Monterey, Beauty Above and Below

The beauty of Monterey California is difficult to compare to anywhere else in the world.  I love going there and watching the waves, birds, sea life and people enjoying the scenery.  When I was invited to participate in a show at the Monterey Conference Center with 8 other members of the Central Coast Art Association, I began to think about what I could do to show all the beauty around me.  Below is the painting I came up with.  

 I love exploring the Monterey Bay Aquarium so I just had to add some of those images to my painting.  So you see a window with things below and above the water around the edges.  It was a fun challenge to do this painting.

This painting will be on display along with two more of my paintings at the

Monterey Conference Center Alvarado Art Gallery
(at the top of the escalators)

 September to the end of November 2019.  

Artwork copyright protected.  No reproductions, or copying allowed!

California Foothill Painting Series

Lately I have been working on a series of paintings of the California foothills in the Gold Rush country.  I want to show some of these paintings at a solo show at Hovey Winery Tasting Room in Murphys, CA, a sweet Gold Rush Town.  I have been working from photos I took many years ago and am enjoying revisiting them.  Below is my first one in the series.

Warm Summer Day in the Foothills  9" x 12"  oils

I really like the composition on this piece.  The sunlight was hitting the tall, golden grasses which cover the California foothills in the summer.  

The second painting was worked on a dark gray gessoed panel.  Below you can see my progress.  I have been doing some small, practice paintings on old gessoed postcards.  They are about the same size as the photograph, 4" x 6".  From those I have been working on the larger painting.  

Photo below - practice painting above

Working on a 9"x12" stretched canvas which has been prepared with a dark, gray gesso.  Laying in the highlights first!  This is new for me and I learned the technique in a workshop with Peter Adams recently.  A different way to start a landscape.

Here you can see that I have begun to block in the trees, shadows and sky.

Liking it and since I was tired, I went to bed. But in the morning, I looked at it with fresh eyes.  It seemed much too yellow and light.  It lacked the warmth I wanted showing the late sunset glow.  So I added more warm colors to give it that glow!

I am much happier with this one!  "The Long Road Home"  9 x 12

These paintings and more will be available for sale
at Hovey Winery Tasting Room, Murphys, CA
 in October / November 2019.

All artwork copyright protected.  No copying!

Red-Eared Slider Turtles

I stopped at Casa de Fruta on my way to Monterey (CA) a few weeks ago and decided to check out the pond and take photos of the ducks.  Low and behold there were NO ducks anywhere!  But the rocks along the edges of the pond were filled with turtles basking in the sun on the rocks!  Boy did I have fun taking their pictures!  Naturally, I just had to try my hand at creating some art too.  So I got out my Pan Pastels and started in.  I discovered they were actually pretty difficult to capture their many details and especially the stripes!  But here they are all framed up and in the Tracy Grand Theatre Artists Co-op gallery.  Watch the video at the bottom of this blog!

Plein Air Painting in a Classic Rose Garden

I was so fortunate to have been chosen to be one of the artists who got to paint in the garden of one of the homes on the Carnegie Art Center's Designer Home and Garden Showcase on May 11th, 2019.  The grounds around the house were so beautiful and they had a formal, classic rose garden which attracted my attention.  
You can watch the video I took while I was painting in the garden.
I was sort of nervous when I did this video from my iPhone, so have patience! 
This painting is now on Daily Paintworks and will be up for bidding in an auction starting May 23rd.

Painting in progress

Farmer's Market Bouquet with Panpastel

 I bought these lovely flowers at a farmer's market and was amazed how fresh they stayed as I was painting them with my new set of Panpastels.

I worked on a pale blue sanded pastel paper and loved the way the pastel looked on it.

Watch the video to see how I worked this.  This is my first video, so please bear with me on this.  I hope to get better doing this technical stuff.  

First stages of working this painting.

Adding the background,
but I did not like the color and changed it later.

Final finished piece.  12" x 9" framed with mat under glass. 

I will be bringing this new piece framed to the Stanislaus County Artists Open Studio Tour, April 6/7th, 2019 in Modesto, CA.  We are at #23 on the map.  

$350 framed  Message me if you wish to add this pastel painting to your collection of fine art. 

2019 Artist Open Studio

PASTEL: Calla Lilies in Pacific Grove

Calla Lilies in Pacific Grove  pastels  22" x 26

Calla Lilies on the Coast  8" x 10"  oil 

My friend and I decided to paint along the coast in Pacific Grove, CA in Monterey County.  It was such a beautiful day and we were delighted to find a big stand of calla lilies which someone had planted near the water.  We set up our easels and painted. 

< Here is my plein air painting / study from that day.  The calla lilies were thick and in full bloom as was the purple Pride of Maderia.  The sea was brilliant blue and there were large black cormants sunning themselves on the rocks.

It was a lovely day and I never forgot those pretty white calla lilies on the coast.

So when a pastel show was announced at our Carnegie Arts Center, I thought I might try working from my plein air study and create a new painting from that day.  The finished painting is above and below you can see a few shots I took in progress as I worked on this pastel painting.

Study for the final painting

 

< Here is a small study I worked up to get ready for the larger pastel painting.   Now for sale on Daily Paintworks.  

 9" x 10"   Callas and Butterflies in Pacific Grove

Pacific Grove is famous for its Monarch Butterflies so I added butterfly stamps around the border and colored them with the Pan Pastels.  

I have been wanting to try out my new Pan Pastels so here was my chance!  I bought a large sheet of Uart sanded pastel paper and cut it to fit a frame I already
 had.  

My idea was to have a painting within a painting.  Like you might look out a window to the scene.  I wanted to try some mixed media techniques as well  using stamps and a Versa stamp pad with the pan pastels.  

I wanted the area around the central square to be soft and dreamy, mystical and magical surrounding the more in-focus center.  So I began by taping around the central square to form a frame.

<  This photo shows the beginning stages of working the outer frame with the soft pan pastels and the sofft sponges.  Sofft sponges are specially designed to use with the pan pastels.  They are in the shape of standard artist's paint brushes so are so nice to work with. 

< Here I am starting to work the central section.  I wanted some of the leaves and lilies to overlap into the border for added interest, so I needed to plan it out a bit.

Close up.  Working with large sofft sponges

Let me know how you like my pastel painting and wish me luck getting into the pastel show!

My painting was accepted to this National Juried Competition along with a 2nd pastel painting.

On display at the 
THE FINE ART OF PASTELS
March 28 - May 26, 2019
Carnegie Arts Center
250 N. Broadway, Turlock, CA  95380

Also accepted is my pastel
"Carmel Mission Sanctuary"
Which won an award in another
show (shown in photo)