Painting at Tor House in Carmel 2016

Plein Air Painting at the 2016 Tor House Garden Party
    May 1st, 2016

 Robinson Jeffers house in Carmel is a fascinating place to visit and I highly recommend it!  You can see more photos of the house and grounds here:  http://www.torhouse.org/

Take the tour if you can.
This was my second opportunity painting on these lovely grounds during their annual Garden Party.

 The weather was nice, except for the wind!  And it was blustery!  The only place I was able to set up was near the gate and luckily, it had a nice view.  The roses by the gate were magnificent!  

Visitors were so nice and came up behind me to watch me paint. This year they have note cards of my last painting in the gift shop.  These delightful ladies kept asking me to sign my note card!  They said they collect anything having to do with Robinson Jeffers!  So sweet!

I had not painted in plein air for a long time, and I sure was rusty!  I forgot my paint in the car, left out some important colors, and my water bottle leaked!  Yikes!  Then I decided to paint on a 12" x 9" panel.  And after the painting was done, I realized I had forgotten to bring a wet painting carrier for that size!  How do you get a very wet oil painting to your car in the wind?  I am most grateful to two other artists who helped me out!   

When I got home, I realized my painting was really bad!  So after re-working it in the studio, I feel a little better about it.  I will post it when I get a chance to photograph it.  

Another day in the life of a plein air painter!  

So here is my final version of my painting at Tor House during the 2016 Garden Party.
I call it:
"By the Garden Gate at Tor House"

Those roses were really magnificent with brilliant yellow, orange, red and magenta!  Wow were they beautiful!  And the white calla lilies were a lovely contrast. 

Here is the painting I did the first time I painted at Tor House in 2010.  I had set up an hour early on the lawn next to the Hawk Tower and proceeded to paint the stone house.  I was working toward painting the garden, when they opened the gate and about a hundred people flooded into the small garden!  I could no longer even see the beautiful gardens!  So I had to make it up from what I had remembered.  Then I noticed all these folks resting on the bench and I thought "Why not add them to the painting!"  So I did.  This note card is available in the Tor House Gift Shop and I have the original hanging in my living room!  It was a lovely day and hard to believe it was 6 years ago!