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.

Portrait Demo at the Pelican Art Gallery

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This was a demo that I painted at The Pelican Art Gallery during our show that was held there between the end of March and the middle of June. It was a four person show for the folks behind our art school, l'Atelier aux Couleurs in Petaluma, CA. The artist were Camille Przewodek, Dale Axelrod, Carole Gray-Weihman and myself, Alfredo Tofanelli.

Another artist with the gallery sat for me while I did an oil sketch on a 12x16 canvas board. I was demonstrating how to get a likeness by sketching lightly and building the value up as you work the whole painting at once. This allows you to make adjustments as you bounce around the board. Any early errant marks, since they were put down on the board lightly, will not take away from the likeness. This is done in a similar manner as a charcoal study, it's just that oils are less forgiving.

I use to start my head studies and portraits this way but rarely do anymore. They can be valuable as a rehearsal to the color painting but I find it more of a hindrance as you don't want to loss your beautiful drawing. Typically when I paint a head study I will only sketch in the big shapes with linework and then go right into blocking in the big shapes and shadow patterns in color. Adding features way down the road only after I have the correct color relationships down on the large masses.

View from Giacomini Ranch - in private collection

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This was painted on the Robert Giacomini Dairy north of Point Reyes as part of the Art on the Farm. The painting is looking south past the Point Reyes area.



From left to right Carole Gray-Weihman, Wendy Franklin and Alfredo Tofanelli painting at the Giacomini Ranch. Photo by Larry Bryson.

Lee's Ranch - in private collection

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This was painted at Lee's Ranch in Penngrove. The family ranch has some beautiful views in just about every direction. This view is looking towards the Sonoma mountains. This was painted during a Randall Sexton Workshop that we were hosting at l'Atelier aux Couleurs.

Late Afternoon Aspens

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This is a preview of the second painting the I sent to Nomadas del Arte which will be held at the Southwest Gallery in Dallas Texas.

Colorado Vista

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This is a preview of one of the two paintings that I sent to Nomadas del Arte which will be held at the Southwest Gallery in Dallas Texas.

Just around the Bend - Devil's Gulch Vineyards

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This was painted at Devil's Gulch Vineyards as part of Art on the Farm and will be on display at Claudia Chapline Gallery in Stinson Breach, California from March 8 - March 29. Part of the proceeds are going to the Marin Organic Loan Fund.

NOTE: This painting was featured in the August 2009 issue of Southwest Art magazine's Best of the West|Rocky Mountains section.

A Little Girl

I painted this over the weekend in the evenings. I didn't have a model available and wanted to paint a head study so I purchased a stock photo and painted from that. I wanted to try to capture the subtle temperature changes in the face. If I get time I will finish the hair as it is just blocked in. I would also lighten the eyes a touch.

Quick Sketches of Ali

These were done in Peggi's weekend workshop. The two smaller ones were 20 minutes each and the larger one is a 40 minute pose.

Blue Pitcher with Fruit

A quick still life study done at a Peggi Kroll Roberts weekend workshop.

California Art Club Paintout - Sold

I painted this at the California Art Club paintout near Lafayette, CA. The clouds were low overhead and for a few minutes you could see sunlight piercing through in the distance.

Good old Keetna - in private collection

I painted this painting for a friend who was loosing her beloved companion to poor health and old age. I had gotten to know Keetna over the last few years and he was quite a mellow guy and had a beautiful coat. Keetna was almost 15 years old when I painted him here in his old front yard; he is sorely missed.

The California Impressionists show Oct 11-30, 2008

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I will be part of the California Impressionists show at the Link Gallery from October 11-30 in Cheyenne, Wyoming along with Carole Gray-Weihman and Rich Gallego. The opening reception will be Oct 11, 5-8pm. Associated with the show will be the William Sitting Bull fundraising action. William is also an artist at the gallery. He has recently been suffering from poor health and is in need of a kidney transplant and is without insurance. Because of the urgency the gallery owner has decided to hold a joint opening and auction where Williams and his wife Bonnie will be auctioning their artwork along with some donated pieces from some of the gallery artists. Many of the gallery artists will also donate a percentage of all sales during the show to William's fund. For more information about the show and William's auction please visit the Link Gallery web site at: www.link-gallery.com.

View from Stubbs Vineyards

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This and most of the other paintings done over the last year by all the artists in Art on the Farm will be on display at Point Reyes Vineyards on October 19, 2008 between 12:30-5:00pm. Food from Marin Organic family farms, Wine and art are available for purchase with part of the proceeds going to Marin Organic Loan Fund and part to the artist. Point Reyes Vineyard is about 1 mile north of Point Reyes Station on Highway One at 12700 Highway One.

Clouds over Petaluma

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This was painted at the Greater Petaluma Paintout in conjunction with the Oil Painters of America. It was a cloudy day with the light going in and out of shadow. I decided to paint the hills looking east and the clouds above them. The sky in this painting was completely done with the palette knife.

Fresh Run Farm

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I joined a local organization called Art on the Farm this last spring. I have been too busy to go on the paintouts until this paintout held at Fresh Run Farm. The organization teams up artists and organic farms with a show at the end of the year where part of the proceeds from sales go to the Marin Organic loan fund and part to the artist. It's always great to paint with a bunch of artists and make new friends but it also feels good to do something for a good cause. The Show is October 19th. More on that in the next Art on the Farm post.

Fidel on a Gray Day.

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This is a sketch of Fidel that I painted on an overcast day. I started by covering the board using a palette knife then switching to a brush. The palette knife helps you block in large shapes and keeps you from getting into the detail too early.

Marta with Umbrella

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The first week of September we host a Peggi Kroll-Roberts workshop here at the l'Atelier aux Couleurs. My partners and I facilitate the workshop and paint once everything is set-up. I painted this study along with 5 other sketches on a 16x20 board and was rather pleased with this one, especially for a quick pose, 40 minutes or so. I did another 20 minute sketch following this one and then went in the studio to get something for one of the students. When I got back I saw Camille and others with a long face and saw my board was leaning against the easel. When I was away a gust blew my easel and board over and the paintings landed face down in the dirt and dried grass. "Oh well", I said and started to clean up my set-up when another gust blew over my paintings for a second time. Doh! This painting and the last sketch where completely covered with debris. I decided to wait til it dried to try and remove the debris and this is what survived.

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.

August Snow

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The area around Moraine Park in the Rocky Mountain National Park is just spectacular. If you walk out in the valley to the winding stream and look up at the snow capped peaks it's awe inspiring. And the mountains look different every few minutes as the clouds go over them, or the rain comes in or when there's fog in the valley. Sometimes the distant mountains are crystal clear and other times they disappear into the atmosphere. This was painted late in the day and it was dark when I packed up. I had to work on it a second time to get the effect I was after which was the way it looked when I first set up.