Crystal Cove

Crystal Cove

Crystal Cove

Work Work Work

Through out my life I have tried to be the best at everything that I thought was important.  If it is worth doing, it is worth doing your best.  The sacrifice and commitment to becoming the best at anything has meant that other things have to go to the wayside.  One of those things that has changed is reading.  The only reading I do now is reading about creating better art.  My book case is not completely converted yet but as it fills with more art books the others will be packed up or given away.

Paint Out with Greg LaRock and Jeff Sewell

I am very excited to be able to attend this paint out.  I really like the location that they have picked for the paint out.  I have painted in this part of Crystal Cove a couple of times.  I am going to take two boards to paint on.  I really look forward to here the criticism because they will invariably tell me something that will improve my painting that I would have otherwise missed.  When ever I recieve criticism while I am in the process of painting, I embrace what I am told and move to make the suggested adjustments without a second thought.

Jeff and Greg painting.

 

 

 

 

Greg and Jeff's Paintings

This is Greg LaRock giving some information about his process for picking his composition and variational themes based on what thought he wanted to express.

This is Greg LaRocks painting.

This is Jeff Sewell's painting.

Rick Delanty

This is Rick Delanty painting.

This is Rick's Painting.

Painters Painting

This paint out had a really nice turn out.  Greg LaRock http://greglarock.com as well as Jeff Sewell http://jefsewellart.com

The quality of the painters was of a high quality.  The LPAPA group was well represented.  Rick Delanty http://delantyfineart.com

Painting Pelican Point

The fog was thick and I had to stare intently on the bluff to pick up any detail or highlights.  I did not want to paint the bluff in the fog because I was not sure how long it would be around until it burned off.

Muscle memory got me to this point without any real effort.  There is less problem solving when painting the same subject in a similar manner.  My whole purpose to plein air painting is to get better.  I have got to push myself beyond the familiar.

Pelican Point Progress

As I look at my painting, I think I need to challenge my compositional variety.  Although this bluff is amazing in its shape  and texture, it is time to look beyond the obvious.



As I find myself painting some of the same landscapes, I find myself painting same way.  It is time to expand all choices and push for something more.

Pelican Point Plein Air

This pastel painting measures 24"X36".  It is painted on masonite with acrylic and pumice gel as an underpainting.  Everyone else was painting with local color.  Maybe it is because I am painting with pastel, that my color is so much different than everyone else that was painting.  We were all looking at the same subject and everyone had a different take on it.  I see the colors and I paint them as I see them.  When I am painting it isn't that I see any differently; it is just my expression of my color feeling.

Evening Clouds

Evening Clouds

Evening Clouds

Evening Clouds

September Clouds

I got a late start but I was determined to paint big clouds.  I drove around to a couple of promising spots but was not feeling the view because of the angle or the obstructions to my view.  It is almost like finding a spot to fish.  This spot although not very scenic, was ideal for a number of reasons.  I was in a parking lot so I did not have to haul all of my gear around.  My set up was much quicker so I could start painting that much faster.  I was in the shade which was nice since it was around 100.  As usual I am painting on a board prepared with acrylic paint and pumice gel.  The board measures 24"X36".

To me this was going to be a painting about clouds.  The composition does not reflect the dominance of the clouds because the hills offered a good balance and sense of the size of the clouds.  I started with the horizon as a reference and then painted the clouds in a gray that is hard to see.  Once I felt good with the relationship between the clouds and the hills I tried to nail the clouds.  It was that time late in the afternoon when the clouds just vanish and blow away.

September Clouds

At this point the clouds were done and I began to develop the hills.

Now it was a matter of adjusting the shapes and colors of the hills to fit my feeling in relation to the completed clouds.

September Clouds

In the following pictures you can see that the steps I have taken are just a continuation of the adjustments I was making. 

The more detail put down on the painting the more information I have on the board to compare to what I am seeing.  This speeds up the painting process.  At this point all the decisions are made and it is just a matter of completing the painting.

September Clouds

In the course of my studies; I am reading about how to use focus to define and influence the area of interest of the painting.  Before I started painting I thought about not putting everything in a hard focus.  This is something that I feel I could improve upon.  The irony is that the least focused area of the painting is the part that interested me in the first place.

At this point in the painting I was focusing on the atmospheric perspective and the shadows and shapes in the middle ground of the painting.



I really liked the way the clouds turned out in the painting.  They were what brought me out to paint, they were the first thing I painted, and they were the quickest part of the painting.

Painting Chops

 This is one of the easiest access points to the Chino Hills State Park tht does not involve packing my gear a couple of miles to get a view.  I have painted here about three other times.  It is on the burned out lot from a house that burned down a cople of years ago.



 I had not painted in a couple of weeks.  I needed to get back out there.  I picked something I could get to quickly so thata I would have enough time to finish.  It is amazing how quickly you loose you skills.  It did not flow.  I just kept pushing.  I was eventually able to get in the groove.

 The hills and the shadows were quickly changing because the sun was fairly low in the sky.