landscape

A one sitting plein air oil on paper – 7″ x 11″ of San Diego’s Tide Pool at Pt. Loma’s Cabrillo National Monument. I was checking out some of San Diego’s Plein Air painters on the Sage Group website and ran into Danny Griego’s website and blog. I was impressed with a number of his cityscapes, landscapes and portraits and sent him an email to let him know I how much I liked his work and wanted see his work sometime. He emailed me back and we eventually arranged to go painting at Pt Loma. A great guy and terrific painter.

The dramatic ocean waves wasn’t a subject I had done before so it felt like a bit of a reach for me. I feel like I would need to really study more at length to figure out the light and color as well as the form of the rocks and surf. This one study was just a first stab at a very difficult subject. The one painter whose painting of rock and surf totally floors me is Winslow Homer, I would love to someday make a painting that speaks more directly to that sensibility.

Here is another little painting I made with the San Diego Meetup Plein Air group. A rare rainstorm came up while painting and we had to leave after only an hour. The struggle to paint the light with the clouds moving so fast with the wind was madness. The scene would completely change literally from one minute to the next. I think that is part of why I like this little study, the rush and intensity to capture the fleeting moment left me little time to tickle stuff and just go for the essential. This is a view of the El Capitan mountain seen from El Cajon.

A view of the Alvarado Water Treatment Plant at Lake Murray. about 8″ by 16″, oil on canvas 9/2008

We live about 2 blocks from Lake Murray, in the San Carlos area of San Diego. I walked to this scene of the mountain from my house to make this little one sitting 8 x10″ painting on panel.

Here is a view from a park in La Mesa. Actually this is the first little painting I made with the San Diego Plein Air group. Oil on Canvas about 10 x 12 I think. My posts to this blog are out of chronological order at the moment. Eventually I hope to sort it all out and date stuff appropriately. After today I will post regularly and show the stuff I am working on – either small plein air work or other smaller works as well as larger works in progress. I also hope to discuss other artists work, comment on shows I am able to see, and generally musing on art related topics. Stay tuned…