Little Corona Beach

oil 9x12 inches magnify/purchase Last Friday SOCALPAPA met at Little Corona Beach. (If you've been there, you know that leaning tree!) Painting with your feet in the sand and a cool breeze in your face...well, plein air doesn't get much better than that! How about a whale not too far off shore? I'm not kidding! We could see it clearly from the shore, and she hung around for a good long time. IN OTHER NEWS: I've added an EVENTS list to my blog. Check it out when you have time. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Yellow Cottage -sold

oil 10x8 inches -sold- Yesterday I met up with about twenty members of SOCALPAPA at Crystal Cove State Beach. It was 80 degrees and chock full of stuff to paint: cottages, hillside cliffs, ocean and tide pools. I wiped out my first two attempts. I felt like I had forgotten how to paint. I was too warm, I needed my shorts and flip flops, coffee and breakfast. Some plein air days are like this. Okay, so I took all my excuses with me to the cafe and had a fabulous lunch. After that I found a perfect spot of deep shade, a new subject and had a great time. Can't wait to go back!

Rain Forecast, Laguna -SOLD

oil 8x10 inches click for purchase information There were some changes I wanted to make to my field study at Laguna Beach. I had felt hurried, painting in between cloudbursts. As usual, the light and clouds were changing, but I was surprised how drastically the color of the ocean changed too. Rather than rework my field sketch, the next day I started new using memory, field sketch and photo. The feel of the weather was still fresh in my mind, and I had brought home sand in my paint. Perfect.

Gracie

oil 8x8 inches not for sale On a recent beach day the sun tried to burn through the clouds, but it remained pretty cold and overcast all day. My photo reference for this would have been better with a clear division of light and shadow, but I couldn't resist my little granddaughter's pose and her polka-dot suit. I used what I had and painted the existing conditions.