Sedona day 4 pm, and final day of painting the Red Rock Country

Slide rock creek

Vista from the condo

Sedona's Teapot

Well I am posting the last of the paintings completed in Plein Air, in the beautiful Red Rocks of Sedona, AZ. It was hard to leave, as I had got quite content with getting up and going out on another adventure of painting both in the morning and afternoon. I painted "Sedona's Teapot" Thursday evening up at the Airport vista area. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was setting, and lighting up the rocks in one final glorious view of the valley. I did this one quite quickly as the light was changing so fast.

On Friday, Lilli and I drove up Oak Creek Canyon, to the Slide Rock State Park, where the Oak Creek runs through the rocks and creates a fabulous slide with the fast running water. There are also beautiful deep pools where the water settles before it runs some more down the creek. It is a beautiful area, and because I am working on painting running water I perched on a spot next to the river and painted this painting. I choose to paint the section of the river before it creates the slide in the rocks. Slide Rock Park is truly a gorgeous spot, and a must see, if ever in Sedona and the Oak Creek area.

Sedona Vista, #4 - Wed. AM & Thursday Afternoon

On Wednesday in the morning, the light on these distant rock formations was so very beautiful. I was standing in a field that was adjacent to our time share. The weather was predicted to get bad, but I wanted to get one painting in, before the clouds rolled in about noon. And roll in they did, I had just enough time to finish this painting when the black clouds rolled in and the wind and cold weather set in for the rest of the day. In fact that evening, there were snow flurries, that too was a fun experience.

Thursday morning, the ski had cleared and it was a cold, but beautiful day. My good friend Lilli and come to spend the remainder of the week with us, and she and I drove up to Flagstaff in the morning to see if there were any fall colors there, especially the Aspens near San Francisco Peak. But it was not meant to be, as when we got there, all of the leaves had dropped the night before with the storm. The drive up and back was nevertheless beautiful, and time was not wasted. That afternoon, we drove a little ways down the Red Rock Loop, and stopped at a beautiful by the side of the road, with views of Cathedral Rock in the distance. While painting there, another painter from San Jose joined me, and started painting the same view, in acrylic, on a large canvas. It was a great afternoon of painting.

Sedona - day three

Tuesday morning, the weather started to change. It was predicted to be colder, with the following day, the coldest and possible snow. I found a nice place that I could park my car, and paint out of the back of the car, with the car breaking the path of the wind which was getting stronger as it got later in the morning. Anyway, this painting flowed nicely and I was able to finish it, just in time, before the darkest clouds showed up, and the wind began blowing in earnest. All in all, this painting came out fine, in fact it is one of my favorites from the week. Sedona vista, 11x14 plein air pastel.

A week of plein air painting in Sedona, AZ

"Sedona Evening Shadows"

"Red Rock Crossing vista"

"Fall colors at Cathedral Rock"

From 10/26 to 10/30/09 I spent five wonderful days painting in plein air, in the beautiful Red Rock Country, of Sedona, AZ. It was so inspiring, and everywhere I looked, there was a painting waiting to happen. My husband and I stayed in a great time share, Sedona Summit which was located right off the Red Rock loop, so close to every scene waiting to be captured. To make this week more exciting, this was also the week for the Sedona Plein Air Festival, so from time to time, I was joined with other painters painting the same locations. It was fun when the public would come by to watch me paint, and ask about the festival, and I would say, "I'm a plein air painter, but not one of "the, plein air painters" . The weather in the most part was great, all but one day, when we had a few snow flurries, the other days were sunny most of the mornings, and some of the afternoon. The light in Sedona is absolutely magical, especially in the late afternoon. The three painting posted were done the first day, and one the evening we arrived("Sedona evening vista"). The other two paintings were done at Red Rock Crossing, which is a beautiful State Park, with wonderful views of Cathedral Rock, and the and Oak Creek. I painted nine paintings in the 5 days we were there, so watch this blog for more postings of my adventures in plein air in the Red Rocks of Sedona.

