Yosemite Falls

Lower Yoemite Falls  20x16"  oil on canvas  studio piece

This painting was done using a plein aire sketch that I did earlier in the summer last June.  I literally finished it and then delivered it to a gallery and then realized that it was now hanging in the gallery and I didn't have a single photograph of it!

I pulled it off the wall last weekend and took a shot of it. I'd hate to see it sell and not have a photograph of it.  Be sure to always keep good records of all your work and photos of it.

In this painting I tried to show the power and energy of the falls and the calmness of the mist and haze in the atmosphere.  Balancing it all out.  I  love Yosemite.  Paint what you love and it will show in your work.

El Capitan, Yosemite National Park, CA

El Capitan, oil on canvas, 40x30"  Studio piece painted from field studies

I just finished this painting this morning.  It was done from sketches that I did in Yosemite National Park this past summer.  I did several plein aire sketches and many small pen and ink and watercolor sketches in my mole skiene book.

When I got home most of my photographs are of El Capitan as viewed from El Capitan Meadow.  It is an enormous view but encompasses so much with all the trees, vegetation, sky, clouds, and the huge El Capitan itself.  The largest single piece of granite in the world.  Remember what I said about being overwhelmed with the scene?  Too much to capture?  I simplified this painting by zeroing in on the enormous face of this rock, showing the pine trees that are dwarfed by its presence. I had zeroed my camera in on a close up scene of the rock face as well as doing a quick sketch of the view I knew I would later want to paint back in the studio.

Get yourself to Yosemite if you haven't been there yet.  There is an entire world in that 7 mile long valley just waiting to be captured on canvas!

Danville Plein Aire

8x10" oil on canvas  "Waterfront St. Cottage"

This little cottage is located at 212 Front St. in Danville, CA.  It is currently a massage business.  This little cottage sits there with the creek behind it in a row of other old cottages.  They are original dating back to the 1800's.  Sitting there on the water front, the street was named Waterfront St. and the community of Danville was later built up around these cottages.  Years later the name of the street was shortened to Front St.

This piece was painted for the historic Danville Building show celebrating the 150th birthday of Danville.  It is currently being exhibited in the Pioneer Gallery on Hartz. Blvd. in Danville, CA.  I sold this piece before I even had a chance to deliver it to the gallery along with the eucalyptus painting done at Wood Ranch, posted earlier.  The collector was nice enough to allow me to exhibit the 2 works in the show and then deliver them to her after the show closes in about 6 weeks.

I started this piece at the location, and finished it later sitting outdoors at the Pacific Fine Arts Festival last weekend.  The time of day was later afternoon and the warm golden sun was brilliant as it dappled across the roof and kissed the tips of the lavender plant out front.

The Pride Of Danville

18x24" oil on canvas, "The Pride of Danville"

This painting was done for a show celebrating 150 years of Danville, CA history.  The show opens Oct. 3rd at the Pioneer Gallery in Danville on Hartz Blvd.  Saturday night from 5 to 8PM is reception for the show. This 350 year old California live oak stands on Diablo Rd. and serves as the community tree.  They light it every Christmas season.  The citizens post birthday wishes on it.  It truly is the pride of Danville.

There are over 150 buildings on the historical register for Danville.  Because they didn't want every artist painting the same building, a lottery was held assigning various buildings to different artists.  Not being a painter of architectural structures, I tried to beg out of the show once I found out that I wasn't even going to get to pick out my subject matter.  Low and behold I ended up with the community tree! 

This was a scene that I viewed one evening in July when California was having those horrible fires all over the state.  Because of all of the smoke in the air we had the most dramatic sunsets.  The minute I turned off the freeway and on to Diablo Blvd. I knew I had to paint that sky!  Having no camera with me, this scene was painted from my memory of that evening. Gone are the fires and along with it the glorious sunset where the hills appeared to be on fire that night behind the old oak.

Come by and see the show, it really is great.  522 Hartz Blvd., Danville, CA.

