I am a landscape and seascape oil painter. I have been painting for over 30 years. Inspired by the beauty of nature that surrounds me. I try to paint daily while life continually gets in the way! Life? What is that? It's what happens when I am not painting! Being a wife and mother, finding the remote, the shoes, signing permission slips. Where is the permission slip? "Mom why is there alizaran crimson on my permission slip?" I paint en plein aire as often as possible, and studio paint when I can't, like at 1:30 in the morning. Often enlarging small plein aire paintings onto a large canvas. I hike all over Mt. Diablo and the surrounding hills gathering field notes for my large paintings in the form of sketches, notes, small oil sketches, and photographs. I have been chased by cows, tangled up in barbed wire, soaked in rain swollen creeks with slippery crossing rocks, and all the while I have to make sure I am back in time to pick up a kid from school! Back in the studio, I get to work on the day's information I have gathered. Recreating it on a large canvas. When I hear, "what's for dinner?" Dinner? What's for dinner? I should know this. My mother always knew this. It should be on the table in about ten minutes from now, and I haven't a clue as to the answer of that question. I am still trying to figure out how I got alizarin crimson on the permission slip!


Please enjoy my work, I will post as often as possible. Feel free to leave comments or to contact me by e-mail.



All works © 2010 Catherine McClure Lindberg No images may be reproduced without express permission from the artist.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Plein Aire Day Part 2



This post is a continuation of the post below. "Plein Aire Day"

The painting is finally completed. It is an oil on canvas, 6x12" Just a tiny one. I completed it is just a little over an hour. Could have been quicker but a lot of people kept stopping to talk to me. As you can see I am set up right at the junction in the trail. This wonderful location is barely 20 minutes from my home located in Franklin Canyon in Martinez, CA.

You can see the green grass, but it is quickly turning to gold. "California Gold" I call it.

Notice the toned canvas I paint on. My eyes just cannot take the reflection of the bright white of an un-toned canvas. Everything I need to paint with, my home-made box, my tripod it attaches to, my water, food, etc. all fit in this leather backpack you see at my feet leaning against the trail marker. I was able to hike around with everything on my back while I was looking for the perfect scene to paint. There was too many perfect scenes, I will definitely be back.
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Plein Aire Day






Today I hiked in a brand new park just opened up to the public. The Fernandez Ranch. It is 702 acres that has been acquired and has just opened after the completion of the trail building, and some bridges were built so the public could travel without disturbing the natural habitat. So many scenes to paint I surely will be back.

I have to stretch the photos out over 2 posts due to the limitations on image quantity per post. I wanted to show the painting in progress. I realize when painting outdoors from nature that I have to remember to paint what I actually see and not what I know. I know this sounds silly, but when you have been painting for a long time it becomes habit to grab certain colors. I have to ask myself, "Do you really see that color?"

Do take license to edit down the scene just as a writer would a story. You don't need to include all the information to have a good story, or a good painting.

It was hot, I was hungry, and the bugs kept getting stuck in the paint. But man, what a day! It is glorious to be an artist!


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