Back Yard Wheelbarrow

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We had a paintout at Baileys Harbor, in Door County, and I saw this wheelbarrow behind the Blacksmith Inn and what can I say, it just spoke to me. I really liked the deep values of the glossy black paint against all the other textures in the sunlit scene. Then I thought "who would want a painting of a wheelbarrow" so I kept walking around searching for something that was more "Door County" to paint since I could paint a wheelbarrow anywhere. Lori Putnam was across the street painting a beautiful porch scene full of reflected light. Carole Gray Weihman was painting a beautiful garden and big Al had his wheelbarrow. After wasting an hour or more searching I was pulled back to the wheelbarrow and its shiny black paint. By the time I started painting I realized my beautiful sunlight filled scene would soon be going to shadow so I quickly laid in spots of color.

I had several folks come by to see what I was up to and I'm sure some were snickering to themselves "what was this crazy Cali guy thinkin!". I had fun painting my wheelbarrow and it has found a nice home with a good artist friend of mine.
To see more of my paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Door County Wetlands - Sold

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The next day we scouted around the peninsula and ended up just up the road from where we painted the day before. I liked the way the water looked silvery with the reflections of the morning sky. This painting was one of my favorites from the week and it sold at the preview show. I wish I had a better photo of this as there's a lot more color in the sky than shows up in this image.
To see more of my paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

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This was the first painting that I did for the 2010 Door County Plein Air. I struggled with this painting but was happy with it by the time I finished it. I didn't look at it very much until the end of the week when I framed all of my paintings for the show and somehow remembered it being stronger. This was my first time to paint in Door County and I guess it took me a little while to get use to the different scenery and light. Loved painting back there and this is one of the premier events that I've been invited to paint in. Hope to get back soon to paint and visit with my new friends.
To see more of my paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Okay, so it's been a while since my last post in June of 2010. I have a lot I'll be adding in the weeks ahead to get caught up. I'll start with adding my paintings from the 2010 Door County Plein Air event which is a fantastic event with great artists and its put on by the wonderful folks at the Peninsula School of Art.

Enough with the excuses and now I'll get to my next post.I'll be adding them on the date the were painted.

--Al

Pacific Light

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This was painted from the south end of San Clemente looking over the beach to the Pacific. I loved the subtle quality of the light that afternoon; it had such an ethereal look to it. I decided to keep my values close together and to keep it more abstract then I would usually paint. I really enjoyed painting this scene; as I do most sunset type paintings. You have to work really fast and not second guess yourself. I also used more paint then I usually do and that's something that I'm always striving to do. I hope you enjoy this painting.

To see more of my paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Afternoon Tee

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Overlooking a fairway in the San Clemente hills. I painted this over two afternoons and of course the light was different both days. I liked looking down on the strong, late afternoon light on the course below with the foreground hill in shadow giving way to the coast and ocean beyond. Georgia Mansur and Wendy Franklin stopped by as Carole and I were painting. Wendy did a nice little painting off to my left.

To see more of my paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

San Clemente Girl

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This model posed for us at the San Clemente Plein Air Quickdraw. At a quickdraw the artists have a short period of time to complete the painting, although this one is longer than most. The artists could choose from two models, still life set-ups or paint around town along the street. I believe there were about 75 artists painting at this quickdraw.

To see more of my paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Fading Light, Los Gatos - Sold

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On the last evening of the Los Gatos Plein Air I was looking for a place to paint the fading light and catch some atmosphere. I walked along the river and found this scene as the light was passing through the hills around Los Gatos.

To see more of my paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Black Ridge Vineyards

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Black Ridge Vineyards near Los Gatos was nice enough to let a group of us painters come onto their property and paint en plein air. They were still in the construction phase on some of their buildings so it was still closed to the public. Lori Putnam, Carole Gray-Weihman and I met up there and had some beautiful views to choose from. I'm looking forward to going back for some wine tasting! This was painted for the Los Gatos Plein Air in 2010.

To see more of my paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Vasona Park Bridge

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There's a great park in Los Gatos where I paintied this scene for the Los Gatos Plein Air in 2010.

To see more of my paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Los Gatos Afternoon - Sold

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This was one of the first paintings that I painted for the Los Gatos Plein Air in 2010. I liked the silhouette of the foreground hill in shadow against the pale sky. There were four of us painting at this location. Thomas Kitts, Lori Putnam, Carole Gray-Weihman and myself. Good times!

