this: I had a quart of milk that was overdue to be dumped (but not turning yet) and nothing to do today. So I made fresh mozzarella from scratch!

I haven't made cheese since graduate school, more than 40 years ago. But I do know how.

Didn't turn out with quite the right consistency, but close enough. Taste was the same as good fresh mozzarella (cow's milk variety) and nice and creamy (thanks to the butter I kneaded in to imitate buratta.) I didn't have citric acid nor rennet, so I improvised with white balsamic vinegar.. Combined with heat, this curdles well.

Of course, had I the rennet and had I gauged the temperature, I could have imitated mozzarella texture better. But given what I had on hand and 30 minutes or less time, this was delightful.

I'm not at all sure that making cheese at home is ever any cheaper than buying it. Wasn't 40 years ago and doesn't appear to be now. It's just a thing to do. Might even try my hand with molds, such as those in blue cheese, but that's harder and has some risk.

Made a caprese tonight for fun. It worked!

Painting Coyote Point

Out painting en plein air with the painters group again today. We were chilled, but thrilled at Coyote Point. It's working for me to have a group to go out with, so that I don't wait years for vacations to go out painting. Some decent results. Good conversation with fellow artists of all levels and stripes.

This one is pure transparent watercolor.

Fun on the San Mateo Coast

A beautiful day on the San Mateo coastline. Had to try out my new Gopro Black 3+. This time it's head-mounted, so you do get the view and the movement from walking and looking around. Watching the extreme surf at Pebble Beach. Wandering the Pidgeon Point Lighthouse complex. Ran into a classic Morgan rally at Pescadero. Avenue of giant eucalyptus from a hundred or more years ago lines Stage Road. San Gregoria "wild west stagecoach stop" store - the place the kids always loved.

Playin' with Jack!