A Rising Tide, and all that jazz....

Out at Princeton Harbor today for a make up from last Sunday's rained out session. Got two: a pastel and a line & wash. Didn't particularly like the former, but the latter was good as a monochrome.

Quick Save

We were out at Quarry Park in HMB 3 weeks ago. My painting was mudding up and so bad that I just wiped the acrylic off. What a mess! Never do that, but this time it was warranted.

So I started a little line and wash there and finished it with color at home. At least I got something out of the day.

Pulgas Water Temple

Black Friday is better for staying far from the madding crowd! Painting group (plus Lisa and 2 other friends for their first time) braved the chill at Pulgas in Belmont. Very cold, then warmed up, then got seriously cold and drizzled. We had packed to leave by then anyway.

Got two. First was a 7x9" ink & watercolor on paper of the temple. Would have been much better if I had remembered to check proportions of the drawing before launching into paint. So discovered that I had made the temple too squat. Ah well.

So I did a 9x12" pastel on blue/gray Pastelmant of a tree in the forest and that one came out very well.

Blown Away at Mussel Rock

The super high wind conditions that occasioned the PG&E blackout in the Bay Area came whooshing through us at Mussel Rock Park today. Blew half of us into painting in our cars, which were rocking in the gusts!

I got two anyway: Watercolor of the cliffs, pastel of the hillside.

You CAN go home again!

Took a rare trip back to NY and spent 4 days wandering the Catskills in the peak fall foliage season. Always beautiful scenery and very peaceful. Not the Borscht Belt anymore, but still very much the Catskills.

Painted 3, all ink & watercolor on paper. First of woodland pond by memory, second live at Stone Arches Bridge Park, last from photo of farm scene near Callicoon & Roscoe, NY.

Portola Vineyards

Lovely day with the crew painting at one of our favorites, Portola Vineyards. I snagged two: a pastel of the vines and a small watercolor of the edging of the pond.

From little acorns grow....

This mighty oak is a heritage tree here on the Peninsula and is reputed to be 450 years old! Magnificent tree owned by someone I know. She has not been able to get a good photo done of it by a seasoned pro that works for her, so foolishly I volunteered to try painting it.

Well, I did it! 12x9" Ceracolor on birch panel. Having terrible time trying to find a frame for it, though.....

Knifed

Good day painting in weird weather at Mori Point in Pacifica. Warm everywhere, but right at the beach, where the fog made us all frozen. 

This is not a good color rendition of this 9x12" acrylic; I'm having trouble getting my cell camera to get the right color and photoshop only helps a bit. But this gives you an idea anyway. 

Started off trying knife painting, but feel that is like trying to paint with a card table sized object, so abandoned that for the brushes.

Lost my amateur status!

I am blown away! This little watercolor, that I donated to a charity auction in little Pescadero, sold for $300 framed. Who would have thought it? I figured it might go for $50 or less or not at all. Meantime, nearly the same period none of my much better and larger pieces at the Sanchez Art Center show sold. But at least I'm now a "pro", LOL.

Apple of my eye

Good day painting on the coast at Potrero Nuevo Farm. I liked the apple orchard, so tried two: first is soft pastel on wine colored Pastelmat, 12x9"; second is watercolor and ink on paper, 8x5". Some parts I like, but they weren't quite on target for me.

Lines

Not my best day painting, but very enjoyable none-the-less. Fun to have both Lisa and Jan painting. Charlow genes will out!

Meantime, you wouldn't know it by what I produced today. First is a 9x12 pastel, which would be OK if I hadn't screwed up the perspective lines so badly. Drawing was perfect, but soft pastels altered it, and I had to use Photoshop distortion to get this photo near correct. Made it look even worse! So over all, looks colorful but like crap!

Second was quick watercolor study of some trees in dappled light. 5x8 on paper. Came out OK.

La Rusticana d'Orsa Reprise

Back for a reprise of last year's fabulous painting workshop with Fr. Bruno Segatta in the hills above Los Gatos at the private La Rusticana d'Orsa winery. 3 great days with good friends, terrific gourmet lunches under the trees. Just good fun!

Wish I could say that these were my best paintings, which they aren't, but some are reasonably good.

Water lillies, acrylic on 18x20" canvas.

David painting, watercolor & ink on 7x10" Arches paper.

Tuscan style landscape, 20x10" acrylic on masonite.

Big urn in afternoon sun, 9x12" soft pastel on Pastelmat.

Garden gate in morning sun, acrylic on 18x24" canvas.

De Nile is a River in Africa

Finally made it out to the Niles District of Fremont today with the painting group. Fabulous day and what a lovely funky little town!

Not my best work lately, but passable. 12x9" soft pastel on Pastelmat, Niles Railroad Depot:

And had time for one quick ink sketch on paper, 9x6", same subject from different side.

Cropping for creativity

One of the things I learned best from photography was the art of cropping. How you frame a subject makes all the difference. It's not just the inclusion or exclusion of visual information, it's the emotional content and conveyance. This helps with composition in painting. It's something that the Impressionists worked with, having had the benefit of the new art of photography maturing beyond just imitating painting styles, plus the exciting influence of Japanese ukiyo-e prints and zen sumi-e paintings.

Not every painting gets all the scene in an appreciable way. Most often the artist spends more time on some parts and not others. So a painting can have a good passage, but overall feel mediocre. Being willing to crop it down, literally cutting it apart, takes some guts!

