Avalon Harbor Catalina Painting – Taking the High Road
“Avalon Harbor – Taking the High Road”
9 x 12 pastel painting
Avalon Harbor, Catalina Island
(Available at Segil Fine Art beginning August 28 for the “Colors of Catalina” Group Show)
A high road winds up, up, up around Avalon Harbor. At every turn, stately eucalyptus trees provide foreground interest for the tranquil scene below. I have been enjoying doing some pastel paintings along with my usual oils. This one was painted on archival museum board and framed like an oil painting using anti-reflective museum glass. I used to mat my pastels, but I haven’t done that for my most recent projects.
Yosemite Falls Merced River Swinging Bridge Oil Painting
Yosemite Falls from the Swinging Bridge
11 x 14 oil painting
SOLD
See more of my Sierra Nevada Paintings
More of my Yosemite Paintings at this link.
The Swinging Bridge across the Merced River in Yosemite connects the two sides of Yosemite valley. From the bridge, or a little south of it, where I was, you can see Yosemite Falls cascading down the granite face. Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America. When we visited, in the summer, it was not at its most intense flow, but it was impressive all the same.
Los Osos Valley Road – For the Love of the Land – California landscape oil painting – Central Coast
“For the Love of the Land”
Los Osos Valley Road, California Central Coast
12 x 16 inches
California landscape oil painting
See more of my California Central Coast paintings here
This painting is one of the works that resulted from my spring trip to the San Luis Obispo area with the California Art Club. I just got the news yesterday that it has been selected for inclusion in a special exhibition at the CAC gallery at the Old Mill in San Marino. The show, named Capturing California’s Preserved Lands and Historic Districts: Gems from the Central Coast will open August 31 and run through January 2, 2011. All of the paintings are for sale.
There will be an artists reception Thursday, September 2 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. This is the first time that I’ve been eligible as an Artist member to submit work for this gallery and I am delighted that this piece was chosen for the show.
The painting depicts a spot along the Los Osos Valley Road, toward sunset. The green grasses of spring were drying out and starting to turn that characteristic California gold.
I have more paintings which came out of that trip, and will be posting them here soon.
California Wildflower Landscape Cambria Lupine Flowers Plein Air Field Study
Cambria Lupine Flowers
8 x 6″ oil
Last spring, when we were in Central California with the California Art Club, we wandered through the countryside in search of wildflowers to paint. We came upon this beautiful hillside just covered with lupine and small orange flowers. The scent of the lupine was heady and I think the bees must have been drunk with it. As I painted this small study there was a constant buzzing sound around me. This study will provide information for a larger painting.

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California Landscape Oil Painting – Orange Grove – Santa Paula Art Museum Juried Show
The Scent of Citrus
12 x 16 oil on linen panel
Citrus grove in Santa Paula, California
Accepted into the 3rd annual Art about Agriculture exhibition
Location: Santa Paula Art Museum, Santa Paula.
Artists reception: August 21, 4-6 pm
I painted this scene of a wonderful area along highway 126 – in the Santa Clara River Valley. This agriculturally rich area is probably what the San Fernando and other regional valleys were like a hundred years ago. But I’m just guessing at that. Avocados, citrus as well as row crops are abundant, and in the springtime the colors are rich. My objective in this painting was to capture the feeling of velvety green on the distant hills where the light broke through the clearing storm clouds.
Sespe Creek – Ventura County California Sespe River Oil Painting
Where the Sespe Flows
16 x 20 oil on canvas
Sespe Creek Campground, Ventura County
This beautiful little creek, cut so deeply into the surrounding land, provided an opportunity to work out on trees, water, reflections and eroded land masses, all in the same painting. What a treat to paint. The Sespe, 25 miles long, is not interrupted by dams and is one of the main sources of water of the Santa Clara River. The Sespe originates in the Sierra Madre mountains and is part of a condor sanctuary. According to wikipedia, it’s one of the last wild rivers in California. Long may it be so, for campers and artists alike.
Newport Back Bay Twilight – Newport Beach California estuary marine oil painting
Back Bay Twilight
(Upper Newport Bay – “Back Bay,” California)
9 x 12 oil on canvas panel
Plein air oil painting
SOLD
This is sold, but you can see more of my Newport Beach paintings here
This was one of the paintings that I took to the Newport Back Bay show last weekend, one of several which went home with new collectors. What a great weekend it was meeting so many new people and sharing my love of art with them. The weather was beautiful. Good times all around.
Now I’m painting for several upcoming shows but my outdoor show schedule will settle down until early September when I do the Montrose Artwalk again, followed by the Bowers Museum Invitational show. It’s good to have a few weeks off to regroup, get out and paint some new work for fall exhibitions.
Silvery Streams – Newport Back Bay Oil Painting
“Silvery Streams”
8 x 10 oil on canvas panel
Juried into SoCal PAPA’s Newport Back Bay Show – July 23-25, Muth Interpretive Center, Newport Beach
This was painted in Rigel Park in Newport, about a month or so ago, for the SoCal Plein Air Painters Assn. biennial show and sale which will be taking place this weekend. The artists reception is 6-9 pm Friday evening. If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll attend.
This small painting was challenging to do not only because of the changing light at sunset but also because the tide was coming in and the patterns of water among the estuary sand bars didn’t stay the same for long.
Kayaking on Back Bay – Newport Back Bay Oil Painting
Kayaking on Back Bay
acrylic
11 x 14
When I was painting this, I liked the scene, but I liked it even better when some kayakers glided through the bay. There was a good place for them so I put them in.
This is one of two paintings that I painted for the upcoming SoCal Plein Air Painters Association Juried Show at the Muth Center, in the Upper Newport Bay next Saturday and Sunday, July 24 and 25. In addition I will be exhibiting about 18 other paintings of Southern California in this 50 artist outdoor group exhibition and sale.
I’ve decided that in addition to getting around the state and exploring different areas, I should also explore some places closer to home. Orange County, and the areas around Laguna, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Dana Point are among the locations that I’ve been painting at, and will continue to appreciate in paint.
Through the Bowers Museum show and various California Art Club events, as well as through the San Clemente Plein Air paint out and studio painting opportunities at Randy Higbee’s store and gallery… I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a number of SoCal PAPA artists. It was the right time to join the group and have fun participating in some of their shows, too.
Here’s one thing that’s tricky about classifying a painting like this. It’s an estuary, so technically it’s a marine painting. But is it a seascape? A landscape? A sea-landscape? I’m going to list it in both categories, just to be contrary.











