San Luis Obispo Hill Paintings

Bishop's Spring 14 x 14( Bishop's Peak)

 

Bishop's Summer 14 x 21(Bishop's Peak)

 Graceful Hill, SLO,12 x 16

Over the past year I have been lucky enough to travel to the Moro Bay and San Luis Obispo area to paint more than once.
I'd like to live in the area some day because of the ocean and all the hills to paint.
I took my William Wendt book, looking for his famous painting of a hill from the area and finally found it but it was covered in fog both trips.( I am pretty sure it was Hollister Peak)
I found a quiet place to paint near the Poultry Science building that had a great view of Bishop's Peak. The plug of volcanic rock sticking out from the pedestal of  an oak-covered base was a different geology than what I'm used to.
There are gorgeous fields and marshes to paint near Los Osos and Montana D'Oro just to mention a few places I didn't get to.
Up in Cambria, there is a walk along the bluff with a sign that marks the exact southern limit of the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary . I'd like to go back and paint the view of the southern end and find the northern end  and paint that as well. I like painting Mt Diablo often, but painting in a new place with different hills sparks my love for painting all over again.

Working in a Series-Meadow and Trees Subject

One of the things I learned long ago is that my best paintings are painted when I am excited by a theme and really get in there and work the variations. Here are three in the order I painted them.

Carpet of Flowers 16 x 12
First in the series , this was a study in texture and color that I enjoyed doing. I liked the qulaity of light and for me, relatively quiet mood of the palette. I would have normally put in some darks to compliment the lights.

Pacific Meadow 18 x 10 .
Here I've accentuated  the vertical composition,  and made the value contrasts more dramatic . I've also made the trees into one mass , which simplifies and strengthens the composition. The use of color is more vibrant, but I've still carefully controlled the values to avoid chaos.

A Tangled Place 14 x 14.
Here's the top square of the previous painting, accentuating the placement of the trees to the left and playing up the colors and shapes of the meadow. The simplification and abstract quality of this would not have been possible for me without working through the other paintings.