June 2015

For the last painting of my class, we did a scene with a fly fisherman in a river with a fish on the line jumping. I was looking forward to working on it since it seemed that we would finally be doing something that was more in line with my interests. But I started on it without giving much thought to what I was going to do with it, and it quickly became a mess. Later, at home, I tried to patch it up and finish the painting, but with watercolor it is easy to go too far and ruin a painting, and any attempt to fix it just makes it worse. In the past, I have gone ahead and shown paintings like that here on my blog just to show some of the learning process, but now I feel that I don't need to show everything.

I guess I'm starting to take my painting more seriously. I'm starting to exhibit some of my work, and plan to try selling some of it soon. This spring the Sun Gallery here in Hayward showed six of my paintings, and right now I have two paintings showing at the Alameda County Fair. I also get a lot of praise for my work from the people in my class, and that is a big help to my self-confidence. Whenever I begin to feel swell-headed, all I need to do is look at the work of more experienced painters to see that I have a long way yet to go.

A couple of weeks ago, Maureen's riding teacher, Jessica, hosted a 5-day horsemanship clinic with Chris Ellsworth at her home on Jody Moran's ranch near Placerville. We trailered our two horses up there and set up our tent in the yard. It's a beautiful location in the foothills near the Cosumnes River, with lots of oaks and pines and big granite boulders. The weather was very hot, and the horses were a lot of hard work, but we had a great time anyway. Back home, I wanted to paint something from the trip, and I chose a photo from the first day of the clinic when they were still working on the ground. I wanted an overall view to show what the place was like. Not much detail shows on the people or horses, but that was not my intention anyway. While we were at the clinic, we gave Chris my painting of him at last year's cow-working clinic (see my post "more May 2015"), and he was very appreciative.

Last weekend, we spent five days at a friend's cabin near Big Sur. Maureen and I spent one day with just the two of us before we were joined by our two sons and their families. It got a bit wild at times with four kids and six adults in a tiny cabin, but we had a great time. That first evening, Maureen and I went out to dinner at the Rocky Point Restaurant to celebrate our anniversary (43 years). The food wasn't very special, but the setting is spectacular. This painting is based on a couple of photos from the restaurant.

more May 2015

The next project for my class was supposed to be a close up of some orchids. It was to be based on one of Ron's photos, and it was a very pretty photo, but for some reason, I didn't find it inspiring. So I looked through my photos for something to paint, and I found one of a wild iris that I liked. I figured that painting another flower wouldn't be straying too far from the rest of the class. Wild iris is not one of the most common wildflowers in California, but I come across them here and there on my hikes and it is always very exciting when I do. This one was in Tilden Park, just over the hill from Berkeley, and it was my son, Christopher that showed me the spot. This was the first time that I have ever used a nearly black background for a painting, but it works for this one.

The next class project was a pelican. Ron supplied two photos, one like this, and one with his wings spread and scratching his bill with a foot. I liked this more dignified pose. I did this quite quickly and finished it up in one class, although we were supposed to spend two classes on it.

Meanwhile, at home I had been keeping busy with some other paintings. A few weeks ago, we spent a morning at Coyote Hills Regional Park with our daughter-in-law and grandkids, and I took a few photos as we walked around through the marshes. One of a pair of mallards was especially interesting because of the waves that they created as they swam through the still water. So I chose to paint it and focus on those waves. I think it came out pretty good.

It seems that lately I have an urge to try a wide variety of subjects in my paintings. In looking through my photos, I chose this one because I am attracted to tiny towns in the middle of nowhere, and because this one has a story behind it. Last summer, we were in far western Colorado, and wanted to see some wild horses. Maybell is the only town for many miles around, and there is not much more to it than this store. The woman who sold us sandwiches told us where to go and her parting comment was "if it doesn't rain". We didn't give that a thought since it was a beautiful sunny day, but as we approached the wild horse range, there were dark clouds approaching. We got out into the range on several miles of dirt roads, when the sky opened up and it poured rain and hail. The roads quickly turned slick as ice and after a thrilling ride sliding all over the road, we were very lucky to make it back out to the pavement in our little rented Toyota Yaris. We didn't see any wild horses, but that was enough excitement for one day.

Looking through photos for something to paint, I thought of painting one of the shots I took of a horsemanship clinic that Maureen did recently. The clinic was about working with cattle, and there were lots of good shots of riders cutting out steers, but one shot without any cattle caught my eye. In the foreground was Chris Ellsworth, the clinic instructor, riding a borrowed horse, and three of the clinic participants. It was a pretty location -- the Brown Ranch on Tassajara Road in the Blackhawk area, and I think it worked out pretty well as a painting.