Last summer attending my first workshop (I don't learn best from classes at all, too much an autodidact) with Fr. Bruno Segata, he and I kept coming back to one section of a scene that I liked and he raved about, likeining it to some famous impressioinists. I never cut down the painting, but was sorely tempted to.

Here's the whole painting:

Here's what we both liked instead:

So now I come to a recent pastel. Posting on a FB page for Plein Air, several artists raved about the bottom half of the painting, but not the top. Though the top was also representative of the scene, the bottom had a stunning and vibrant composition. So I'm seriously thinking of cutting the pastel painting in half!

Here's the whole tthing:

Here's the proposed crop:

The whole painting coveys the information of the setting, the whole scene, volcanic rocks (the intended subject) and foggy coastline in the background. The cropped version carries the emotion and light of the stairway and flowered cliffs framing the ocean. I have to admit, the suggestions have merit. The black volcanic rock formation was the intended subject with the cliffs and the stairway only intended as a compositional pathway for the eye. But the reverse order works better, it seems. 

Meh

Needed a place close to home for late afternoon painting session with the group. Against my better judgement, based on previous sessions, I scheduled Seal Point Park. Well, same as before, quite expansive views, but uninspiring from artistic standpoint. Everyone had the same feeling, though some pushed to get out a painting none-the-less. As did I. Will try to remember not to use this location again!

Quick half hour or less watercolor and ink on paper.

Jailhouse Rock!

Yes, that's what they call this formation at Pigeon Point opposite the Lighthouse in Pescadero. Liking these Sennelier soft pastels and Pastelmat papers a lot. Problem is that handing pastel paintings is difficult and framing them is expensive!

9x12"

A Slew at the Slough

Gorgeous day painting in Alviso today. Lots of painters, some new, some old who returned. 

First one is a soft pastel on 12x9" Pastelmat paper, second one is a watercolor & ink on 7x5" paper.

Pastels

Had a great day painting at Montara. 14 in the group, very good weather, lovely scenery. These two shots of my pastel paintings are not particularly good representations of the real thing, but will have to do. Haven't figured out yet how to handle taking pictures of pastel art on paper that curls....

First one is 12x9" on Mi Teintes blue paper with mostly soft pastels (the one I like best of the two); second one is 9x12" mostly pastel pencil or hard pastels on pastel board. Regardless of the photo lapse, the paintings came out well and I'm pleased at experimenting in this medium.

Peak Experience

Temps were peaking avound the Bay. Great day painting at a colleague's family farm on Skyline overlooking the ocean. Very changing light and shadows. Tried to capture that in bit acrylic 12x16". Then quick small watercolor & ink sketch of Danny painting, 7x5" on paper. Down in the Bay the temp was 90 degrees, but we were cooler with a nice breeze up on the mountain top. Almost 20 painters all having fun!

LTFA = Leave It The Fuck Alone!

Should stay  my motto for painting when it feels done, before screwing things up!

OK, you know I never do this, but it felt "unfinished" as a sketch, so I added watercolor at home. Forgive me for I have sinned! LOL

Crystal Clear

Another good day painting. Out at Crystal Springs, alternately hot and cold! One acrylic, one pastel. These pix of them don't do them justice, BTW.

12x9" acrylic on masonite, Crystal Springs, B. Charlow 2019

8x4" pastel on sanded paper, Crystal Springs, B. Charlow 2019

Cattin' Around TomKat Ranch

Good day painting. Got to go to an all day event at TomKat Ranch in Pescadero, a private spread that is an experimental and educational cattle ranch. Got 3: one acrylic, two watercolors. Not bad! Liked the last watercolor of the wagon alone best.

GG Park Bandshell

Good day painting after visiting the Monet exhibit.

Last of the Ohlone (series)

I had never been up to the top of Sweeney Ridge, but today we took the loooonnnnnggggg drive (escorted by GGNRA Ranger James Osborne) up to the top to the SF Bay Discovery Site. Spot where Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola topped the ridge to discover the real SF Bay the natives told him about. Incredible views in all directions, even with some fog over the coastside hills and haze on the Bay. Wildflowers too.

This was for the last painting in the "Along the Ohlone-Portola Trail Plein Air" series with Sanchez Art Center. We'll have a juried exhibition of the works in July in Pacifica to cap it all off.

Not a bad day, though not my best painting. Kind of difficult to find an inspiring composition there, as I don't find broad landscape expanses that moving, though they make wonderful views. This was 12x9" acrylic on masonit.

Pastel for Pasqua!

Not much to do around here on an Easter Sunday, so I broke out the pastels and tried an experiment. Not bad on the results, particularly since I had nothing substaantial in mind for a composition. 12x9" on peach colored paper.

Along the Ohlone Portola Trail

Maybe last (?) in a series in Pacifica. Part of the 400 year anniversary (or so) of Portola's coming upon the SF Bay Area. Will be an exhibit at Sanchez Art Gallery in July if chosen for the show.

Ohlone Abalone, 9x12" acrylic on masonite, Shelldance Orchid Nursery in Pacifica, B. Charlow 2019

Monterey in the Rain

Back to paint Point Pinos Lighthouse, but rained out, so completed indoors. Also, Monterey Cypress is a composite impression. Both watercolor and ink on paper.