Guardian at Wood Ranch

This was painted on location at the Don Wood Ranch in Danville. This big eucalyptus seemed to be standing guard as it stood at the entrance to the ranch on the driveway.  The size is 10x8" oil on canvas.  Beauty can be found in almost anything.  For me that day the gnarly bark was my muse.  Just calling for me to paint it.  The ranch was full of barns and silos, old fences, out buildings, windmills, etc.  Almost too much to take in.  I tried to simplify for the day and start with just one tree.  Keeping my brain from overloading.  Look for this painting in the Pioneer Gallery in Danville as the historic Danville show will be going up soon.

                                                                                                                                                                         

Copyright Infringement

Diablo Summer  30x48" oil on canvas  ©2003 Catherine McClure Lindberg

Last Saturday a small local paper in a nearby city ran an image of the above painting without my permission. It was a great spot, right on the back page of the paper, taking up 1/6th of the page. Nice size.........  Although there was no credit to me at all.

I phoned the paper yesterday and spoke with the art director.  I informed him that the image belongs to me and that I own the copyright.  I also explained that the public notice of copyright is posted on the front of the painting but is conveniently cropped off in the printed image in the paper.  He was appalled that someone on his staff did that. He actually had the newspaper on his desk and was just waiting for the artist to call. The first thing he said, was "What can I do? How can we fix this?"  This guy is new at this job, having come over from a big paper. He told me that he obviously has some rules to go over with his staff and journalism etiquette.

The paper is going to run a thumbnail image of the same painting and an explanation with full credit to me.

Everyone is happy, problem solved.  Never let anyone get away with using your art with out permission.  Many thanks to those who recognized my work and drew it to my attention as I don't live in that  city and may have never seen it or knew about it.

Hazardous Waste & Tightie Whities!

Today I decided to clean out my Silicoil Brush Cleaning Tank. It is basically a wide mouth jar with a metal coil in it.  It has been years since I last cleaned it!  The paint residue gunk had risen so high that it was almost above the coil.  It was mostly wet gunk and not enough usable odorless thinner.  

I went outside, got a rag from the garage and dumped the gunk out. I used a palette knife and scrapped out all that I could and then wiped it clean with paint thinner.  Well, the gunk and dirty rags were all contained in one pile that I later put in a plastic bag and tied shut. But this is hazardous waste. I need to take it to the hazardous waste disposal facility and explain to them what it is.  Now here is the tricky part........

When my husband retired from the Coast Guard, we retired all the white underwear to the rag bin.  They make great rags ..........  even the tightie whities ....... Except I never put them in my paint box or else they end up out with me when I go plein aire painting.  That is embarrassing when you are talking with someone who has approached you and you reach for your rag to wipe your brush. Your tightie whitie that is.  Talking and gesturing with my hands as I do when I talk, with a tightie whitie waving around..........  a dirty tightie whitie........... Not pleasant.  So, they are for home use only.

Back to the hazardous waste.............  I have a bag full of diry tightie whitie rags to drop off at the hazardous waste facility............... oh joy......... I have some explaining to do.........

Plein Aire @ Wood Ranch, Danville, CA

This morning I went out to the Don Woods Ranch in Danville, CA on Tassajara Rd. to paint with a handful of other plein aire artists. What a wonderful opportunity to be invited to this private property.  I got a personal tour of the property by Don himself. He has lived on that ranch for 73 years.  It has been in his family for a very long time.  It is truly a step back in time.  There are many out-buildings, barns, wagons, windmills, water silos, grain silos, and cabins on the property.  Some really cool dilapidating  old cabins that were used by friends and relatives that would come over for the weekend or week from the big city of San Francisco to spend time in the "country."

Here are a couple photos of me painting the eucalyptus tree and driveway to the property. I will post the painting later when the paint is dry enough to handle and photograph.

Diablo's North Gate

9x12"  Plein Aire oil

This is actually an "indoor" plein aire painting.  I have a request from a client to paint a painting similar to one she purchased from me last spring.  The request was to use the same colors, size, frame and possibly something from the North Gate side, since she lives near there.  Well, every thing is so gold right now that I luckily have this wonderful photo in my files that I took last February when I was painting in that area.