To see more of my paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Carmel Valley

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In search of a bit of sunshine Carole and I drove up the Carmel Valley and stopped to paint where the fog bank broke to let in some sun light. Painting on the edge of a fog bank made you a little nervous as it would go up and down the valley a little bit. Overall it held pretty well so that we could finish our paintings.

To see more of my paintings please visit my web site: Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Quiet Waters

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This was painted off of Highway 1 south of Carmel for the Carmel Art Festival in 2010. It was another one of those gray misty days and I was looking for something with contrast to paint. This was a fun, quick painting to paint.

To see more of my coastal paintings please visit my web site: Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Cypress Overlook

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This was painted in Point Lobos California State Park for the Carmel Art Festival in 2010. It was one of those gray misty days and I was having a hard time finding something to paint. I was pleased to receive an Honorable Mention award for this 14" x 11" painting.

To see more of my coastal paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Off Point Reyes

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This is a 20" x 24" studio painting that was painted from a 9x12 plein air study. This was fun to paint and I took photos to create a step study. I'll post it once I process the images and make a video.

To see more of my paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Dillion Beach Sunset

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This is an 18" x 24" studio painting that was painted for my One Man Show at the Napa Valley Museum that ran March 5 - April 18, 2010. This is currently on display at the Pelican Art Gallery in Petaluma, CA.

To see more of my paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Japanese Boy

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This is a young man from Japan who was here studying English. He left the next day to head home to Japan. He looked quite somber posing until he took his breaks. He then became quite animated. He wanted to buy this painting and walked around for 10 minutes holding it like a kid in a toy store until I let him know the cost. He then asked if he could take a photo instead. I kind of wish I would have given it to him as he was so excited holding it. Who would enjoy this painting more then he would. The painting took about 2 1/2 hours to paint.

To see more of my portraits and figurative work please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Rock Rose head study

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This was my second painting done at the Rock Rose Studio. It took less than 3 hours. I enjoy painting there as I get to paint portrait and figurative work with a few other local artists.

To see more of my portraits and figurative work please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Study of April

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This was painted at the Rock Rose Study in Petaluma, California. A group of artists get together on Thursdays and once in a while there will be a 3 hour session on Tuesdays. This is the first of several paintings that I painted there. This is a cropped portion of a three quarters of a full figure painting. I don't currently have a good photo of the full painting.

To see more of my portrait and figurative paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Petaluma Street Scene

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Ray Roberts came to town to drop off a few paintings to the Pelican Art Gallery and wanted to do some street scenes. I joined him down the street and painted this looking towards the east and the setting sun. The sun was still pretty high up when I started but I finished around 6:45pm. This took just over an hour or so. The local teenagers would come by and raz me until I started to get the board covered. By the end I had a small flock gathered around and they were wanting me to paint them in. It was fun to see them getting into the painting. Ray took a snapshot of them gathered around, the tallest maybe as high as my shoulder but alas, the photo may be gone forever on my dead hard drive. Ray did a great studio painting from his sketch and its at the Pelican Art Gallery and worth a look.

To see more of my plein air paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Self Portrait sketch

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This is an oil painting, self portrait sketch that I started at the beginning of the year after I had started growing a beard which is now long gone.

To see more of my portraits and figurative work please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Shollenberger Park

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This was the first painting that I did with the North Bay Plein Air Meetup group.This is a fun group of painters including folks at all levels of ability. If you're in the area look them up as they have a paintout practically every month. This was painted between the Marina and the main part of Shollenberger. You can see photos of more of the paintout paintings along with photos of folks painting at the Meetup link above.

To see more of my plein air paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Limantour Wetlands

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The northern chapter of the California Art Club had a retreat where 40 artists stayed at the hostel at Limantour near Point Reyes. On the last morning a group of us went to the wetland area where I painted this painting. I did some designing to make this painting work the way I wanted it to.

To see more of my plein air paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Silent Cove

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This was painted on the American River across the river from Historic Folsom. I was looking for some water scenes to paint and explored this area. The bridge into town is just up to the left of this painting a few hundred yards. There were some good views of the bridge and on the other side of the bridge and if I had more time I would have painted more paintings from this location. Maybe another time. I chose this spot because the water was calm here and I like the still pool of water with the rocks protecting it. I like these scenes and will no doubt be painting more of them. This painting will be in the Prelude Show for the Plein Air Rockies exhibit August 7-26, 2010.

