Winter's Light, La Jolla Shores, plein air watercolor.

'Winter's Light,  La Jolla Shores". Plein Air Watercolor, painted on location. 10 1/2 X13 1/2

In February we traveled to La Jolla Shores to celebrate a birthday. The afternoon sunshine and coastal mist was a subject I am very inexperienced with, I tried to capture the glow and atmosphere.

"Ridgetop"to be exhibited in Randy Higbee Gallery 6 x 6 Holiday Exhibition, Costa Mesa

Ridgetop 6 x 6 watercolor on paper

I liked the soft colors on this painting of a ridge in winter.

Details on the exhibit

Randy Higbee Gallery 6 x 6
102 Kalmus Dr
Costa Mesa

December 5, 6 to 9 pm Reception

Exhibit through January 2016

 Here is the companion piece (which I prefer) which is available from the artist

Ridgetop II

"Bay Light", plein air watercolor 11 x 14

Bay Light 11 x 14. Plein Air Watercolor

This was painted on South Gate Rd on Mount Diablo, just down from junction. As I' ve been looking inland as I paint the After the Fire Series, when I turn to go home at about 4 pm and see this wonderful view of the late afternoon light reflecting off San Francisco Bay. It is interesting painting the late afternoon light as it changes quickly. Painted in about an hour.

Huddled Oaks, Plein Air Watercolor

Huddled Oaks 11 x 14 Plein Air Watercolor

This was painted as practice for the Sonoma Plein Air Event last month near Chalk Hill. I hardly ever paint under cold and foggy conditions, but felt like I needed to practice in case the weather was cloudy.. I was attracted to the shapes and subtle colors of the oaks, especially the one on the far right bravely reaching across the top of the ridge.
As we are in a terrible drought, I couldn't help wondering about the survival technique of taking root at the top and ?driest part of a ridge. This scene also made me wonder if the other side of the ridge was wetter. Another idea in the painting was how simple I could make the vineyard and still have it read. I didn't want detail in the vines distracting from the trees.

Huddled Oaks (Detail)

Sunday Morning, Avila Beach

Sunday Morning, Avila Beach 12 1/2 x 16 1/2

Trying for Light and Color......one of my favorite places in the world

Ripples 14 x 12

Rippled 14 x12

This is more realistic than usual for me.
I worked on it yesterday and am letting it sit while evaluating that big white area.
I am trying to put more light in my paintings and am wondering if that also means more realism.

Moon Dancer 12 x 14 California Landscape Painting in Watercolor

Moon Dancer 12 x 14 watercolor

Somehow the subtle taupe-y purples of the dry hills this winter look better at twilight. This enormous eucalyptus is on a ranch just east of Danville California where I live. Started Plein Air and finished in the studio.

November Vines, California Watercolor Landscape Painting

November Vines 13 1/2 x 15 1/2

This started out as an experiment for me, I was waiting for a bicycle event in Sonoma to end and found these two ancient vines next to the road, I was missing fall color in New England so decided to try my hand at these two wild ones.

I liked their wildness and the play of warm and cool reds and burnt oranges.Like painting trees , I concentrated on the gesture and main shapes made by groups of leaves rather than rendering every leaf. The distance away I was sitting helped. It is a luxury to get to paint outside in California where the fall colors are accompanied by temperatures in the 60's.

Susan's Evening Walk

Susan's Evening Walk 10 x 12

This is a recent commission of the scene outside my client's vacation cabin in New Hampshire.
It was painted from a lovely photograph Susan took.
I don't usually paint from photographs but this one had a lot of positives going for it:

The Arrangement of light and dark areas( the foreground trees were already separated in value from the bog beyond.)
The Color contrast of warm and cool colors along with complementary colors.
The Subject with a clearly depicted foreground , background and lovely atmospheric perspective.

I made a few adjustments( of course)

I grouped the trees more closely together for the sake of the composition.
The value of the water was lightened to help with distance.
There were bird houses on the trees that were distracting.

I enjoyed this collaboration and hope it is the first of many!

Why I Revised Point Lobos Summer

Point Lobos Summer 11 x 14


I thought Point Lobos Summer was finished but as I looked at it it needed something, it took until this week for me to know what to do.
Originally the foreground was a very warm, intense gold, which was very close to what was in the landscape. I realized it overpowered the rose green  areas by the trees and rock clff that I  had intended as the focus.
To bring the painting into balance, the foreground needed to be cooler but not darker.
Here's where my willingness to break any and all rules to get a painting where it needs to be comes in.
After rewetting the area and blotting off excess pigment, I mixed a pale lavender ( actually the sky color) using as much white as I needed to create a semi opaque wash and scumbled it over the grass area to create texture and change to hue to one that is more in keeping with the rest of the painting.

Here's Point Lobs Summer in it's earlier form.

Pacific Inlet final

I spent a long time staring at this one and changed a few of the values and intensities of the land masses. I am still finding my way with these higher key coastal atmosphere paintings.

Pacific Inlet  13 x 17

Scroll down if you want to compare it to the earlier version.