I was sitting at the Pioneer Gallery in Danville last Sat. and I like to paint while I am there, so I started this piece from the photo there in the gallery. You can see the start of it on my easel when I photographed my newly made pochade box.

Quick Plein Aire

Everything is so gold and dry right now.  September Gold I like to call it.  This is a small 8x8" plein aire piece of the local area near Livermore.  So fortunate to know the ranch owner and have access to his acres of property! The painting is still wet, so it had a little glare when I photographed it this morning.

Finished Pochade Box

This is my newly handmade pochade box.  See the post below for how and why I made it.  It is set up and attached to a new light weight tripod I just bought that only weighs 2 lbs.  My box also weighs 2 lbs, so that is pretty manageable in my backpack when I am out hiking around looking for a good location to paint.  The outside of the box measures about 10 1/4 X 13 1/2". So it easily fits in my pack.  My tripod collapses and folds down to 17 1/2" So it fits as well.  The box mounts to the tripod with a T-Nut that I installed in the bottom of the box.  You hammer it in to a pre-drilled hole. I had to glue a small piece of wood inside the box, as it was not thick enough to accept the T-Nut. It works fine! See photo below of T-Nut.

T-Nut installed in the inside bottom of pochade box.  Used for mounting box on a tripod.

Pochade Box

Because I have no desire to pay between $300 and $400 for a pochade box to use plein aire painting, I thought I would try making my own box.  Below are photos of the work in progress.  I like it.  Now I want to refine it.  I don't own all the tools necessary to make it properly.  I cut the square wood for the top and bottom with a circular saw.  I need a table saw.  As straight as I tried to cut it, it is not perfect and the hinges and latches don't line up right.  This box is my prototype.  I have used it in the field several times now.  It weighs only 2 lbs.  It fits in my backpack and holds a small palette, brushes and my rag and palette knife.

I am going to make a new box using the proper shop equipment if I have to beg, borrow or steal them. No, I have no degree in Engineering as I was asked by one who saw my box.  My degree is in art.  I just needed a smaller light weight box and had no desire to pay the going rate for one so I figured out what I needed and a way to make it. Due to size limitations on photos, I will have to post the finished piece separately.

Pochade Box lid and bottom
Inside lid showing spring mechanism
Close-up of spring mechanism
Inside lid cover with slots for metal "L-hook" for canvas support
Hinge made out of a toggle bolt

Half Dome Sketch

This is another sketch in my Moleskine book I did in Yosemite National Park. I was sitting at Mirror Lake looking up at a huge panoramic view of Half Dome.  When I paint this in my studio, it will be very large and very wide.  I used 2 pages in the book, you can see the seam binding in the middle and the elastic that holds the book closed is on the right.

This sketch book literally weighs just ounces and I carry 2 brushes, one came with the paint set and it is tiny, one is a round brush that is larger for quick washes,  I have a small 7 X 2.5" pan of watercolors that opens up to reveal 12 colors and 3 mixing squares inside the lid. I have a small jar of water that is only 2" tall.  I keep it all in a zip lock bag just in case it leaks.  On this trip to Mirror Lake, I rode my mountain bike so everything was packed neatly and nicely in my back pack along with snacks and water to drink.

Yosemite is so full of stuff to inspire you that it can be overwhelming. Start small if that happens. Sketch just a rock, or a leaf, or just the ridge line. You don't have to sketch the whole forest in one day.  Start with a single tree!  You will appreciate all the field work you did when you return to the studio and put all your sketches, notes, and photographs together to form a painting.

Sketching

When I am out I always have my moleskine book with me and a very small travel pan of Cotman watercolors.  This is a sketch I did of Lower Yosemite Falls.  I sat on a rock at the bottom looking up and throughly enjoying the mist on a hot day.  I usually do a very quick 30 minute sketch.  It is enough information for me to bring home and do a larger painting if I want to.  I also photograph the site and may do pencil sketches as well.  I don't always have my plein aire oil paint set up with me but I try to always carry this sketch book and watercolors.  All of this information is field work that I do to bring back in to the studio.

I try to keep the sketches brief as I usually am out with my daughter or a friend and I want to keep moving so we all have a good time.  This moleskine book of mine is 3.5 x 5.5"  Very small and easy to tote around.

