Mare Island Afterglow

A nocturne painted near Crocket, CA for the Valona Invitational Paint Out held at the Epperson Gallery. Sergio Lopez and I decided to try a nocturne after painting earlier in the day. I'm pretty happy with the piece considering how difficult it was to see the scene and the painting while painting it. The sun was already way down and there was this really interesting light on these unusual whispers of clouds. Colors mainly painted from memory as I just got a couple spots down before it faded out. This did not photograph particularly well. This received an Honorable Mention Award.

To see more of my 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.

Alameda Sunset - Water Scene Award

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I did this painting late after painting earlier in the day. I thought I arrived too late to catch the sunset but Carole talked me into it. I walked down a ways to get a better angle on where the sun would set in my painting and then quickly started placing color spots down as the sun was setting fast. I didn't even have the board covered by the time it got dark so I went to the car and dug out my head lamp, the type that mounts on your head, and went back and finished the painting. The light uses LCDs so the colors were off and I had to paint more of what I knew than what I was seeing on the board. I was pleasantly surprised when I brought the painting into the house that night. The judge for the the Alameda Plein Air must have also liked it as he gave it the Water Scene Award.

San Clemente Sunset - Sold

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This was painted at the San Clemente Plein Air in the hills above San Clemente as the sun was about to go down. I liked the atmosphere in the scene juxtaposed to the contrast in the palm trees. I received an Honorable Mention award for this piece at the main event.

Old Friend - 2nd Place Award in Quick Draw

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This was painted at the San Clemente Plein Air - Quick Draw. This was an unusual quick draw as it was 3 hours instead of the average 90 minutes. The quick draws are typically in the center of town and the artists are restricted to a certain area in order for the public to be able to watch all the artists paint. The the artists at the quick draw could paint a landscape, cityscape, a still-life or a model. Their were two models this year and I had set up ahead of time before the models arrived. I received 2nd Place for this quick draw!

Best of Show at 2009 Napa Plein Air Biennial

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Alfredo receives Best of Show at the 2009 Biennial Juried Plein Air Exhibition at the Napa Valley Museum. Two paintings were accepted into the show with Light Play receiving the 1st Place. The prize for the award is a One Man Show at the Napa Valley Museum in the spring of 2010. Some of the other award winners were Carole Gray-Weihman, Wendy Franklin, Frank Gannon, Wendy Brayton and Larry Cannon. Other friends in the show were Camille Przewodek, who won the Best of Show in a previous Biennial, and Sterling Hoffmann.


Camille Przewodek, Carole Gray-Weihman and myself, Alfredo Tofanelli are the artists behind l'Atelier aux Couleurs: the Art Academy in Petaluma, Cailifornia where we teach weekly classes and host painting workshops for top plein air painters and colorists from around the country.

Late Afternoon Aspens

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On our last painting day in Estes Park we drove to a different area and found this nice grove of aspens with green grass behind them. It was late in the day when we started painting and we had to rush to capture the light as it was moving quickly behind the trees. the effort paid off as this painting recieved an Award of Merit for the Estes Park Plein Air event. This painting and all the other unsold Estes Park paintings are available at the Earthwood Collections Gallery in Estes Park, Colorado.

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!