Art for Heaven's Sake - "A quiet moment of the show"

This weekend, I had a booth at the wonderful event, Art, For Heaven's Sake . This was the 30th anniversary of this successful and fun event. the Redlands United Church of Christ is the host of this event, and they use the money earned from this, for many worthy causes. There were more than 60 artists exhibiting their work. During the show, I decided to paint the view from my booth. The only difference from this view, is that there were usually much more people walking through the booth area, but I decided to make it a quiet moment, rather than a crowd of people. This is my 12x12 plein air pastel, "A quiet moment at the show".

Morning Shadows at the National Cemetery

This weekend, I painted at the National Cemetery, in Riverside CA. The Plein Air Artists of Riverside has been invited to paint there for three weekends, and then on Veteran's day, there will be an unveiling of the paintings at the administration building. The paintings will be on display at the Cemetery until June of 2010. I must say, I did not know what to expect with painting there, but I was so pleasantly surprised by the beautiful scenery that was available to paint. Because I was challenged by my Mentor, Albert Handell to paint running water, I decided to try this beautiful little waterfall that is at the entrance to the Cemetery. The fog had been quite heavy at the start, but it started to come out, and the shadows and the beautiful waterfall into the pond, was so beautiful. This is a 12x12 plein air Pastel on Pastelbord.

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve

Yesterday I went to paint at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, which is south of Del Mar, CA. It was such a lovely day, and beautiful surroundings, painting with me were two artists friends, Terry d Chacon and Rita Pacheco. We hiked down to a view point to see this vista of La Jolla in the distance. The weather could not have been more perfect, not to cold or to hot. We all completed a painting of the vista, and then hiked back up to the parking lot. Terry and I decided to paint another painting from the top trail near the parking lot. The sun was going to set in an hour and a half, so we both had to work fast. I completed the other two paintings in this time period, one little 5x7 of the famous Torrey Pines, and the other painting, an 8x10 view of the trail, with the shadows of the setting sun. All in all a good day to paint and enjoy nice friendships.

Terry and Evelyn Paint the Zanja

This morning, a group of painters and I, meet at one of the advertised sites to paint the Zanja. This is on Walnut Street, in a beautiful back road, that runs through orange groves, and has beautiful vistas, of the mountains. Also in this area, there are about four bridges that cross over the Zanja, which is the theme of our painting event, "Along the Banks of the Zanja". This view is looking towards one of the stone bridges that is completely covered by ivy. There was a little trickle of water in the Zanja, and it was quite interesting with it's reflections of the greenery that surround it. Terry d Chacon and Evelyn Ifft were painting on the bridge, so I put them in for interest. The day was a beautiful day, with cool weather, and nice company of artists. No better way to spend the day.

Painting the Zanja - Sylvan Park

"Along the Banks of the Zanja" is the theme of the Third Annual Open Air for Open Spaces paint out. This wonderful event is a teamwork effort with Redlands Art Association and the Redlands Conservancy. Artists will paint in 8 locations where the historic Zanja remains in relatively pristine conditions. This painting was completed last Wed. in Sylvan Park, where the Zanja runs through this section of the park. There are about four bridges crossing the Zanja, and on this morning, the light was quite interesting, just hitting a few highlighted areas, and the edge of this large palm and the top of the bridge.
"Painting the Zanja - Sylvan Park" is a 11x14 plein air pastel, on pastelbord.

Early Gala arrivals

On Sunday, 9/27/09 we (Plein Air Artists of Riverside) were invited to paint during the Riverside Restaurant Week Gala, at the Municipal Auditorium. There were three of us artists, Terry d Chacon, Luz Perez and myself, who responded to the call. The Gala was a fundraiser put on by the greater downtown fine dining Restaurants, in support of the Arts commission of Riverside. A great event to support, and a very nice crowd appeared. The guests seemed to enjoy themselves despite the heat of the evening. The evening started about 4:30 pm, and the light on the outside terrace was just beautiful, so Terry and I stayed out there to paint. I loved how the light was hitting the white chef's hat and his white coat, on the far corner of the terrace, so I decided to paint this scene as it was what first caught my eye. This subject matter is not something I do very often so I was a little nervous by this undertaking, but I was determined to enjoy the moment. As a few of the guests started to come in, I quickly sketched gesture like images of a few of them, as the party started to evolve. I had first painted the chef before the gates opened. Soon there were so many guests, I was not able to continue putting any more people, as it might become confusing, so I decided to keep it simple. This type of scene is very much not what I paint, but all in all I was pleased with the outcome. I was further complemented by one of the guests, who purchased this painting. The greatest honor of being an artist, is to have someone buy the painting, I am honored by his purchase. I must say the event was truly a fun event, and the band that was playing on the terrace was fabulous, they were the Seventh Avenue Band. Terry, Luz and I all stayed until the end, listening to the music, and enjoying the evening.