Yosemite!

Sketching in my moleskine book in Yosemite National Park.

I just returned from a trip to Yosemite with my daughter and my paint. I did a lot of hiking, bike riding, and plenty of sketching. In oil, and in my moleskine sketch book with a small watercolor kit.  It is a tiny book that fits ever so nicely in the front pocket of my backpack.  Many of the tiny sketches will be later turned into studio oil paintings. Stay tuned for images, as paintings are drying.

Clouds Over Diablo

Clouds Over Diablo      10x20" oil on canvas

I finished this piece this week so that it could be in the preview show for the Open Studio Tour. I had my Diablo Summer in the brochure but it was too large to be in the preview exhibit. I tried to remember where I was when I painted Diablo Summer.  I will never paint the exact same thing twice, but this was on purpose.  I felt the public looking at the brochure might want to see something very similar at the exhibit.  Just being at a different place in your life, and a different mood, and a different day and temperature will of course make the painting different. Nature itself changes.  Going back to a location, the mountain is still there, but vegetation changes, or was I at the exact same location?  I hike all over, and my field notes get scribbly the more excited I get.  I will forget to write what trail I was on, but I will remember to note the temperature, the color of the grass, the color of the sky, cobalt, or prussian blue?

Now the trick is to get this painting dry enough to exhibit it on Friday!  I have set the painting out in the warm sun everyday this week to accelerate the drying time.  Having unseasonably cool weather has not helped.  It is just dry enough to the touch today, just still wet on the edges.  Darn titanium white takes the longest to dry, and that is what I mixed with blue for the sky.

Contact me if you want to see me at the Open Studios Tour in Alamo.  Or go to ADAS4art.org and click on events and them on Open Studios and look at the map.  I am on it!  There is close to 90 artists participating this year.

Until my next post, enjoy the art!

The Work Never Ends!

Danville's Mountain  24x36" oil on canvas

Home Show is over, now on to the next show.  I was asked by a collector at my home show, how do you do all of this and still have time to paint?  Good question.  No sleep?  It takes a lot of work to make cards, mat prints, make title and price labels.  All preparatory work for a show.  The wonderful part about a home show is no loading and unloading of the van, no wind,  great food and drink, and a really relaxed atmosphere. People drift in and out all weekend long giving you plenty of time to converse with each collector that stops by.

My next show is the Alamo Danville Artists' Studio Tour on June 7 and 8.  I will be showing in Alamo at the home of a good friend and wonderful artist.  We have lined up 5 artists to be at that location.  It should be a great weekend. My art is still hanging here at home if you didn't get to see it, so contact me if you wanted to come by and can't make it to Alamo in June.  Otherwise I look forward to seeing you there!

Keepin' Busy

California Gold  10x10" oil on canvas

The green is nearly gone.  It left early this year as we haven't had rain in about 2 months.  I think we went all of April without a drop and March was a sprinkle here and there at best.  Now understand, I am talking about Contra Costa County.  When the weather predicts rain, quite often it only falls north of the Golden Gate and we don't get any.  A little wind, a few clouds, and that's it, that was our storm.

Today I am busying myself setting up for my home show.  I have a lot of paintings to figure out where to put!  Then the logistics of everything.  I have a kid to deliver to a school science field trip that needs to be there by 10:30AM and I need to be back for an 11:00 AM show!  It will all work out, it always does.  Just that careful balance of artist, wife, mom, or as I like to call it a Research Associate in the Field of Child Development and Human Relations.  It will all work out, and the show will go on!  See you there?

Mother's Day!

Diablo's Black Hills  30x40"  oil on canvas 

Today I went to visit some friends of mine in a local art show.  I have no desire to do a show on Mother's day weekend.  I prefer to be pampered.  I went to lunch with my family and walked around the show visiting all the artists I knew.  It was a sleepy little show.  Some admitted that they thought it sounded like a good show, billed as a Fine Art Show.

