A couple of weeks ago we went down to Southern California for some vacation time, and to celebrate our daughters birthday. I have several family members in the area so it was a kind of reunion time too, and we were also able to spend a few days over the border in Mexico where my folks now live.
Painting at Moss Point in Laguna
(photo courtesy Thomas Kitts)
(photo courtesy Thomas Kitts)
As it turned out, our daughters birthday fell right in the middle of the Laguna Plein Air Invitational (I knew this ahead of time) so I took the opportunity to bring along my paints and with my family's permission, was able to slip away on several occasions to sketch in Laguna Beach and the Pasadena area where I was born... In fact, I was able to spend time with several artists who were in town for the show, but since I was mainly there for family time, I only brought along a little pochade box and kept my sketches to a small 8x10" size.
Quick Colour Sketch
On Thursday, the LPAPA artists all congregated at Crystal Cove to paint the historic cottages there. I figured it was alright to party crash the event since I knew many of the participants (besides it's a public beach anyway) and it was fun to see everyone and the great work they created there.
Moss Point PM
Moss Point Morning
Trabucco Cloud Patterns
I also went to O'Neil Park -- one of the few remaining places in OC where you can pretend to paint like Hanson Puthuff or Maurice Braun (when no ones looking). Unfortunately, I had just missed the Edgar Payne retrospective show in Pasadena by 2 days, but getting out here gave me plenty of inspiration anyway...
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San Gabriel Mountains
The day before we flew home, I painted with my friend, Tim Solliday -- I credit him with getting me interested in plein air painting when we first met a number of years ago. Tim is a real inspiration and a dedicated painter of the old school style, working directly from life whenever possible. He's the one who told me to do a lot of 'starts' and don't worry about the finishes, they'll come along in time...one of the best pieces of advice on painting I ever received.
Fantastic studies Eric and congrats on the Artist Choice Award you won at the Sonoma Plein Air !
ReplyDeleteI love that pochade box as well. I have been seriously thinking about purchasing one. Any suggestions ?
Oh, your paintings make me miss California even more as the colder months are upon us here in Oregon. Nice "starts" there Eric, although I'd say they are pretty much finished.
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