Two new Mount Diablo Watercolor Paintings

October Afternoon, 14 x 21

Zig Zag, 21 X14

We've had lovely sunny weather, but not much rain. The fall colors are more muted this year. October Afternoon was painted at the top of Sunhaven in Magee Ranch. Zig Zag was painted on Diablo on Southgate Road looking at a Ravine about 2 miles up.

ADAS Demo Images

ADAS Demo Stage 2 (12 x 16, Hill at Carmel Valley 2)

ADAS Demo Stage 1

I fine tuned the demo painting, mostly by glazing over the trees and deepening the foreground. I may fine tune a couple of things as I stare at the painting over the next week or so, but I would say it is 95% done.

ADAS 11/13 Demonstration Notes

Last night I got to demonstrate in front of my "home" art organization, the Alamo Danville Artists' Society. I can't say enough about how much I've learned at these meetings, because the caliber of Artists is generally so high. I got much further in my demo than I expected, covering the whole sheet. My mouth,brain and hand only coordinate for about an hour, but I have to say my friends in the audience really helped by asking brilliant questions. Here is a copy of the notes I passed out. I remembered to mention about 3/4 of these talking points , not too bad. Email me for clarification if anything in the notes is too cryptic. I tried to stay on the how and what of painting because the why is so nebulous.
ADAS Notes 11/13/2007

Materials
Pigments: Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ocher, Jaune Brilliant (holbein) Winsor Yellow, Cad yellow pale, winsor red, winsor bright red, perm allizarin crimson,perm. rose,winsor green (red shade) cobalt turquoise, manganese blue hue, winsor blue, french ultramarine,cobalt. I am trying out quinacredone gold and Q burnt orange. All pigments winsor newton or daniel smith

Paper: Arches,300lb,bright white, hot press

Brushes : Cheap Joe's Naturals (squirrel hair) Rounds, 6 through 12

Palette: Robert E Wood

Words of Wisdom( Things I 've learned, mostly from ADAS demos)

*Paint the darks to showcase the lights-Dale Laitenan
*Accuracy of values separates the professional from the amateur-Bill Ternes
*Values(especially darks) exist on the whole 360 degrees of the color wheel. Try to use them - Jane Hofstetter
*Look for Verticals and Diagonals because so many landscapes are full of horizontals-Randall Stauss?
*When Simplifying,look for the telling silhouette that defines the subject- Carolyn Lord
*Color came from within him ,Pam Della re Jade Fon

These statements though simple, have so many ways for me to use them that they keep me thinking and working for months.

Favorite local places to Paint

* Pescadaro Court , off Matadera Way
* Tao House
*South Gate Road on Mt Diablo
Fossil ridge and near devil's slide,near the rangers station
*Curry Point on Mt Diablo
*Fire trail off of Belleterre Drive
*Anywhere in Magee Ranch
*Finley Road (east of Blackhawk)

I didn't talk about where I look at art on the web at all, so I'll just add that for representational art, you can't do any better than the California Art Club Web Site.

For next time, I would bring a hair dryer so I could get the "underpainting" drier and put more glazes over it. The demonstration's colors looked weird under the fluorescent lights but I was pleasantly surprised this morning . I might bring a balanced light another time/ I would finish the demo up today, but miscalculated my caffeine intake to function after 8 last night and was up all night!

Mount Diablo Summer Evening

Diablo Summer Evening 14 X14

Painted from the westside of Danville at the top of Love Lane. The light is fun to play with at this time of day, with lots of opportunities to push the darks and emphasize and simplify the lovely irregular shapes . Diablo always reminds me of calligraphy and supplies plenty of light/dark contrast and movement. I used a lot of alizarin crimson and pthalo blue on the dark green areas.

Plein Air Painters of America Paintout in Stockton

I was lucky enough to attend part of the opening weekend at the PAPA exhibit at the Haggin Museum Exhibit in Stockton. My daughter actually had a sporting event just down the road. I went to the Saturday morning paint out at a winery called Jessie's Grove in Lodi. I didn't even bring my painting gear, so I was able to just be a sponge. The painters showed their skill and experience. It was pretty flat, so most did architectural/ farm machines or close ups of the vineyard and paths around the property. The paintings were dazzling in their technique. I emotionally connected with a pastel by Glenna Hartmann. It was a luminous corner of the vineyard with a deep red rose bush and two morning haze trees in the distance. It makes me feel as if I am on a wonderful vacation in the wine country even now, a week later. Glenna's web site is http://www.glennahartmann.com/

The other painters I remember were the ones who produced lovely paintings while giving a lecture at the same time. Don Demers was practically a stand-up comedian. Gil Dellinger
was very generous with sharing his techniques. Kevin Mc Pherson had a large crowd around him the whole time for the same reason. I finally ordered his landscape painting book when I got home.

I also spoke briefly with Jean Stern, Executive Director of the Irvine Museum. I had "California Impressionism" with me in the car, which, by the way he has an essay in. I also met Ivan Moore, a reporter with the Stockton Record and told him why I loved Glenna's painting.

The only disappointment was that Raleigh Kinney, the only watercolor artist in the exhibit was not at the paintout. He does watercolors that don't need plexiglass in the framing process and I really wanted to see him at work. Raleigh was gracious to respond to my email about this event. He was in Sedona at the 3rd Annual Sedona Plein Air Festival, held at the same time, where he won the Sponsor's Award!...sometimes I think there are way too many plein air events out there!

Sunday, we got to the brunch and sale late. I had on more of a business hat. There were many paintings sold before I got there, but I walked around checking framing, prices and signature styles.

The painters also have a companion exhibit at the Haggin Museum through January 6. I hope to get back to see the exhibit. The museum's web site is http://www.hagginmuseum.org/ The PAPAs are at http://www.p-a-p-a.com/ The Sedona site is http://www.sedonapleinairfestival.com/

Sonoma plein air, last paintings

Sonoma Evening 11X 14
Petaluma Drizzle 11 X 14

I had two paintings I started but did not finish at the Sonoma Plein Air event in September. Both are better than they were, but not anything special. I usually wouldn't paint in a drizzle, but I was trying to do what was suggested and paint in Petaluma on a gray day. I may go back and darken the middle ridge so that the farthest ridge feels more distant. Sonoma Evening is more successful, it has more sparkle, but I usually don't paint in the evenings , so some of the values look off. I am glad I tried different things and am glad I had a better painting day on thursday, these are both from the wednesday when I felt stressed because the weather was bad.