Final day painting Avalon

The night painting was done Wednesday night after painting up on the hill overlooking the bay. I truly enjoyed the night painting here as the lights on the water and everywhere seemed to shine and glisten. This view was from the beach looking at the Busy Bee restaurant. The last day we painted a view on the other side of the Casino in the morning, and in the afternoon before packing up, I painted this view of the pier from a nice umbrella on the beach. I enjoyed painting the pier on this long paper, (6x18) as it seems to go with this scene. We had a late lunch and then after packing up, we were off to the dock to board the Catalina Express back home. A wonderful time with great artists friends, and a nice time painting, painting, and more painting. I look forward to next year. Truly inspiring.

Day two in Catalina

On the second day of our Catalina painting trip, we got up early had breakfast, and headed out to paint. We went down the walkway along the beach towards the casino, and pass the Yacht Club, I turned around and started painting the atmospheric view with the Yacht Club in the view. Shortly after I started painting, the clouds started to lift, and the blue ski started peaking through at the top of the hills. It was quite magical, and I hope I achieved it. It was now about 11 am, so we stoped by the local Vons and picked up deli sandwiches and came down to get a taxi to take us up to the vista point, overlooking Avalon, on Mt. Ada. When we got there I noticed a nice park like area, we could walk into with views of Avalon on one side and another bay on the other side. Also up in this area was a large grove of Eucalyptus trees of various types and ages. It was such a beautiful location, I had a hard time deciding what to paint. I finally settled on the view of the Casino looking through a grouping of Eucalyptus trees. When I finished, I went to check on what Terry and Joan had done, and found that Terry was finished with her lovely painting of Avalon bay, and Joan was finishing her painting. I turned around and did a quick painting of one of the trees in view from where I was standing. I do want to come back and paint this location, and we all decided it will be more beautiful even later in the afternoon. That evening we painted night scenes again.

Painting Avelon, Catalina Island

Last week my 5 of my artists friends and I traveled to Avelon, on Catalina Island, for three days of painting. We arrived about 1:30 pm, and after we checked into our hotel and had a late lunch, we all walked about to start painting. We settled on a nice location with vistas of the casino and of course all the boats in the harbor. I started to paint the view of the Casino, but found that it was not working for me. I rubbed it out, and made this quick painting of the boats not to far from our view. There was someone fishing in their small boat while their friend watched, from another little boat.

Later that evening we went out, and painted the lights of Avelon. I choose the lights on the pier. The glow from the teal green contrasted with the red from the boats was magical. We had little lights we hooked to our easles. I must say we also atraceted quite the audiance, as folks are accustomed to seeing plein air painters in Avelon, but I guess not to many paint at night. I had not done this before, but found the experience allot of fun.

Laguna Beach Morning

Yesterday on a whim, my friend and I Terry d Chacon decided to take a quick morning trip to the beach to paint at least one painting, and get back home before the afternoon traffic. Because we did not have much time, we set up on a high bank on the far end of Heisler Park in Laguna Beach. We had painted this same peninsula a few weeks ago, but from the other side in the afternoon. The weather was perfect and we quickly got busy painting. The flowers in the foreground framed the view nicely, and the weather was perfect. We finished in about 1 1/2 hours (about all the quarters we had for the parking meter), and got back in the car and headed back home. It is interesting to paint the same subject from different views. This pastel is a 6x18 painting on Wallis paper with watercolor underpainting.

WAOW announces its inaugural online show and Sale

"Women Revealed: WAOW Showcases Their World" August 1st - September 30th, 2009.
A wonderful organization I am proud to be a part of, is having their first online show and sale. I am proud to have two paintings in the exhibit, so check it out. A beautiful show and sale.