A good piece of advice for anyone entering a show is to go see the show first hand if you can.  I spent 2 years going from show to show before I ever started doing shows.  I looked at crowd size, parking availability, quality of art.  I also looked to see if the crowd was buying.  Were people carrying packages or brats and wine?  I looked at booth styles, what held up well in windy situations, what didn't.

Any promoter can make a show look and sound good on paper.  The actual proof is in the pudding.  If you can't go in person, send someone, or try to talk to people who have done the show.  Go to a current show and ask around, ask if someone has done a particular show and get their opinion on it. Now take into consideration what they sell and the quality of their art.  If they didn't do well, and they don't really have a good product, well that may explain their experience and you need to ask other's.  Today's "fine art show" had booths spaced very far apart in a strip mall.  I don't know if the promoter felt the walk was too narrow or maybe particular shops asked not to have booths in front of their place.  But some booths seemed very disconnected from the show.  That is also something to consider.  That may be you next year in that far off booth in Timbuktu!  So like I said, do your homework before entering a show.

New Website

Autumn Inspiration  40x30  oil on canvas  Studio Piece

I am slowly joining the world of technology.  This blog and now a new website which you can click on the link in the upper right corner of this blog or go to: www.zhibit.ogr/catherinelindberg

Zhibit makes it so very simple and affordable to create and maintain your own website.  I am glad to have found it.  Check it out if you haven't already.  www.zhibit.org

As always, I feel a post is naked with out an image posted with it, so here is another favorite that I painted this past January.

Busy Friday

"View From El Pintado"  30x48" oil on canvas

Today I am getting ready for a home show that I am having on the 17th and 18th of May.  I usually do this twice a year. Once in the spring and once near the holidays. Usually in November. Our local hills are rapidly turning gold and the green is getting more faint by the day until there will be no trace of the wet moist grass left.

I am posting one of my favorites, "View From El Pintado" which was painted at my favorite time of year.  Green and lush.  The oaks are just beginning to bud.  This is a large 30x48" oil on canvas studio piece.  I have a few pieces on the easel, but the business of art calls. Invitations, mailings, web site update and ugh!  My merchant account!!!!  The fees have increased over the last 18 months from free to $2.50 a month statement fee, to $2.50 statement fee plus $25.00 a month activity fee, (even if there is activity or even if there is no activity?)  Now, it has recently gone up to $2.50 plus $35.00!!!!!!  Time to get out of this account and check out another venue. All of this is very frustrating, and keeps me from the easel which is upsetting. I tend to stay up late and paint as it is too late to call the bank, clean the house, answer the phone, etc......  Nothing but silence and quiet painting time.  Nice.

Enjoy "View From El Pintado"  taken from a scene I hiked into up off 680 freeway in Danville, CA.  Just up above the El Pintado exit on the East side of the freeway. All private roads and homes up there, but artists are usually not kicked out.  I walked in and started sketching.  The people that did see me were happy to see what I was up to.

Have a great Friday!

Pacific Fine Arts Festival in Walnut Creek, CA

Well, the Walnut Creek show has come and gone. (Pacific Fine Arts Festival)  I am posting a photo of my booth that I took early last Friday morning just after I had set up.  I am still in the shade at that time.  I had also already sold one of the small paintings.  That was a good thing.  But I wanted to take the photo before any sales were made.  Well, I guess I can't complain about a sale. It was a great show.  I couldn't have asked for better weather.  I always do well in Walnut Creek as I paint the local area everyone loves so much.

California Spring

Here is a small 10x10" plein aire oil that I just finished.  It is still wet.  I hope to sell it this weekend in Walnut Creek!  With the way the economy is at the moment, I have tried to concentrate on having smaller more affordable pieces for sale.

Poppies!  There are everywhere right now.  I always have a lot of requests for poppies.  I have included them in many new works this spring to if you like poppies, come on down and see these new paintings.

I will be in the Pacific Fine Arts Festival in Walnut Creek, corner of Cypress and Locust St, Friday through Sunday, 10:00AM to 6:00PM  and 5:00Pm on Sunday.  My booth is outside Sherman Clay Piano Store on the corner and I have been there in that spot for 10 years now.

Mention this blog and receive 10% off the purchase of a painting.

