Painting Workshop in Napa

8" x 10"
Dollarhide Ranch 

I've been painting!  I promise.  I'm taking a 3 day painting workshop with painting Guru, Tim Horn, in Napa this week.  My motel is so fancy-schmancy that I've had trouble getting internet, so I sat in the lobby tonight to write this post.  Here's a painting I did today at the St.Supery's Dollarhide Ranch.  It's a beautiful 1500 acre ranch planted with 500 acres of vineyards - every view is incredible and the weather today was perfect - we even had an hour or so  of clouds this afternoon.  I hope to do several more paintings tomorrow and will post them all in order when I get back home.  It's such a treat to paint all day, while having Tim come by and make corrections as I work- it's helping me paint subjects that are ordinarily way out of my comfort zone.

A Double Post

6" x 8"
Zinnia #21

 I picked the last of the zinnias and headed into the studio yesterday, since it was still cloudy from the teeny-tiny bit of overnight rain.  I attempted to paint a glass bottle, which (let me tell you) is all about painting what you actually SEE, not what you think you see.  I'll be painting many more glass bottles in the future.

8" x10"
Morning Sun #22

I painted on the ridge again this morning because it looked like a sure place for some direct sunlight.  I guessed right, but by the time I was wrapping things up, the sky was packed with clouds and the light was fading in and out.  I copied Tim's composition from his painting last week in the same spot, and really focused on capturing that morning light - especially, in the leaves of the trees.  I finally captured that dead grass color that I love so much! Yes, it really is that buttery yellow in the sunlight.  I somehow or another usually muddy it up, but this time I got it right.  I hope to get out tomorrow for another landscape - I feel like I'm on a roll.  But weekends are such a challenge and tomorrow is mandatory family day, and that would be bad form for the Mom not to show up.

China Camp

8" x 10"
Green Shack at China Camp #20

It turned out to be a spectacular day today at China Camp and I'm now in the twenties! (Painting number twenty, not to be confused with age)  It began with fog, then transformed into blue sky with white clouds.  Yes, you heard me right, white clouds.  You can usually find another plein air painter out here at this beach, but today it was just me, a few fishermen and a flutist.  I may have over done it with the Thalo Blue, but the water was SO blue when I was painting it.  I felt like I was in the Bahamas.  I've painted this funky building before and I can see definite improvement from the last time I painted here in the spring - so that's good.  I look forward to coming here more often, it's so easy to access and so many wonderful vistas.  It's suppose to rain tonight and tomorrow, so I may head into the studio and practice painting some reflections.

8" x 10"
The Headlands #19A

6" x 8"
The Headlands #19B

I went back to the Headlands today.  The sun was out when I got there, but then quickly disappeared when the fog rolled in.  I focused on loose brush strokes, since there wasn't a strong shadow situation happening, with the fog and all.  I was all loosened up when I started the second painting and I think it shows.  The whole painting just flowed together and you got a glimpse of blue sky over in Sausalito under a thick layer of fog - it was pretty.  I'm excited about tomorrow's paintings -  I hope I can start the day all loosened up.

8" x 10"
The Headlands #19

Today was an incredibly beautiful day, so I headed over to the Marin Headlands. I was feeling pretty confident, after a two day break, so when I saw this view with the Stop sign, I decided to give it a try. I spent more time on it than usual, but there was a lot to deal with! My buildings still look too cartoonish for my liking, but they're evolving - so, that's good.  When I break it down, there's still much work to be done.  But, I think I'm better off moving on and starting a new painting tomorrow rather than fussing over this one some more.  I may put this one aside and show it at my next critique. - I'd like to know what can be done to help it out.  I want to focus on landscape all week if this weather continues - its perfect.

TGIF

8" x 10"
Mt.Tam from San Rafael #18

Another blue sky day here in Marin, and we all met up on the ridge to paint after the rains yesterday.  I hiked all the way down the fire road, so that I could get this view of all the different mountain layers (7).  It was a mind bender, and now that I have it out of the sunlight, I see there is a lot I could change - so much so, that I don't even want to start going down the list.  But, it was a good exercise and I'm going to hold on to this painting in hopes of getting it some "professional help" one day.  I'd love for my teacher to take a brush to it with the correct colors & values. I really want to learn how to determine the values of those mountains so that the sit back and glow, like they do in real life.  It's funny, I really wanted this painting to be a great painting, and its so far from that.   However, I learned a lot and the fact that I even considered painting this view was a minor victory in itself.  I hope to paint another landscape this weekend between football games.

