Sonoma Plein Air 2012

It was a great week in Sonoma with beautiful fall light and harvest gold colors in the vinyards. I managed to do 12 paintings in 5 days, though one was not worthy of hanging, and another didn't feel quite finished. I tackled this Studebaker on the first day when it reached 103° by 3:00. I was happy to have my huge patio umbrella to shade my easel and me from the direct sun. "Studebaker Morning" 9x12" sold

Half way through this painting, I realized I had painted the scene before, several years earlier, on a different size and proportion canvas. I think this one turned out better. Of all the paintings I had on display Saturday, this one may have gotten the most comments, which surprised me. "Deferred Maintenance" 7x14" sold

The Sonoma event included a "quick draw" Tuesday afternoon, where the artists set up around the square and had an hour and a half to complete a painting, while being distracted by onlookers and a deadline. "Sonoma Hotel" 8x10" sold

This is a road with very little traffic which allowed me to set up my easel and my patio umbrella in the street. I carry orange traffic cones in my truck for just such an occasion. "Down the Road" 11x14"

I had seen this view the day before, and decided to challenge myself, painting into the setting sun across a vineyard. It was amazing to see how fast the colors and values changed in the last 30 minutes before the sun dropped behind the hill. "Harvest Haze" 8x16" sold

I liked the simplicity and clarity of this scene -- house, tree, ground, distant hill, and sky. This house was on a very busy road with traffic roaring past, between me and my subject, and I put earplugs in while I painted. To your list of plein air painting supplies, I recommend adding earplugs and a patio umbrella. This was I felt my best painting of the week, and is the one I took to the gala on Friday night.  "Home Sweet Home" 11x14" sold

I was so pleased with the composition of the painting above, that I decided to come back and try a dusk scene, waiting till just after the sun set before starting to paint. I had very low confidence in my ability to pull it off, and so chose a small 6x8" canvas. I learned that you really only have just over half an hour before the light is so low that you can no longer see color -- just values. And 15 minutes later you can't see anything at all. (add 'flashlight' to the list of supplies) "Sing Me To Sleep" 6x8" sold

I had painted this barn before, but never the red tractor. My umbrella saved me once again in the extreme heat. Dappled light is always a challenge and it seems to work best when I just invent a simplified shadow shape. "One Hundred and Three in The Shade" 12x12"

This was my last painting of the week. I spotted this old car from the street, parked my truck and walked down the driveway toward it. I took a few photos before 2 pit bulls (or similar) charged out from behind the house and pinned me against the back of this car. The owner then came out, and after hearing my explanation called off the dogs. It was a very tense 20 seconds to put it mildly. In the end, the owner was very nice and allowed me to stay and paint the car -- a 1951 Plymouth. Not only did I not lose any blood, but I was pretty happy with the painting when I finished. With all that adrenaline running through my system, there was no need for coffee this particular morning.  "Beware of Dog"  8x10"

Monhegan

These are some photos from the September workshop on Monhegan. There were 13 painters from all over the U.S., and we had a really fun week, with lobster, wine, and lots and lots of painting!

Our first morning, painting on Horn Hill.

Me painting on my free afternoon.

Bob working on an outbuilding near the lighthouse.

The last day, indoor demo, back. . .

. . . and front. Monhegan House dining room.

The group on the front lawn of the Island Inn.

Jim finishing up at the lighthouse.

Our group painting at the lighthouse.

Kevin Beers, me and Errol at our first annual cocktail party hosted by Remak.

Almost the whole group, back row, left to right: Errol, Karen, Jill, Kevin, Remak, Tom. Front: Tony, Connie, Richard, Jim, Bob and me. (not pictured: Nina, Kathy, Manny)

Karen, Bob and Jill at the cocktail party, waiting for the sunset.

All aboard. Finally on our way to Manana! On my last visit to Monhegan 3 years ago, I had tried unsuccessfully to make it over to Manana for a hike. This year I was determined. It took us 3 days for everything to fall into place, and we finally made it, though not with the entire group.

Rusty at the helm, on the way to Manana.

Climbing the ramp onto Manana. Island Inn and the ferry in the background.

This building contains an old engine that used to pull supplies up the ramp to the Coast Guard station.

Abandoned Coast Guard station.

Yes, there are indeed goats on Manana! We spotted 6.

The view from the top of Manana toward Fish Beach.

Me painting the fog at Swim Beach.

Errol and Tom working the morning shift at the lighthouse.

The popular red house at sunset.

My hotel room view on Vinalhaven.

Monhegan, Maine 2012

These are paintings done during a 5-day workshop on Monhegan in September, including a few I did after it was over. On one of our beautiful weather days, we all went up to the lighthouse to paint. I love the variety of planes and shapes this building has to offer.  7x14" sold

Another favorite place of mine to paint on the island is the lawn in front of the Island Inn. More interesting planes on the foreground building, and a nice big cast shadow. Manana, the island in the background, makes for a nice organic backdrop to all the structural stuff in the middle ground. I did this mostly on site, then worked on it another 20 minutes once I got home. 9x12" sold

On the 4th day, the weather and light were constantly changing, and I got the sense everyone was a bit tired (including me), so we declared the afternoon as free time and I did this backlit scene. 9x12" sold

One afternoon I was excited to have a couple hours to paint, but a light sprinkle began just 5 minutes after I started painting. So I packed up my stuff and went back to my 4th floor room where I had a nice view from my window and painted this overcast scene while I sat on the floor.  8x10" sold