May 2015

On Wednesday mornings, I've been working on class projects, but in between times, I have been painting some of my own ideas. It seems that my approach to painting on my own is becoming quite different from what Ron is asking the class to do, and I really like what I am doing on my own, so I'm becoming more inclined to do my own thing instead of following the class.

The first class project was to be based on a photo of part of a Japanese bridge and lots of pink and white blossoms. We did something similar last spring and I didn't really care for it all that much, so on starting this one, my attitude was not entirely positive. But I thought that I could go ahead and do my own thing with it. I saw that another student in the class was using her own photo which showed some water under a bridge, so I decided to put in a stream too. We started by applying masking fluid with a sponge to make lots of white blossoms, but I got more blobs than blossoms. Then we added pink blossoms also with the sponge, and so more blobs. I spent a lot more time trying to make something out of it, but it is not one of my favorites.

Meanwhile, at home, I thought I could make something from a couple of photos that I took with my iPhone one day at the beach at Pescadero. One photo was of the surf and the hole in the rock, and another was a close-up of some ice plant. I combined the two and I think it worked out pretty well.

I liked what I had done recently based on old photos of the mountains, and wanted to continue with that. I have many great memories of places that I have been in the Sierra, and hope that I can express some my feelings about them in my paintings. So I've been looking for scenes that do more than just show off the beauty of a particular place, ones that also show how it felt to be there. In the summer of 2001, my friend, Gerald and I hiked the John Muir Trail. On the evening before we started out from Tuolumne Meadows, we sat on a rock by the river for a long time watching the water flow by. And I took the photo that I used for this painting.

Of the hundreds of photos I took on that three-week trip, one seemed to do an especially good job of summing up what it was like to be there. On our 13th day, we arrived at Palisades Lakes after a very hard day of hiking, set up camp, and finally got to relax and enjoy our surroundings. I used a bit of artistic license, and made the ridge a bit more rugged than the photo, but otherwise the scene is quite accurate.

April 2015

 One day recently, we decided to go out for a hike, so we drove out to Morgan Territory Regional Park. The day was sunny, but very cool and windy, especially up in the hills. As we were hiking there were a number of scenes that seemed worthy of a painting, and I took a few photos with my phone. Back home a few days later, I picked out a couple of shots to paint.

 First I did this dead tree. I thought it made an interesting shape and I liked the contrast between it and the green trees in the background. In my photo, the tree was centered, but for the painting I remembered advice from somewhere that centering an object makes for a dull composition, so I offset it a bit. In hindsight, I think I should have followed my instincts instead of following someone else's advice. I remember many years ago reading lots of rules for composition in photography, and at some point, I became aware that there is a lot of artwork that breaks the rules, and I often find it more interesting because of that. So I began learning to trust my own gut feelings about what looked good. Now that I am trying to learn to paint better, I sometimes get distracted by other artist's ideas.

 Then I did this one of a tree and distant cows. I liked the shapes of the meadow and the shadows of the tree. Both of these paintings were done fairly quickly, but I think they came out pretty good.

Another day recently, I was walking with Darby out into Garin Park from the ranch where our horses are boarded. It was a beautiful day with puffy white clouds, and as we came out of the woods on a steep hillside, I thought that the scene would be fun to paint. I got out my phone and called Darby back to me and got a shot as he was trotting back to me. I painted this during the first two days of my class when we are free to work on any of our own ideas. I am quite pleased with the results, and I like that I put Darby into it because he is so much a part of my hiking experience these days.

Poppies and Peaks

Nearly every day Maureen and I go up to the ranch where our horses are boarded to check up on them, get them out of their stalls for a while and feed them some grain. Maureen usually rides one or the other of them too. I don't ride so often, so sometimes I take a walk with our dog, Darby, instead. We were recently walking down the hill near the barn when I noticed a nice patch of poppies. I thought that they would be a nice subject to paint, so I took a couple of photos with my iphone. I wanted to get the hill and sky behind them too, so I got right down on the ground among the flowers. My painting followed the photo quite closely. I feel that if there is creativity in my photography, it will show up in my painting too. For this painting, I decided to use a bit larger paper size than I had been using before, 11x16 instead of 10x14. Somehow, covering a larger area feels like a bigger deal and maybe I put a bit more into it.

