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.

Urban Painting

Yesterday we gathered at Courthouse Square to paint an urban setting. It was collllllddddd! Got a decent pic, but it feels sort of empty to me. No people (there weren't any at the time I painted to model). All Chroma Atelier Interactive paints in this one.

Some Pix of Me Painting

Chilly in them thar hills!

Meetup painters out in the Purissima Creek Redwood forest preserve on a very cold and damp morning. Not the best, but it does work (and the scans and pix taken by my cellphone have a tendency toward blue and washing out yellow, so color is inaccurate.) Having trouble with greens, as most painters seem to do. A bit of impasto here that you cannot see.

In fact, I didn't notice until cleaning up that my fingertips were numb! 

BTW, both my scanner and my cell phone camera, which is where I start to upload, have a blue tint bias. That means that yellows are washed out and I can only compensate so much in Photoshop for that. What's odd is that I'm always painting outside where the light is naturally bluish most of the time. For all I know about color, it makes it very hard for me to demonstrate online so far the actual value, hue and chroma range of my painting, which is frustrating. Equally so, when I take them indoors, the color shift under artificial light of almost any kind is frustrating.

Portola Vineyards

We had a great time today painting the turning leaves on the vines at Portola Vineyards. Lovely little organic winery with some good wines to boot; wine tasting of course! Great spot to return in Spring, when the leaving begins amidst the flowers.
For some reason neither my scanner nor my Android phone gets the colors quite right, but at least here's the result for today:

The Holy Land and the Middle East

Back from our trip to Israel and Jordan. Had a good time and connected with some realities of the region. Didn't have enough time or inspiration in the right places to paint as much as I had expected, but got in these four anyway:

church at Old Jaffa

impression of Old Jaffa covered alley

Jerusalem stone

Jerusalem street scene from our hotel 

Israel was not what I expected at all. Despite 200,000 years of human habitation and an incredible amount of human history, almost all of what I saw was basically either modern (mid-20th century) or modern mixed in with some older structures, with the exception of the Old City in Jerusalem. Yes, we did visit Caesaria Roman ruined port city and the Crusader castle in Acre (Akko), plus Safed (Tsfat). But even with that said, this is a modern country that felt closer to the US than even to Europe. In fact, cousin Yossi says they are the "51st State", and he may have a point there.

Cannot tell you how impressed I am now with the achievement of the Jewish state. What they have built and pioneered in less than a century is nothing less than a miracle. They have truly made a desert bloom in so many ways. And their industrial base (read more tech than manufacturing) is the envy of every nation that isn't prejudiced against them. They are leaders, and in those ways we would be wise to take a lesson.

Our experience of Israelis in the US has often been "pushy". We didn't experience them that way at all in their home country. Friendly and relaxed, but taking care of business in a way that wasn't obsessive (vs. the US and German style).

For some reason, Israelis don't seem to take to their train system, which is basically along the coast and to Jerusalem, though it's as good as anything in Europe in standard trains. They go for their buses or mini-bus "sherut" system. It all works, and it proved much easier to navigate once there than we were able to find out from the States. So you don't need a car, but the roads are excellent if you want to drive anyway.

Food was off the charts! The few Middle Eastern dishes we had were always a revelation compared to their US imitations (falafel, hummus, etc.) You can get pretty much anything you want from any cuisine there and it's all good and ridiculously ample. Portions were always at least double what we would have expected. Two people can share any dish! 

As to the rougher side of the Middle East, it's amazing how close together and knit together the Arab/Palestinians and Israelis are. We felt safe there, despite the troubles. The Israeli police and IDF presence was really strong due to the random violence while we were there, though. We both felt bad for the average Palestinian (or anyone looking Arab, even if Israeli citizens). They get treated to suspicion and hassle, and you can see how it contributes to their frustration. However, the Israelis are in a tough spot where they cannot let down their guard for long and are portrayed improperly as oppressors, when all they're trying to do is be safe among their neighbors who are definitely desirous of having them leave the area altogether. And you can see how uneven the treatment by the UN and the Arab nations/peoples are with regard to Jewish worship places. I'm not agreeing with right wingers like Netanyahu, of course, but do see how difficult this is.