Colors Of Spring

Today I am getting ready for the Pacific Fine Arts Festival in Walnut Creek that starts on Friday and runs through Sunday.  This marks my 10th year with that show and luckily I have been on the same corner for 19 shows. They do 2 shows a year there in Walnut Creek, April and September.

If you are in town come look for me on the corner of Cypress and Locust St. outside ShermanClay Piano store.

I just finished this studio piece in time for the show.  Colors Of Spring.  It is a 30 x 42" oil on canvas.  This morning I am putting the finishing touches on a small plein aire piece I did this weekend.  I managed to wire the back of it while it was still wet so that I can bring it this weekend and hopefully sell it.

The Road Less Traveled

What a month!  Trying to work up a lot of paintings for my up coming Walnut Creek Art show.  It is usually my biggest show of the year sales wise.  I like to have a lot to offer.  Walnut Creek is always my first outdoor show of the year.  

I just completed this small 11x14" plein aire piece, "The Road Less Traveled."  Not a car in sight that day reminding me that I was very much alone as I was out painting.  Haven't decided if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Seemed great at the time, and yet it weebs me out later as I think of all the "what ifs"

Today I am in my studio putting the finishing touches on a 24x30"studio piece.  I kept putting it aside all month to work on smaller paintings.  I want to have a large inventory of small works for my show as I think those just may be the big sellers this year with people having less disposable income as in the past.

The Business of Art

Diablo Moon  30x40" oil studio piece

Well, as much as I would like to post a painting daily, I paint daily but a lot of it is in my studio on large pieces that take weeks to complete.  You will notice that the "painting a day" bloggers are posting pretty small pieces of art.

Aside from painting daily in my studio, if you want to run your art as a business it involves taxes, which I have been busy working on and entering shows.  I spent a better part of last week phoning around looking for a studio to share to participate in a local "Open Studio Tour" that is coming up the first week of June.  My studio is outside of the area on the map. Then there is a big "Spring Show" coming up that I was busy selecting 2 pieces for and filling out paper work for.

Yes, it is not all painting.  It is paperwork, phone calls, volunteering at local galleries and associations you are in and then just the office work in your studio keeping track of which painting you entered where.  Believe me, if you do not take the time to organize your calendar, you will quickly find that the show you entered scheduled for the first weekend in June is the same date as the show you committed yourself to enter on June 7th. It is kind of hard to have your painting in two places at once.  Believe me I can juggle, and I am good, but NOT THAT GOOD!

I have been in my studio working on a larger piece of one of our local canyons.  The weather has been phenomenal and I feel guilty that I am not out in the field painting.  I do however have collectors that are waiting for larger "new" pieces from me.  Small plein aire 8x10's just don't cut it hanging on the walls of some of the what I call "monster" homes in our area.  Even a 3x4' piece I have been told looks like a postage stamp hanging in the great room of some of these humongous homes. 

I just entered two of my larger pieces into a local show.  I am posting one of them entitled "Diablo Moon."  It is of Mt. Diablo as viewed from the horse staging meadows on Castle Rock Rd. in Walnut Creek, CA.

This blog writing has been interupted 3 time by e-mails and phone calls, all pertaining to "the business of art!"  I am off to paint!  I hope you are too.

Studio Sunday

It is very stormy today.  I have spent the entire day in the studio.  Working on a new piece of one of the local canyons and the oak trees and scrub oaks.  I spent a lot of my time last weekend driving and hiking around several of our local canyons.  The field work I gathered was enough to create many paintings.  My sketch book is filled with notes and sketches and I must have taken over 200 photos on both days that I was out!

I had a professor tell me once in art school that you have to paint your passion.  If you don't, and your heart is not in it, it will show in your work.  I certainly have a passion for the beautiful land around me, the mountain, the foothills and canyons, and all the wildflowers.  I love the green our hills turn in the winter and my favorite time is when the green is starting to change to gold.  The palatte of colors, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and greens.  California Gold is the color I call our golden hills in the summer time. Definitely  an inspiration.

Today I am posting a recent plein aire piece of a study of oak trees entitled "Oak Tree Study." It is an 8x10" oil on canvas.