Translucency

6" x 8"
Oranges #18

It actually rained today, for the first time since May.  That put a damper on plein air painting, so I headed into the studio and painted some oranges.  The assignment for my next critique is to paint something which is translucent, so I tried some sliced citrus.  I was inspired by Carol Marine's sliced orange paintings and tried to keep my colors clean and bright just like she does.  The process felt so much easier than the landscape yesterday, however,  I'm ready to get back up to that ridge line tomorrow and attempt to paint Mt.Tam.  I hope the weather cooperates - sun and just a few pleasantly shaped clouds would be perfect.

6" x 8"
San Rafael Ridgeline #17

I painted in a new spot today.  There's a great hiking trail along the ridge that runs between San Anselmo and San Rafael, and you can park your car pretty close by.  There's some nice shade under the Eucalyptus and great views - lots of distant mountains to practice painting.  This was the first one I did.  I focused on connecting value shapes and trying to get that mountain in the distance to set back -I think it could even go a few shades lighter.  In the second painting I used a different brush -  a filbert - and it painted these blobby shapes and the whole thing looked like gumdrops, so I gave it a good scraping, and now it's gone. Just like that, poof!

I'm headed back there tomorrow morning and hope to get more done. I'm definitely going to paint larger, 8" x 10".  Below are some photos I took today.  The first one is of Tim painting a scene which I would have never dared paint and his painting turned out lovely, of course.

Tim painting under giant Eucalyptus

the view South towards Mt Tam.  I'm going to paint this tomorrw.

Monday/Tuesday Combo

6" x 8"
Marsh #15A

6' x 8"
Marsh #15B

I didn't get around to posting yesterday, so I'm going to do a combo today.  I had to watch MNF last night, and then I was just too tired to do anything after that.  So, here are the two marsh scenes I painted on Monday.  I spent too much time on the first on and it looks too busy - too many shapes for my taste.  I decided to do a second one in the time remaining, about 40 min,  and it's so much better - much more loose and a stronger sense of sunlight.

8" x 10"
The Headlands #16

I did this painting today.  The weather here is unbelievable, so I headed down to the Marin Headlands and painted this little building that I've had my eye on for a while.  The sky was being very cooperative and gave me some great clouds to work with. (P.S. There are hardly ever any clouds in the sky here, so this was a special treat)  I painted them in first, because I was so scared that they were all going to blow away!  I'm happy with this little painting, however, I wish the building was a little looser - I'm going to practice that (buildings) some more.  I like working on the larger canvas - it doesn't feel so squished and there's more room for brush strokes - but, it takes longer to get the canvas covered.
Tomorrow I get to paint with my critique group, along with our favorite teacher, Tim Horn! I'm super- excited to paint more landscapes for the next few days.

I'd rather be watching Julius Peppers than painting this Pepper

6" x 8'
Red Pepper #14

Since I took the past two days off and didn't paint, I had to paint something today.  It took every ounce of self discipline to spend an hour with this pepper instead of watching football.  I'm going to try it again this week with the pepper and give it my full attention.  I'll just consider this a warm-up.  In the meantime, I think my fantasy football team is going to lose to Yaya and I'm not happy about it.
Rats!

6" x 8"
Dahlias #13

Remind me never again to paint flowers in the backyard in blazing sun and record breaking temperatures. (but, give me a big Western landscape any day)  It was suggested at my critique this week, that I paint still lives in the natural light - it will help me with my warm light/cool shadow issue.  So, I went to Anne Ward's website and set up a still life like she does and went to town.  Well, I didn't really go to town.  I stayed close to home today because it was so hot and because I was tight on time.  This painting is all about the shadows.  Cordelia was home, so she was able to critique it when I thought I was done.  Given that she is fairly direct (understatement), it was pretty helpful.  I had to create more light! My re-occurring painting problem - for now, at least.

Here's my set-up.  What I really need to do is learn how to paint swimming pools like David Hockney.

I also, worked on the bridge painting that I did yesterday.  I added warmer lights and darkened those far away trees.
In this photo, the sky looks darker, but it's not - just a bad photo.  I think it's much better.  I look forward to going back to that location.  I park in the Mill Valley Holiday Inn parking lot and paint under a tree - its a perfect spot before the fog rolls in.

After

before

The bike path beside the parking lot - under an Olive tree, no less!

6" x 8"
Richardson Bridge #12

It was great painting outside today. I was about an hour into this painting when all of a sudden, a hurricane-force wind started blowing across the marsh - the afternoon fog had arrived!  It was all I could do to keep everything from blowing away, so I wrapped things up fairly quickly and got into the car.   I'm going to work on a few areas tomorrow- punch up the light (as always) - and finish it up.  I'll be careful not to "fuss" too much with it.  Plus, I have to make time for painting #13.  I hope to get back outside again,  but the weather says it's going to be 90 degrees - which is crazy-hot for these parts - we'll see.