To see more of my Capitol Plein Air paintings painted in the Sacramento area please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Eucalyptus Light

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This was painted near where I was staying in Fair Oaks between Folsom and Sacramento. I was drawn to the way the light was cast across the field framed by the eucalyptus.

To see more of my Capitol Plein Air paintings painted in the Sacramento area please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Rain Girl - SOLD

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It was storming pretty hard the first day that I painted for the Capitol Plein Air in Sacramento. I decided to go over to my brother's house and set up under the carport to get some shelter and to paint his front yard. This is the house that I grew up in. I was ten feet away from the edge of the carport roof and still was getting soaked. My niece came home from school and stood where you see her in the painting which was about 6 feet in under the carport. I knew right away that I should paint her there with the rain soaked driveway. She was a trooper and got soaked but never complained. She only posed for a half hour or so and then I finished it without her. It was a lot of fun to paint my niece in her over-sized raincoat in the pouring rain and visit with my nieces, nephew, sister-in-law and brother.

To see more of my Capitol Plein Air paintings painted in the Sacramento area please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

I'll be posting more...

Hi all. I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog. I will start by posting images from Capitol Plein Air which was held in Sacramento last October. I'll be posting by the date the paintings were painted versus the date I post which helps me keep track of the events and paintings and when they were painted. I now have Photoshop on my new laptop so hopefully I'll be posting more often.

Starting with Capitol Plein Air I will then post images from my 2010 events including:
- Carmel Art Festival
- Los Gatos Plein Air
- San Clemente Plein Air
- Door County Plein Air
- Alameda Plein Air

Followed by events I have yet to paint at including:
- Plein Air Rockies
- North Tahoe Plein Air

I hope you enjoy my posts and would love to get feedback.
Thanks,
--Al

Plant by SLO Mission - Sold

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I painted this by the entrance to the San Luis Obispo Mission for the Saturday morning Quickdraw. I was just off the front steps and I liked the way the morning light cast the blue shadows against the warm adobe. The green of the plant just popped out against the backdrop.

To see more of my San Luis Obispo paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Arroyo Grande Vista

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The effect of light is what captured my attention in this scene and that quickly disappeared. I had to get the light and shadow color relationships down quickly as they were gone in 20-30 minutes. Much of this was painted from memory at most of the scene quickly became flooded with light and the shadows disappeared. This was painted up in the hills between Arroyo Grande and my host family which was south east of San Luis Obispo.

To see more of my San Luis Obispo paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Evening at Shell Beach

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Here's a painting I started late afternoon at Shell Beach. My friends Wendy Brayton and Carole Gray-Weihman joined me.

Wendy and I painting as the sun was setting. Work, work, work...

To see more of my San Luis Obispo paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Coastal Trail

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This was painted near Montana del Oro. As I was walking around the area I came to like the shapes and coloration of the bushes against the rugged coast with its walking trail. I could of just sat out there all day and enjoyed the crashing waves and the chirping birds. It doesn't get much better than being out painting in such a location.

To see more of my San Luis Obispo paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Coastal Farm

In private collection.

This was painted on a foggy day east of Arroyo Grande for the San Luis Obispo Plein Air event. I felt like painting a structure that morning and this was a nice scene to paint with the layers of mist behind the barn. We passed this scene several days as it was between our host family's home and the coast.

To see more of my San Luis Obispo paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Hollister Peak - revisited

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I love to paint the Sisters when I'm at the San Luis Obispo Plein Air event. This is on a frontage road just outside Morro Bay looking east on the way back to San Luis Obispo. Carole and I started our paintings and then came back to finish them a day or two later. On the second day Ken Christensen was setting up just west of us about 100 feet away. He had a large, blank canvas out. Less than a couple hours later Ken stops by to visit and he had already finished his painting. Man, does he paint fast!

To see more of my San Luis Obispo paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.

Off Old Creek

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First day for the San Luis Obispo Plein Air event. Found this scene off the Old Creek Road north of Morro Bay. This painting didn't make it into the exhibit.

To see more of my San Luis Obispo paintings please visit my web site; Alfredo Tofanelli Fine Art.