On the last day of the workshop, it was pretty overcast, so I set up in the dining room of Monhegan House and did this demo from a photo, and talked about capturing strong light and shadow. 9x12" sold

After the workshop was over, I spent 2 days on Vinalhaven painting and taking pictures. I was thrilled to see this view from the deck of my hotel room after I checked in. Could not have been more convenient. A couple staying 2 doors down in the same hotel, who had ridden their Harley's all the way from Oregon ended up buying it. 11x14" sold

My hotel room came with free use of a bike with a basket. I had left my car in Rockland, and was able to ride the bike around Vinalhaven with some of my painting stuff in the basket, other stuff slung over my shoulder, while holding the easel in my left hand. It was kind of precarious, but fortunately I didn't have far to go. This scene was just down the street from my hotel.  8x10"

I found this boat in a nearby boatyard and really wanted to paint it on site, but the place was too busy with forklifts, trucks, customers and workers. So I painted it as soon as I got back to California from the safety of my studio. 8x10"

One night on Monhegan after dinner, I walked around taking photos at dusk -- a difficult light for cameras to capture. I really liked the graphic quality of this scene, with the deep blue water, yellow sky and lights in the windows. I started this one right after I finished the boat painting above -- trying to keep the memory of the scene fresh in my mind.  8x16"

Fresh Paint

 These are some of the new paintings I had at the Napa Valley Art Festival yesterday. I was afraid this one might be too colorful, but i just kind of let it go that way. I really like the sky shape. 12x24"

Setting up an easel in the middle of Market Street is always challenging. 9x12"

For this sun glaring San Francisco scene, i tried to tone down the color a bit, giving it a slightly mono chromatic feel. 16x20"

Palm trees and scrappy liquor stores. I love L.A. 11x14"

I prefer all original classic cars to hot rods, but decided to paint this woody anyway, despite its mag wheels.  "Surf Ready" 9x12"

I've been driving by this car for years and finally made a date to go paint it. I had intended to leave more space between the car and the right side of the canvas, but my drawing got away from me and I decided to leave it. I kind of like the resulting tension it creates.  "Working Man"  11x14"

Fall Workshop in New Mexico!

I'll be teaching a workshop in Taos October 16, 17 and 18. I'll be going to Santa Fe for the Canyon Road paint out on the 20th and thought I might be able to get enough students for a workshop. Such great stuff to paint in that area! It's a great time of year out there and seems to be no shortage of old buildings and old vehicles. See my website for more details www.horndesign.com

This is from a small town just outside Taos. I like the abstract quality of it, and I'm particularly fond of the sky shape.  "Sheltering Sky" 8x10"

In my back road ramblings between Taos and Santa Fe I found a small property that had about a dozen old cars in the yard ( and a noisy little chihuahua.) I fell in love with this old Buick Special and fantasized about being able to afford to have it fixed up and made road worthy. I'd make sure the chrome was polished, but would leave the rust as is.

I don't paint too many pure landscapes, and maybe because of the road and sign this doesn't exactly qualify, but it's about as close as I get. This was a back road just south of Santa Fe. I was struck by how intensely blue the distant hills appeared.

It's Already July!

Can't believe it's been a month since I last posted. Summers are busy! I taught another workshop in China Camp last week which went very well. Perfect weather and an exceptionally nice group. Here are a few quick demonstration paintings I did during the workshop. This was the first one -- about 6x11".

This was the second demo. In backlit scenes like this one, the lighting stays fairly consistent  during a short painting period.  9x12" sold

This was the third demo and the light was at pretty much high noon, so not terribly flattering. Warm light was bouncing up into the hull in shadow. 6x11"

This shot of my sketch book shows the 3 paintings in pencil form, plus the colored block exercise, which we used as a warm up, doing 6x8's in oil.

Here is another page, showing sketches of 3 paintings I've been working on lately.

This is a 9x12" commission. The bug had to be a very specific blue/grey color, so I was keeping my eye out for about 3 weeks before I finally saw one up in Sonora while on vacation.  This is a tiny little study I did for a commission of an old Travelall up in Sonoma. Just 4 x 7 1/2" on a scrap of canvas panel I had lying around. The final is to be 12x24"

This is a tiny little study I did for a commission of an old Travelall up in Sonoma. Just 4 x 7 1/2" on a scrap of canvas panel I had lying around. The final is to be 12x24"

I just did this one today. I've been so busy with the recent workshop, 4th of July with the family, and the usual inability to keep up with everything else, that I desperately wanted to paint something for ME. I went to watch a few of the Little League All Star games in town this past week, in part because the late afternoon light at this particular field is AWESOME! This is about 4 1/2 x 11" and I'm hoping to do a larger version that may include the dugout on the right, and maybe second base on the left. It will be a pretty skinny painting, but it will be fun to try such and extreme proportion. 

New York

Just back from teaching a 3-day workshop in Greenport on Long Island. A great little town to paint, with boats, old buildings on the waterfront and lots of great old houses. This is the last demo I did, in a boat yard where we had permission to paint. (9x12" sold) And yes, those are puddles. It rained on day 2, so we painted in the studio from photos, which worked out well. When it was all over, I spent 2 days in Manhattan, strolling my old neighborhood. Hadn't been back in about 15 years, and it has changed quite a bit. The highlight, was a pilgrimage to the Hispanic Society on W. 155th Street to see the Sorolla murals. OMG! I had seen some of them in books, but in person. . . it was a religious experience. After that, a few hours at the Met in the new American Wing and my optical nerve was happily toasted.