6" x 8"
Backyard #11

I ran out of time today and only had an hour to do a painting - start to finish, including cleanup.  Fortunately, my set-up was at home so, I just rotated the whole contraption and painted the backyard. I concentrated on making the light warm and the shadows cool.  As I look at the photo, I think I can make the light on the table much warmer, but you still get the idea of late afternoon sunlight.

My critique today was very helpful.  A reoccurring issue with my paintings is the use of cool light instead of warm light.   Over the next month I really want to work on reflections, pattern and a strong sense of light - that's a lot.  I'm also itching to get outside and paint and that's a whole different set of problems to deal with...

Double Victory!

6" x 8"
Interior #10

I'm considering this painting a minor victory.  It's way looser than the other interior I did last week, plus, I captured the pattern in the rugs AND I got the velvet leopard pillows! Score! The silver standing lamp could use a make-over, but I'm not going to worry about that now.  I took multiple breaks during this painting - not ideal - so it took longer than the others.  Note: It's really hard to get work done at home.  My critique is tomorrow, so I think I'll put this one up along with some of the other still lives I did last week.  I'll take good notes and relate all the good info. that Tim gives us.  We go to his studio tomorrow, instead of mine, so I'm really excited to get a chance to see the new paintings he's working on - that's always a treat to see what he's up to.

As for the "Double Victory" - I have to give myself a shameless high-five tonight as my fantasy football team is dominating my opponent.  Stafford and Megatron are doing me right, and I still have one more player left to play in the next game!   I think it's time I start writing on that Smack Board...

Stay at Home Friday and Paint!

6" x 8"
Interior Scene #9

Minimalistic would not be the first adjective that comes to mind when describing the interior of my house.  And I thought a tin cup was challenging?!  How about painting tiger velvet, a Moroccan rug, chartreuse yellow hide chairs and red silk curtains?  I admit, it was actually fun, but I whimped-out and edited all the pattern.  I'm going to try again tomorrow and will attempt to add the patterns and try to make that sunlight even stronger.  "Darken the shadows!", I can already hear Tim say.  Oh, Tim gave my critique group an assignment to paint an interior scene with a strong light source, for our critique next Tuesday.  That's where this crazy idea comes from.

6" x 8"
Green Apples #8

After my tin can experience yesterday, I wanted to set myself up for success, so I grabbed 3 green apples on my way out the door.  I added my lunch fork just to complicate matters.  I'm happy with the light, but think that the shadows don't really hold throughout.  "You can't have light without dark" -that's what they all say and this is especially true with painting.  Tomorrow I'm going to paint an interior.  Now, that should make for a fun Friday.

Crazy & Pink

6"x 8"
Watermelon #6

I went crazy today and painted TWO Still Lifes ( how do you spell the plural - Still Lifes? Still Lives?)  both with a lot of pink.  Anyway, I tackled the watermelon again today.  It definitely has more light than the one I did last weekend - so I'll consider that a minor victory.  I got bogged down with the stripes, but somewhat salvaged them at the end; a first for everything.  I really like paintings that have loose fabric pattern in them,  as well as Blue Staffordshire, so I'm going to keep practicing until it's not so scary anymore.

6' x 8"
Rose in a tin can #7

Speaking of scary, this tin can was a nightmare.  I definitely want to practice this, too, because I love flowers in a tin can.  I was feeling a fired up when I started this one with a little more than an hour left of studio time.  Thank goodness I had the good sense not to put that stripe napkin in there; it would have put me over the edge.

Good News is that my monthly group critique starts up again next week and I asked my genius teacher, Tim Horn, to help teach me how to paint a stupid tin can.  I hope he comes through.  He's the master of reflection (among other things).  Check out his Airstream trailers, www.timhornart.com.

A great day today! Thank you to all my wonderful friends and family who have checked in and wished me good luck on the pursuit of my lifelong dream to become a good/better painter! XOXO

6"x8"
Lemons #5

I picked these lemons off the tree on my way out the door this morning.  I was pressed for time, so I had to be thoughtful about how I approached this one.  This piece has a looseness that I like - thanks to the fact that I didn't have time to fuss around with it too much.  I wanted to put in the checkered pattern on the napkin, but ran out of time - I going to try that tomorrow.

Labor Day

6"x8"
 Watermelon #4

I grabbed this watermelon before the kids could eat it, and hurried to my studio to paint a few slices before it all melted - it's so hot today!