Palace of Fine Arts

It is hard to believe that I have lived in San Francisco for the last 7 years or so and this is the first time that I have painted at the Palace of Fine Arts. I loved the grand scale of the architecture and will be back again to do more paintings or drawings. These two small gouache paintings were painted with a few members of the North Bay Plein Air Painters. The first painting was a longer study that took about a 90 minutes. The second was a quick study around 35 minutes.

Lands End, NBPLA Painter's 2011

Two paintings from Sunday's outing with the North Bay Plein Air Painters group meet-up. It's a friendly group of painters that meet on the last Sunday of every month. This time it was at Lands End on the Sutro Baths side in San Francisco.

Unfortunately for me, I was too picky about finding a location to paint. I didn't find a composition that really inspired me partly due to the heavy fog and lack of sunshine. So that meant I spent a lot of time walking around looking for a spark of inspiration.

The first painting is a 30-minute color sketch to help me loosen up. I didn't really care if it turn out in my favor or not. It is mostly painted with a palette knife. The second painting took about 70 minutes. I would have liked to have spent more time it had I started earlier. I'd say this is more of a study than a painting. I am not happy about the composition, but I always feel compelled to paint the ocean when I am near the coastline.

China Camp Nov 10'

Sunday's plein air painting with the North Bay Plein Air Painters at China Camp state park. One of my favorite places to paint in Marin county. It was good seeing you guys and catching up for awhile, hope the weather is nice for the next paint out.

Saint Vincent's, San Rafael

My last painting of January at Saint Vincent's Church in San Rafael. I meet up with some pals and other North Bay Plein Air Painters, it was a good turn out with about eleven artist. The day started out very gray and heavy fog, as you can see the sun came out and I ended up with a very different painting than when I started.

Petaluma Plein Air

8th North Bay Plein Air Painters paint-out in Petluma in some very challenging conditions. Starting out that day it was a cold and gray. Then the sun broke though the clouds and created some of the most beautiful lighting circumstances. Unfortunately the light was very fleeting and seemed to change every time I looked up from my palette. I'm not too pleased with how this turned out so when I got home I decided to paint another one with more of the darker feeling that I initially wanted to capture. Not sure if it's working yet but here it is.

We also met up with Alfredo Tofanelli who is an instructor with the Atelier aux Couleurs in Petaluma. Alfredo was kind enough to invite us to his studio and have some refreshments for us while we chatted about painting.

China Camp Shoreline

Today's painting on the shore of China Camp in San Rafael. During the day there was a big turn out of plein air painters, the Benica plein air group and the North Bay plein air painters which I am a member. Click on the links to see the other paintings from the day.

Lafayette Park, SF

Sunday's outing with the NB Plein Air Painters at Lafayette park in San Francisco's Pacific Heights. It was a nice sunny day but very breezy, I ended up chasing my belongings a few times.

The first painting is the view looking towards downtown on Washington & Clay in the early Afternoon. This was my first attempt in painting a cityscape in oils. I found it to be quite a challenge as I was trying to match very specific geometric shapes that I don't normally paint. It was a good exercise and to make things easier for myself I should add a few square flat brushes the next time I paint a cityscape.

My Second painting is the view looking down Octavia street and a partially covered Alcatraz.