Trying to paint portraits again

Used to do them, but got out of the habit. Now into landscapes and architecturals, plus occasional still life.

So pushing myself to try to paint daily (hadn't happened), I went for a portrait from a poor web photo of Richard and Sandy. Working in Ceracolors, water-soluble cold wax paint, which would have been excellent for the glazing, except I neglected to use enough medium, instead of white.

Came out reasonably well, though clearly not a perfect likeness. BTW, both the scanner and the cell phone camera have serious biases. They capture tooth and texture far too much (more than you would see) and have a tendency to color shifting/bias, as well as sort of posterizing, rather than smooth transitions between edges.

Anyway, not the worst I've done:

Old County Courthouse on a Winter Day

Started off as bitter cold as last year, as we set up to paint around the Old County Courthouse in Redwood City. But the day warmed up considerably and so did my painting. Finally dropped the tedious pseudo-realism and am back to my normal expressionist/impressionist styles. Got two today, both acrylics, one big, one small.

Brrrrr Pillar Point Painting

Got colder today, after a warmer start, at Pillar Point. Lots of painters braving December. At least we missed the big Maverick's contest, so we were able to paint.

Waxing fruitful

Another Ceracolor experiment in cold water=soluble wax paint today. This time on canvas board. Can't say that I like tooth for my paintings, though, because I have a tendency to paint thinly, which doesn't fill out the "holes" in the weave properly. But the painting was a reasonable still life anyway.

Good Day, Mediocre Painting

Tried for a more expressionist view of Woodside Store and less brown than reality on purpose. Good day painting with the group, but not my favorite work of art.

Painting Pacifica Pier

Burlingame Plein Air Painters out again the day after Thanksgiving to paint Pacifica Pier in the overcast weather. Really big waves, misty monochrome atmospheric effects. Fun! I got two: a 9"x12" acrylic and a 5"x8" Ceracolor.

First Ceracolor (cold wax) Portrait

First attempt at a portrait in new wax medium. Haven't painted a portrait in a while. This is a facsimile of Michael in his Sherlock costume. See what you think.

The issue is NOT whether it's an exact portrait of Michael, rather that it looks like a real person and you can feel some character. Michael says he recognizes himself in it right away.

Well, at least I tried

Decided to dedicate today's painting session to Ceracolors, the new water soluble wax medium. Plein air is not made for this, but I did at least something passable. I definitely need more colors!

"New" medium, ancient technique (old man!)

Went to a demo of a new medium based on ancient materials and technique: cold water-soluble wax Ceracolor! Had fun with it, so bought some starter paints to see how it would work at home.

Results are very encouraging and versatile.

From only 3 colors and white I was able to do this very quick sketch to try them out: yellow ocher, ultramarine blue, mars red. Easy enough to mix, very easy to use and clean up, but also rather durable and attractive.

This is the modern version of encaustics, but without the heat being necessary. You can use it to fuse if you want, but don't need it. Totally cold and totally water soluble, wax based.

See what you think:

Escaping the Heat in Half Moon Bay

About 15 of us painted in Half Moon Bay today. Everything from a garbage bin to the cemetery! Everyone found something different to paint and they all came out interesting. We were lucky to escape the inner Bay heat, which was well into the 90s, even in usually naturally air conditioned Foster City. Glad we had such a beautiful day on the coast.

So my painting is more colorful, but a bit on the rough side:

Western Sonoma Sojourn

So I took myself up to the Russian River for mini-vacation, joining my bike buddies afterwards for a weekend in Bodega Bay. Love the Western Sonoma countryside! Lots to see and do.

But I didn't do as much painting as I expected (and my acrylic set was frozen shut so couldn't use that.) Just some watercolors, one ink and water pencil, the other two in acrylic gouache (with which I get mixed results.)

Here's the one I like:

Here's the one done from memory as an exercise that is OK:

And here's one from a photo reference that I don't like:

Frizzly Weather on the Coast

Potrero Nuevo Farm is a lovely organic operation. They feed the hungry and shelter cyclists. Really nice people. Had a great time painting.

Don Edwards Reserve

We had a very large group painting today out at Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge in Newark/Fremont. Weather turned great after the clouds burned off. Lots to paint. Mine came out decently.

I finally have proof and corroboration that the reproductions I've been posting, as well as the pictures themselves, look totally different in outdoor sunshine than indoors. It's almost night and day different. Blues, reds and yellows are brilliant in sunshine, the light in which they were painted, and dark and color shifted inside under any lights. It's really frustrating!

Here's today's pic and the photo is almost correct to color:

Gone Fishin'?

