Forget Me Not Farm Donation

 This Saturday May 20 th is the Art From the Heart fundraiser for Forget Me Not Farm children’s services. 

A therapeutic haven for traumatized children and animals. Since it’s beginning in 1992 the farm has helped thousands of at-risk children and youth break the cycle of abuse.

"By the Old Field" california plein air watercolor 16 x 20

By the Old Field 16 x 20 Plein Air watercolor

Painted in Northern California, it looks like August out there, not June.
 This solitary Eucalyptus is all that's left of what I imagine was quite an impressive windbreak. These hills north of Livermore are in a rural area outside the water districts and residents have to rely on their own wells.

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.

Plein Air from April in Carmel

I got to take a last minute overnight to Carmel in April and was in such a rush to repack up for the Carmel Plein Air Event,  my two paintings from April were overlooked. Luck was with me,each was painted in an hour in between the rain. I am going back to my tree painting theme here. And painting in foggy cold weather. "Point Lobos April' is finished ,but I may do some more work on 'Eucalyptus at Ocean." Whales swam by as I painted on Point Lobos. They were very close to shore and I went up to whalers cove to see if they were hiding there.

Point Lobos April 9 x 12

Eucalyptus at Ocean 9 x 12

Two Small Works, California Eucalyptus 6 x 6

 The Elder 6 x 6

Golden Afternoon 6 x 6

Eucalyptus trees have so much color  especially the  blues, teals and purples in the shadows and golds in the highlights, I like to see how little green I can use and still have them read as trees.

Open Studios June 7 and 8

My Studio in Danville will be open from 10 to 5 this coming Saturday and Sunday. You can email me at robin.purcell@gmail.com for directions. It is a part of a town- wide event that raises money for art education in the SRVUSD. I have been neglecting both blog and easel bringing some sense of order and an aesthetic other than clutter to the house and studio. In the meantime here are two newly finished pieces of work I am showing:

"View to Pleasanton Ridge" was one of those paintings that fell off of the brush. It was painted plein air at Curry Point on Mt Diablo looking down and across the valley instead of up at the Summit. It is a view I have glanced to the side at while painting all the Summit paintings. 12 x16

"Colossus" stayed in the studio a very long time. I was hoping to use it to help complete a series of eucaylptus paintings, but it seems this tree was uniquely inspiring. It reminds me of yoga tree pose. 17 x 13

Valona Paint Out

Atmosphere

Canyon at the Reservoir

Eucalyptus Hill

The paint out took place the first week of August in Crockett and was exhibited on Saturday and Sunday August 4 and 5 at the Epperson Gallery. There were so many artists, it was a good thing they asked us to paint small. I am still working on getting comfortable working in smaller sizes.

Atmosphere was 9 X 11. I just couldn't make myself do anything smaller. The other two are 10.5 X 13.5. I found a great place to paint about 2 miles out Carquinez Scenic at a reservoir . There was an egret I could watch while waiting for paint to dry. Atmosphere was done at the top of DUPERU . It was a challenge because the wind was strong , but it was fun to see Mt Diablo in the distance thru the coastal haze.

Many artists stayed in town and took advantage of the hills to paint rooftops, the bridge from below, nocturnes of the neon, and the old cars. And even though the show was only up a day or so, I sold Atmosphere and got some practice for the Sonoma Plein Air Event coming up in September. There were so many good paintings , it would be hard to pick favorites or even drop names. .....here is the web site for the paint out.

http://www.eppersongallery.com/paint_out.htm