Valona Paint-out 2014

St. Mark's - 8x10"- oil on linen panel

I have always admired this little church, in Crockett, set back among the tall pines. Now, during the Valona Paintout, I decided to paint it. When I started, there was bright sun on the church and the flowers--looking good. Passers-by were very nice and complementary. But the light changed... so I had to pack it in and return the next day.

Well, by the next day, someone had cut all the flowers! And the light was overcast. So, I tried to go with what I remembered and photos. I had left white spots on the canvas where the flowers were supposed to be. I think it turned out really successful!

Framed in gold. Shipped free.

Shimmering Water

"Fetch" - oil on panel - 6 x 6"

So many streams flow into Whiskeytown Lake, and they flow year-round. Here I was really drawn to the beautiful shimmering reflections in the water, and to the whole mood: people out enjoying a beautiful day with their dog. It makes me feel good just looking at it. And that's how I want my viewers to feel when they look at it.

This painting is SOLD!! Yay! And that makes me feel good!

More Paintings...

 

Sunlit Falls - 8 x 8" oil on panel

 I seemed to be "on a roll" with waterfalls, so I decided to try Crystal Creek Falls. This is a smaller painting, and was harder to do--I don't know why. The sunlight was changing fast. It is easy to walk to this falls. Here is how it looks in a frame--

 

Afterwards, I went down to the marina with my (now dry) horrible painting from the first day; trying to see if I could rescue it. Well, just then, a sailboat came along, so I turned the whole thing around, from horizontal to vertical, and put the boat in!


Sailing the Lake - oil on linen panel - 10 x 8"



I know this is more hard-edged than most of my work. The reason is that I had to lay the paint on so thickly to cover the painting beneath. Those colorful things floating on the water are called wave attenuators.

Here are some more photos of Whiskeytown, which sadly, is closed now, due to the government shutdown. Enjoy!

Spring Greens

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Here is my plein air painting from last Sunday. Okay, I know it isn't spring yet, but this is what the grass looked like! The yellow in the distance is wild mustard.

Here is is, about halfway complete. As you can see I was in the shade and behind a fence. I added the sky color to the background hills, because really, it's all about painting the air, and the further away something is, the more air there is between you.

Hope spring comes soon for you too!

Painting in Suisun

Suisun Sparkles - 8x10" - oil

Yesterday, I painted in Suisun with "DaGroup," a local painting group. This is the tidal marsh at the edge of the city. Tidal marshes are difficult because not only is the light changing, but because the patterns of the grasses and water change as the tide rises or falls. I totally love sparkles on water, and there were lots of sparkles in this scene! And we had nice weather (unlike last week, when it was so cold.)

I hope you are having good weather and can get out and paint!

Painting in the Middle of Nowhere

This morning, I went out plein air painting with two artist friends. Robert had suggested we go to Skaggs Island. When I couldn't find it on Google Maps, I asked him where it was, and he said, "Out in the middle of nowhere." Well, he was right! There was not a house to be seen (and we could see for miles). It was so off the beaten path, that we set-up our painting stuff right on the road, on a bridge, no less! Here was my easel. Only two cars went by while we were there, and they got around us pretty easily!

I though you might like to see more of this place:

There were tracks of wildlife in the mud. Red tailed hawks and snowy egrets were flying over. It was great!

Color Vision

Cariquinez Bridge - 8 x 10" oil on linen - plein air painting by Linda Schweitzer

For years, I have known that, in theory, the larger the pupils of your eyes, the more color you can see. Because of this, I sometimes wear a visor, even when painting in the studio. But I say "sometimes" because I've never really noticed if it made any difference.
Well, this is the painting from my last post. It was done plein air, meaning outdoors, from life. As I was walking towards the water, I saw that it was a lifeless blue-gray color, and I was a little disappointed. But I set up the easel, and the umbrella. By the time I was ready to paint, the water appeared a beautiful aqua! I thought, "Good, the light has changed!" And I proceeded to paint, but could hardly believe the color, and kept checking my mixtures against what I saw.
When I finished, I packed up my stuff and started back up the hill. Looking back at the water, it was that blue-gray again!
Now, if you look at the photo on my last post, you can see I was in a pretty deep shade under that umbrella. It is a Best-Brella, which is silver on the outside and black on the inside. And I was wearing a broad brimmed hat. With all that shade, my pupils were probably quite wide even though the sun was full blast. I know some artists say a white umbrella is enough, because it gives a filtered light which is more gentle, and your colors will be more accurate. What do you think?

Break of Dawn

Break of Dawn - oil on museum quality board - 6 x 6"

Some things just ask to be painted. This is my second painting of this location. The other one was also at dawn, and I was a little further away. Here it is:

New Day - oil on museum quality board - 6 x 6"

This is a 10-minute walk from where I live. San Francisco Bay is on the other side of the little bridge. But I like to think both paintings have a timeless quality and could be anywhere.That way, we can relate them to our own life. It's about the mood, the stillness, the beginning of day... 

I hope you are able get out and watch the dawn. It's a great way to start the day!

If you would like to leave a comment, click here. I appreciate all comments! To buy either painting, or both, (be still my heart!) click here. New Day is framed in a black floater frame, Break of Dawn is unframed. Shipping is free. Please forward this to your friends or share on Facebook.

The Tree Challenge

Moonlight on Mount Lafayette, New Hampshire - William Trost Richards
Photograph courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

 Sometimes, we see something so compelling, we feel it in our bodies. That's what happened to me, back in pre-internet days, when I was a university art student. I saw a piece of art that turned my thinking around. At the time, I was subscribed to Art News, a magazine about what's happening in the (mostly contemporary) art world. In one issue, in the back pages, I came upon the picture above.

It was magical! The mood, the mystery, the stillness, the emotional connection, it all came together! In all the years of reading that magazine, I had never seen anything that I connected with so deeply. And it wasn't even contemporary art. This image is graphite and watercolor on green/gray paper, and it was done by William Trost Richards in 1873! In school, at that time, my professors would probably have flunked me if I had done anything so "illustrational."

But, I kept the picture, and still love looking at it.

And for all these years, in the back of my mind was the desire to make an intensive study of trees. Now, I plan to be doing more drawing, and studies, and paintings of trees. I will be doing an online class on drawing and painting trees with Deborah Paris. It will be challenging to do something so "old fashioned" and yet so demanding of both creativity and technical skill.

"The knowledge of how a thing is built induces an intimate sympathy, giving us constant pleasure: and the landscape painter must have as true a knowledge of the branch anatomy of a tree as a figure painter has of the anatomy of the human form."          

 -- Rex Vicat Cole, The Artistic Anatomy of Trees

I invite you will come with me on this exploratory journey, in my blog. What do you think about this? To leave a comment, click here.