Painters were out in force today at San Gregorio General Store on the coast. I've painted several of the structures around there enough times that I was looking for something really different. Then in front of me I noticed that every fence post on the farm boundary had a fish body nailed to it! Very bizarre, but also picturesque. No idea why, but that's what took my fancy. Not a bad rendition:

San Juan Bautista

Great time painting today in San Juan Bautista. 18 painters and 2 spouses. We had quite a crew! Great weather and so much to paint in every direction. Here's my acrylic. If it looks familiar, that's because I painted a similar scene about 3 months ago in gouache.

What if you really hate your painting?

Took the Burlingame Plein Air Painters to Fort Baker - Point Cavallo today. Had a lovely day painting. And the icing on the cake was my sister, Jan, joining us to paint for her first time in 30  some odd years and first time in acrylics and first time outdoors (pretty much). She enjoyed it mightily and outdid me in quality painting too!

My pochade box slide froze again and I couldn't get to most of my painting supplies. Very frustrating, but in reality, it's not a good excuse for a mediocre painting.

Anyway, here it is:

Montara Redux

Back to Montara Light House with the group today. Large fun group, great scenery, but didn't like my painting. Had wanted to do another scene entirely. Given that it was on a cliff side with heavy winds, I didn't feel safe enough spreading out to paint from there. So I repeated a scene from 2 years ago; last time in watercolor (liked it better), this time in acrylic. It is what it is.....

Paddling with Kunal

Had a nice morning paddle with my old kayaking buddy, Kunal. We haven't paddled together in a year or more (he says two) and we're both out of practice and shape. But nice to get out on the water.

Was testing my new Blackbolt timelapse rotator with the Gopro. Worked as expected, except that my mistake was using a tether on the camera, which stalled the rotation at 200 degree or so. Won't make that mistake next time. Also using Power Director to do the vids, which has lots of special effects, some better than others, but having trouble getting it to output regular HD 1080 quality. Otherwise, not bad at all.

Wonderful Wunderlich Park

We had a great time in very warm weather in the woods at Wunderlich Park stables today. Almost 20 people! Lots of good painting going on. Mine didn't turn out too bad, but again, the photo distorts the color into the blue range and I'm not able to totally fix it in Photoshop (at least not without spending hours more on fixing than on the actual painting!)

Painting the Hole in the Rock

Out at Pescadero today with the painters doing the Hole in the Rock. Painted this same scene 35+ years ago. Not really sure this one came out better, but at least the color is more saturated. Not sure why I overpainted the brighter colors, though, and that was a mistake. Ah well. Good day anyway.

Eh

Not very happy with this one. Not enough time after museum visit at the Legion to see the end of the Bonnard exhibit. Great exhibit, though.

Painting rushed and more from my head didn't work as well. Using Turner Acryl Gouache for third time, but much preferred my rendition of San Juan Buatista. In that case, was working from real life and taking my time to work the medium. This time really just slapped this together.

Ah well, they can't all be masterpieces.... LOL

Return to Portola Vineyards - Spring Has Sprung!

Had a blast today in 80 degree spring weather with the Burlingame Plein Air Painters. Returned to the private Portola Vineyard for painting and wine tasting. Very good wines, BTW! Picked up Almendral, their version of an almond liqueur. Painted this view back toward the gardens, rather than the vines, which were barely in leaf.

Good Painting Day -- Mediocre Scans

Down the highway at Mission San Juan Buatista on the way to Monterey for a conference. Had some good hours painting, first of an historic house in pen and watercolor pencil, then of the mission church using acrylic gouache (a new medium for me).

Another Try at Princeton Harbor

Back at the HMB Princeton Harbor site with the painting group. Very large bunch today. Not a bad attempt; looks better in person.

Tall Ships Not a Tall Order....

Was supposed to paint today at Redwood City Harbor, but rain was getting in the way. Sent out a belated "cancel" message to the painting group, but went anyway to see the tall ships. Turns out that the rain held off and 7 of us painted anyway. BTW, tall ships are fun, virtually free to visit, and there through next Sunday - a must for kids!
Here's the result of my quick sketching:

Coyote Hills Regional Park

Who knew that there were hills this high in the Bay? Unfortunately, they were so high compared with the visitor parking, that it was too high to hike up for better views of the rocks and the Bay vistas. But the views of the marshland were pretty good anyway.

Out painting at last!

At long last, we got a clear day for painting. Sure, cold and windy at Treasure Island, but at least no rain. Was totally dissatisfied with my picture and almost threw it away. Turns out everyone was frustrated trying to paint the marina, and most simply skipped it or painted over it. I kept mine. Boats in a marina are too complicated - too many lines and angles. But it was good to at least get out there again and paint. The flash washed out the center of the image, BTW.