I was trying to think of something that I would like to paint, and for quite some time I have had in the back of my mind some old memories of high and wild places in the Sierra. In particular, I thought about an area I hiked through in September, 1976, on a week-long solo backpacking trip from Yosemite Valley to the east side of the range at Silver Lake. The headwaters of the North Fork of the San Joaquin is very far from the beaten track, and it felt wild, lonely and beautiful. Late in the day, I remember thinking that the surrounding mountains looked like those of a Maxfield Parish painting. I think I caught the feel of the place pretty well in this painting.

The morning after the scene of the last painting, I hiked up out of the canyon and into an area as wild and desolate as any I had ever seen. This was Ritter Lakes, just west of Mt. Ritter, the highest peak in the whole Yosemite-Mammoth area. Beyond the lakes is Mt. Ritter's southwest glacier. In 1976, the glaciers were fairly good sized, but I would guess that they are smaller now. A few minutes after I passed this view, I ran into another hiker, the first person that I had seen in four days. By a strange coincidence, he was following nearly the same route as I was at the same time. We spent the next couple of days together, and it was really nice to have someone to talk to again.

Sacramento Valley

 For the last project of the winter session of my painting class, we painted this goldfinch. The week before, Ron had told us that we would be painting a pelican, and I think everyone was a little disappointed when they arrived and found that he had changed his mind about the bird. This painting caused me more trouble than any in a long time. With the bird and the flowers masked, we painted the background wet-on-wet with mostly greens. I wanted my background to be fairly dark to make the bird stand out more, but I just could not get a smooth dark green without lots of visible brush stokes and splotches. I tried scrubbing it off and starting over. I tried starting the whole thing over on a fresh piece of paper. After about four tries, and still not very satisfied, I gave up and finished the bird and the flowers which were relatively easy to do. I guess one of these days I should waste a few sheets of paper and try to learn how to do smooth dark backgrounds.

I still had a couple of ideas for paintings from the photos that I took on our weekend at the Snow Goose Festival in Chico. I wanted to focus a bit more on the landscape of the Sacramento Valley rather than the birds, the long-distant views and wide open spaces, and the funky little towns. This painting is based on a photo from the bird viewing platform on 7 Mile Road in Rancho Llano Seco, a very large area of protected land in the middle of the valley. During the winter, much of the valley is flooded rice fields, which makes it a great place for ducks and geese. In the distance, the Sutter Buttes rise as an isolated volcanic formation in the middle of the flat valley floor.

There are many little towns scattered around the valley. Most of them are rather sad looking with abandoned businesses and a few old homes. I think they once served communities of family farms, but large corporate farms have made them obsolete. This painting is Butte City, and there is not much more to the town than what you see here. I found the sign on the store amusing, and I had to stop for a photo. I guess it wouldn't be so funny if I were a duck hunter. When I was a boy, my grandma had me pluck a chicken for her, and I imagine that plucking a duck would be a similarly tedious job. Duck hunting is still a popular activity in the valley, and through the day we heard lots of gunshots across the fields.

March 2015

I was quite inspired by all that we saw at the Chico Snow Goose Festival -- the countless birds, the Sacramento Valley landscape, and the changing light as each day progressed, and I took lots of photos. In choosing images to paint, naturally at least one had to include the festival's namesake, the Snow Geese. We got to see lots of them, usually in tightly crowded flocks on the ground. We saw this flock as we slowly drove around the several mile loop at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. Most of the way, you are not allowed to get out of the car because it disturbs the birds, so I was shooting through the car window. Something caused the birds to fly off, and I got a shot just as they were starting to leave. I had thought about trying to blur the birds in the air to show their motion, but I couldn't figure out how to do that and still have them look like geese. I like my painting anyway.

Barns always seem to make good subjects for painting. I found this one on a hike in the Hayward hills. The Ukraina Trail in Garin Regional Park starts next to Stonebrae Elementary School and runs for a couple of miles into the hills next to the Stonebrae golf course. On the way it passes the site of the farm of Agapius Honcharenko, a Ukrainian priest who spent half of his life in exile here in Hayward in the latter part of the nineteenth century. He was a very interesting character, and his fascinating story is worth looking up. This barn is next to a park residence and is unrelated to Honcharenko. I am quite pleased with my painting of it.

In my painting class, our assignment was a seascape based on a photo of the rocky shore of Pacific Grove. I got plenty of praise from the rest of my class, and I think I did pretty well too. As is often the case with watercolor painting, there was a good deal of luck involved. Some days my washes come out the way I want them too and some days they don't. When I'm lucky, a little touch-up is all it takes to make things look good.