Downtown San Jose

These are small color studies painted with gouache in downtown San Jose. It was a warm sunny day spent with some students from the SJSU Animation/Illustration program. The first painting is the Center for the Performing Arts. Below is SJ Museum of Art.

20 Minute Figure Studies

20 minute figure studies painted with gouache.

Alum Rock Park, SJ

Wednesdays plein air outing at Alum Rock Park with a few SJSU A/I students. It was my first time visiting and painting in this beautiful park and I will definitely be back to explore the many other areas this park has to offer. We met in the very back parking lot and walked up the trail that follows the creek for about 15 minutes or so until we came to this bend. Since it is summer and dry, most of us set up down in the creek. I would love to go back to this spot during in the winter and see the creek flowing with water.

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.

Summer in Honolulu

These are my three gouache studies from my summer vacation in Honolulu with my family. I wanted to do more paintings while on O'ahu, but my two boys a 4.5 year old and 15 months had different ideas like going to the beach and me being the lifeguard.

The first two are painted from the Moana Surfrider Hotel in Waikiki a little before sunset and a nocturne around midnight. The second painting is at the tide pools just north of Sandy's beach.

A Centuty of Landscapes: Selections from the California Art Club

A Centuty of Landscapes: Selections from the California Art Club, San Francisco chapter has it's openning reception with the artist on July 14th. A small plein air painting of mine the Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park was accepted to the show. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend the reception as I am on a family vacation in Hawai'i. I did bring my gouache kit with me, so I hope to have some paintings of Oahu to post when I get back to the Bay Area.

Palomarin Trail

Yesterday's plein air painting on the Palomarin trail in Marin County.