Pacific Inlet

Pacific Inlet 13 x 17

Trying something new, the quieter cooler tones of a foggy day.
 There's a real challenge in managing the transitions between white paper and lightest values.
 Here I tried to weave the areas of white to make a path for your eye through the painting, not sure if this one is done.  I may let it alone or I may intensify the colors in the water.

Windswept

Windswept 14 x 14

More trees and pushing the colors of summer. The gestures the wind sculpted these trees into attracted me to this scene. Plein Air and finished in the studio. Here's an earlier state to give you an idea of my process:

Windswept, in process

Incredible Places, Juried by Michael Zakian, Honorable Mention Award

 

Desert Hill 14 x 14, Honorable Mention Award

Michael Zakian selected two of my paintings for this juried annual event in it's 83rd year.
Other artists in the exhibition include Peter Loftus, Chuck Kovacic and Mark Farina.

83rd Annual Statewide Exhibit, Incredible Places: Contemporary Landscape Painters of California“ Juried by Michael Zakian EXHIBITION DATES: June 1 - 30, 2013 LOCATION: Santa Cruz Art League 526 Broadway Santa Cruz, CA

Flag Hill Sunol 14 x 21

"Curve of the Earth " Honorable Mention Prize in 2nd Annual Plein Air Salon

I just found out "Curve of the Earth" won a $500 honorable mention in the 2nd Annual Plein Air Salon Competition.
Thrilled especially when I look at the other paintings and painters in the contest.
 Thank you to the editors of Plein Air Magazine and Michael Zakian.

 
The Grand Prize winner: "Alterations," by Shelby Keefe, 2012, oil, 20 x 16 in. Private collection


2nd Place winner: "Big Sur," by Jesse Powell, oil, 16 x 24 in.
Second place in the 2nd Annual PleinAir Salon Competition and a check for $3,000 went to California artist Jesse Powell for "Big Sur."
 
3rd Place winner: "Sunflowers and Gladiolus," by Jim McVicker, oil, 36 x 30 in.
Third place and a check for $1,500 went to Californian Jim McVicker for "Sunflowers and Gladiolus."
 
Honorable Mention: "Chasing Light," by Kim Casebeer, oil, 36 x 36 in.

Honorable Mention: "Hills Above Nicasio, by Davis Perkins, oil, 30 x 30 in.

Honorable Mention: "Curve of the Earth," by Robin Purcell, watercolor, 21 x 16 in.
Honorable Mention awards worth $500 were presented to Kim Casebeer, Davis Perkins, and Robin Purcell.
You can read more  about the contest here:
 http://www.outdoorpainter.com/awards/winner-of-2nd-annual-pleinair-salon-competition-receives-$15000.html

"Fresh Greens" Plein Air Watercolor

Fresh Greens 18 x 24

 Here's the final version, after two weeks of staring and making minor adjustments , mostly to the foreground values. My goal was to keep the freshness but ad enough vibrancy to make the painting exciting. The title comes from the lovely greens in the grasses and the grazing cows nearby munching on the fresh greens.
Here's the link to the earlier version:
http://robinpurcellpaints.blogspot.com/2013/03/in-process-on-my-easel-today-fresh.html

"On a Clear Day" Plein Air Painting on Northgate Road on Mount Diablo

                                                         "On a Clear Day "10 x 13

A couple days ago I went up Northgate Road on Mount Diablo looking for poppies, I didn't see many poppies yet ,but was attracted to this view of the bay and hills of Marin to the North. The higher elevations on Mount Diablo are pretty dry already.  This painting involved a careful drawing of the silhouette of the slopes and the flat lands and mountains beyond.

 Here's an in process shot to give you an idea of how I started. I generally paint the lightest value I think will work in a given shape and glaze over if it seems too light later in the process.

In Process  " On a Clear Day"


Playing around with photo, the sky is actually pale yellow.

In process ,on my easel today, Fresh Greens

"Fresh Greens" 18 x 24. In process , I like it so far.
We are having an early spring and it's been great getting out to paint.
 This is in a valley about 5 miles from my house. I probably have one more painting session before it's done. It felt great to stretch out, 18 x 24 is a larger size for me and one I've been meaning to try for a while. Painting larger seems like a logical way to paint panoramas.

Desert Hill

Desert Hill 14 x 14

Here's the final version of this painting. There were some minor value and color changes as I worked on it during the past week. What I liked about this hill was the chance to explore some quieter more muted ( for me) colors. The jagged surface of the hill also gave me the chance to use straight edged and more geometric shapes. The earlier versions of this are in the entries below if you want to see my process..

"Across the Valley", Mount Diablo Plein Air Watercolor

Across the Valley 22 x 22

This was started last fall and finished after a long winter of work this spring.
It has been very difficult to get a good image because of the value shifts in transparent and opaque passages of color. The blue green in the top part and blue violets in the lower section are transparent and the deep crimsons and burnt oranges are relatively opaque. In person, this painting looks great ,but every time I take a photo the light bounces back through the paper and shifts  the value on the transparent passages. This was printed in Plein Air magazine and it is much truer to the painting in the magazine than it is here. I don't want  to change the painting for the sake of a photo. The cool and warm balance here works very well for me and it's always fun taking a red and green scene and making it not look like a Christmas Tree.

Plein Air Magazine thumbnail