Above San Clemente

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This was painted near the spot where I painted the first San Clemente painting. Actually my easel would be in the center of that painting and I would be looking to the right. Carole was painting her award winner to my left.

I was looking for something to place in the foreground and I liked the way the palm tree and the plants around it stood off against the desaturated, distant hills. There was never a lack of atmosphere during this event. This painting is hanging in the San Clemente Art Gallery.

Girl in Sunlight

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This is the painting that I did in two hours for the San Clemente quickdraw. We had a great model in this beautiful white dress against the sunlit lawn. We were lucky to have the sun mostly out instead of the usual marine layer. My main goal in this painting was to capture the effect of light.

Setting Sun

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I loaded my gear into the truck after painting "Palms in the Sea Mist" and then I saw this beautiful sunset. I was out of quarters for the parking meters so I looked around and found 29 minutes on a meter. I quickly moved the car, unloaded my gear and quickly painted this scene. I started with the sun because it was going down quickly. I barely had it in when it disappeared behind the marine layer. I quickly laid down spots of color to lock in the color key and then finished it off as it was getting dark. And no, there wasn't any time left on the meter or a ticket on the windshield when I got back. It was a good day.

It'll Burn Off

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I went back to the beach in hopes that I could paint the bluffs over the beach with a strong light and shadow pattern. It was again overcast so I decided to emphasize the beach instead of the bluffs (which are just off the left side of the canvas). I tried to layer the painting in atmosphere with the deepest, richest colors in the forground and desaturating the color as I go back to the distant bluffs. This painting is hanging in the San Clemente Art Gallery along with another painting I'll post soon.

Palms in the Sea Mist

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It was a sunny afternoon so I went down to San Clemente State Beach. I walked up the beach along the train tracks and found a beautiful sunny scene to paint. I hurried back to the car, got my gear and headed back to find the marine layer was coming in fast. I instead chose this scene to paint because of the nice atmosphere between all the palms and the bluff in the distance. At times the bluff would disappear into the fog. Of course the sun came back out after 30 minutes leaving me to paint from memory to finish the piece.

San Clemente Sunset

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I went up in to the hills above San Clemente and found this vantage point in a neighborhood above El Camino. I went back to get my gear and then started painting this quickly changing scene. I love painting sunsets as you usually only have 30-45 minutes to capture it before it's too dark to see what you're doing. When I paint this way I just go for it as there is no time to over plan the piece. These paintings are usually quite spontaneous and fresh looking with juicy brush work.

Light Play

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The marine layer was thick in the morning; as it is most mornings this time of year. This allowed for some nice atmosphere in the painting. I chose to start this piece with a palette knife because the mist was burning off quickly and I wanted to get my color notes down before it did. I ended up using only palette knife for this piece. Hope you like it!


Note: This painting received Best of Show at the Napa Valley Museum's Biennial Plein Air Exhibit earning me a One Man Show at the museum next spring. Stay tuned!