Tel Aviv was Miami Beach/Miami Dade in the 70s to me. Couldn't have imitated it better if they had tried. Not much to recommend there and Old Jaffa is so small and limited as an attraction.

Jerusalem felt like a beautiful city and peaceful by comparison, but it does shut down a lot for Shabbat.

Safed was a fun little hill town with some real art among the many tourist oriented places. We felt very much at peace there.

Roman Jerash in Jordan was well worth the trip as was spectacular Petra, though the bus rides were interminable to get there. I saw nothing else to recommend Jordan, including ugly Amman.

Not much else to say other than that we were both glad we finally went. Loved spending time with relatives in their true home, and whenever anyone found out we were Jewish, they usually said, "Welcome home."

Bedwell Bayfront Park painting

A little fun in the early Fall sun with the painters today. Bedwell Bayfront Park is little known, but really quite nice. Rolling hills with tree variety and fences, salt ponds and Bay all around it, then the mountains ringing the Bay. Lots to choose from.
The cell pic (like my scans) does not do the color justice, but this is close enough.

Pumpkin Patch

Went back with the painters to "R Road" in Half Moon Bay. Flower fields, but more pumpkin fields now. Not a bad day painting, though the weather turned cold and almost rainy!

Half Moon Bay Painting Again

Nice ending to the "unofficial" summer, Labor Day Weekend. Painted in Half Moon Bay with the Burlingame Plein Air Painters group and we had a blast. Not a bad result.

Deja Vu, another view

I must have painted half a dozen of the Pigeon Point lighthouse. It's just a gorgeous spot and the lighthosue itself is statuesque. Unfortunately, it's fenced off in an ugly way until they can do the quake retrofits. But still worth painting and we had a good time in great weather today.

Presidio

Drop dead beautiful day painting at the SF Presidio. I had forgotten just how gorgeous the views are from all over this former Army post. Fabulous weather and a food truck "off the grid" extravaganza to boot. Can't beat that!

Ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more!

Great time yesterday painting at the Harley Goat Farm in Pescadero. But I never got to paint the goats!

Back in the Saddle Again!

After a long hiatus due to health and weather, I finally got back into the kayak yesterday and had a fun paddle in the outrageously warm weather.

Was testing out 2 pieces of kit: Removu P1 remote viewer and floating pole for my Gopro. Mounted the P1 on my wrist and linked by wifi into the camera, which was mounted our of my reach on my Railblaza with the pole extending it further. Setup worked very well.

So here's to some fun!

Encaustic adventure

Three ancient techniques I have wanted to try, but never got around to: encaustic, fresco and egg tempera. An art store was giving a demo of encaustic, so I signed up, and they actually let us try it out. Too expensive and messy for me, but fun to do for once.

So here's the result - on the left true encaustic (wax and pigment only) done with massive brushes and a blowtorch - on the right second attempt using incision, oil stick on wax. Obviously easier without the blowtorch! Then there's the 2000 year old master works that I was hoping to turn out on the far right...... I dont' think I'll pass that one off as mine. LOL

Picchetti Winery Painting Day

Up in the hills above Cupertino, near where Terri Nuckels and I used to mountain bike 20+ years ago, is an open space district with a working winery inside. Picchetti is historic. Some nice old barns, winery building and a house.
We did have fun, though a small group, today. Painting up here was pleasant, though not really moving.
I am not satisfied with this painting at all. It's passable, but looks amateurish. And the color rendition starting with my cell phone is really way off!
Learned something, or reinforced what I thought from last time: Painting on those cheap canvas boards is not what I like at all. I prefer the stiffness, absorbency and smoothness of gessoed panels, and I think I'm going to stick with those from now on. Paint flows better, drawing with the brush is far finer and less frustrating, and coverage seems superior.
Anyway, here's today's product and a picture from a different viewpoint.