Rainy Days = Green Hills

Winter's Green Splendor     studio piece  24x36"

Just sitting down to paint after a morning full of errands.  Very stormy today.  Not exactly a plein aire sort of day.  Really cool lunar eclipse last night.  I am posting a studio piece I finished a few weeks ago for a gallery show I had.  "Winter's Green Splendor" is a scene from the Franklin Canyon area not far from me.  It is a 24 x 36" oil on canvas.  Everything is so green right now.  All the surrounding hills.  I like capturing the atmosphere and distant hills.  I'd better get back to the easel. 

Rainy Tuesday

Poppies and Lupine 18x 24" oil  studio piece

 

Crow Canyon February  8x10" oil on canvas  plein aire 

It has felt like Monday all day long due to yesterday's holiday.  I painted at home in my studio yesterday so that I could be around for my daughter who saved all of her homework up for the last day of the 3-day weekend.

I am posting my current studio piece titled "Poppies and Lupine."  I went out in the field on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I found myself in Niles Canyon on my way to a memorial service.  I packed my sketchbook and camera and set out early to take the opportunity to sketch and photograph along the way.  There is no real place to put your car on that winding canyon road.  I squeezed as close to the side as I could and climbed out for some quick photos.  I did find and old road to venture off on and got some good sketches done.  They may very well become paintings.

I note on my pencil sketches what the weather was like, the temperature, the wind and what kind of sky it was.  A Prussian sky or a Cobalt sky.  These are colors I use when I paint and these notes are very helpful when I get back in to my studio. I may put that the clouds had a hint of cad red light in them, or possibly an alizarin hue to them.

On Sunday I took off and traveled down Crow Canyon Rd.  With no map in hand I rambled along and stopped many many times to innumerable to count.  I climbed over guardrails and fences.  Again I snapped more photos and did lots of sketches.  I was in territory that I had not really been in before.  Not while I was driving.  When I am driving, I will stop to sketch a rock, a post, a cloud, a cool looking bush ....... you get the idea.

When I finally set up to paint I knew that the light was going fast.  I quickly blocked in my light and shadows before I lost them.  It was a hazy day, the air was stagnant. The clouds were moving in, which explains today's rain.  I really rushed this painting as I was worried about my van precariously parked on the side of the narrow road.  "Crow Canyon February" is an 8x10" oil on canvas.

I know when I paint en plein aire, that I am quite often painting history as many time places I have painted have been bulldozed over for new developments.  Some other places thankfully have been preserved as public open space.  I feel honored to capture this precious land around me on canvas.  To help preserve and document its history.  We need to care for the land we live on so it will be here for the future generations to come.

Artistic Distractions

Off to a foggy start this morning.  I have to go to a funeral today.  It is about an hour away from my home.  I plotted my driving route and it will take me right through Niles, and Niles Canyon Rd.  Beautiful area.  I will have my camera and sketchbook with me.  No paints allowed.  I am trying to figure out what exactly I can wear to a funeral and look acceptable and still be comfortable enough to go out hiking and sketching along the way. I am leaving in plenty of time to lollygag along the way.  I am thinking black jeans, and bring a change of shoes and a nice sweater to put on when I arrive at the service.  Works for me. Can't miss an opportunity to capture some of that beautiful scenery I will encounter along the way.  I can't wait to get back home tonight and paint where I've been!  In the meantime I am posting an old oak tree I painted. Everything is so green this time of year.

February 15, 2008

I started this blog to help keep me on track with my goal as a painter.  I feel like a blog will be a way of being accountable.  I will feel like I need to continually create so that I will have something to post for you.

Today I am deciding what to paint.  I just finished a canvas yesterday and it is still too wet to handle to photograph and post for you.  I have a little voice calling me away from my easel.  In the form of a 30% off coupon that expires tomorrow from Dick Blick art supply store. I think I may have to take a slight detour from painting and run off and use it. I am in need of a new solvent can with a leak proof, air tight lid for out door painting.  This painting I posted is a recent one of mine painted at Lime Ridge in Walnut Creek, CA.