Aloes Blooming with a View of Santa Cruz Island

"Aloes Blooming with a View of Santa Cruz Island", 8 1/2" x 11", Watercolor. Copyright 2014.

These orange and red colored aloes are found blooming along sunny slopes along the California coast.  You will see patches of this firecracker red scattered along the Santa Barbara bluffs. I spent a few weeks observing these aloe. I wanted to paint this piece required waiting for the aloe flowers to get to he right height and vibrancy before the painting was ready to start. If I were to wait to long the pollinators would have turned these flowers into seeds and then the colors would be lost.  The painting was started plein air but finished in my studio.  Enjoy!

"Love is the flower you've got to let grow."--- John Lennon

Sunset on Inspiration Point

"Sunset on Inspiration Point" 8 1/2" x 11". Watercolor. 2014.

"I dream of painting then I paint my dream."---Vincent Van Gogh

This painting was inspired by a hiking trip to the top of Inspiration Point in Santa Barbara. The sky turned a magnificent purple and pink as the sun sank into the ocean. I hope you are inspired as much as I was by this wonderful collection of colors.  

Sunrise in the Mesa

"Sunrise in the Mesa"8 1/2" x 11". Watercolor. 2014.

This is my first sunrise painting. I keep thinking about how many people (including myself) miss out on the west coast sunrise, only really admiring the sunset over the water. Here is a first of a series of landscapes I plan on doing in honor of this beauty of the golden light over the water.

Nature sketching beach walk.

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks "---John Muir

Objective:

To travel lightly and be open to nature sketching and try out some gesture sketches in my field notebook. To leave technology behind and rely just on my own field journal to record what I found. 

Observations:

My walk started on May 2, 2014 at twelve noon down the steep steps at Mesa Lane in Santa Barbara California. With the high noon sun straight above me I was prepared to hike a coastal hike with only my backpack full of the very basics, a bag of sharpened prismacolor pencils, my 5x8 inch blank paged sketch book, a mechanical pencil, a few hardness of the graphite pencil, sturdy walking shoes on my feet, a few trail bars a water bottle and my sunscreen. 

Within a few steps of the beach I found some mussel shells, beautiful and blue, and wanted to capture the color of the shell and the sand. Plopped down next to the mussel was a live sea snail still holding onto some brown kelp. I tossed the live animal back in the ocean, then carried the mussel shells down the beach to the perfect spot to sit and sketch.

I heard that the days you leave your camera and phone and ipod behind are the times when the most wildlife appears...that was true again for me today as I saw several whales cruising by spouting from the shore. Migrating north to Alaska for the summer. A couple groups of common dolphin pods cruising the opposite direction. People were walking along the shore oblivious to the faint spouting out in the ocean while walking their dogs and chatting with friends.  How much do we miss when we are caught up in the daily life of computers and cell phones and schedules. 

I plopped down again near the whales to observe them for a bit and took the time to do a series of gesture sketches of sea birds and humans as well. Not worrying about what the images look like but to get a feel for the movement of the people and the animals. 

An interesting harbor seal that couldn't get enough of the paddle boarders splashing in the water, and endless dog walkers and beach lovers out to enjoy the sunny day. I spent some time observing a beautiful mussel shell I saw sitting in the tide and took some time to take in the joggers and my attempt at getting a good enough bird observation without binoculars or a guide book. I am not sure if the tiny shorebirds I found were plover or sandpiper but there was definitely flocks of curlew cruising by.

This walk made me realize how much sea bird identification is a mystery to me.  I came home with my sketches realizing I needed to add much more detail in the birds to get a proper identification.  Was it a plover or a sandpiper? I plan on spending much more time in the field with my sketch book. What a great way to celebrate this planet we live on.   

Species List:
grey whales, common dolphin, a harbor seal, curlew, brown pelican, mussel shell, lobster molt, sea snail species, shore birds possibly plover or sandpiper, tern species, many other shore birds...

Drawings and Sketches:

Gulls at the beach.

I decided to try and paint one more landscape before the weather changed.  I packed up my paints and gear in my large REI backpack, put on my warm layers and hiked down the stairs to the beach.  The tide was low but the sand was all soaking wet and cold.  I headed out hoping for that trigger to make me sit and spend a few hours of my life painting.  Today I found my eyes wandering less to the view of the beautiful cliffs and ocean waves, but to the group of gulls playing on these rocks near the waters edge.  So I plopped myself down in my thermarest chair, and pulled out my sketchbook.  The gulls were all grouped together at the waters edge, about 30 of them or so, looking out to sea.  A few gulls were closer to me on boulders next to a mossy log that was half buried in the wet sand.

So I sketched these wonderful gulls playing in the water, staring out to sea, realizing that they were taking turns walking up the beach to a freshwater spring that was running off the hillside.  Two by two,  they would walk up to the spring, drink some water, and walk down with the rest of the flock. 

After completing some rough sketches of the gulls, my drawing came to a hault, when two youg girls came running by and decided to chase them away from the very spot I was about to paint them.  However due to my sketches and positioning of the gulls, I was able to finish my painting with no worries.  And here is my watercolor of the gulls at the beach.

Gulls at the Beach. 8 1/2 " x 11". Watercolor.

Cormorant on a Eucalyptus

Today I checked the tide and realized that the beach would be a great place to paint.  I packed up my watercolors, brushes, paper, pencils, water bottle, cup and granola bars and headed down the steps at Mesa Lane.  The tide was low and the sand was wet, but perfect colors for a painting.  I looked around to see which direction I would head and there bathing in the sun was this beautiful cormorant.  I couldn't take my eyes of this beautiful bird!  So I plopped down and started sketching...wings out, head down, look left look right...the cormorant was moving and drying in sun.

After I felt I got the best sketches of the flying birds, I began some other sketches of the fallen eucalyptus this cormorant was perched on, and the other fallen tree and rocks around it.

After sketching out the preliminary drawing on my watercolor paper, I began painting the sky and then worked on the farthest point of the horizon. Then I worked my way closer and closer until I was working on the fallen log in the lower right hand corner. All in a great day painting with a cormorant at the beach.

Cormorant on Eucalyptus. 8 1/2 x 11. Watercolor. 

Lake Los Carneros

Another day, another painting.  I woke up Saturday morning and drove myself over to Lake Los Carneros.  The air was very thin and when I arrived there was a beautiful reflection in the water.  Unfortunately by the time I got to painting the water the reflection had passed.  I definitely used alot of purple, which always makes me happy. Another beautiful day in Southern California.

Lake Los Carneros. 8 1/2" x 11". Watercolor.

East Beach Landscape

Here I am attempting a landscape at East Beach in Santa Barbara on September 24, 2011.  The weather was nice and I decided to attempt my first painting from this location.  I plopped myself down in my comfortable cray creek chair and sketched out the view onto my watercolor paper in my travel field journal.  I then spent the next 3 hours painting this view of the beach.
I hope you enjoy this landscape as much as i did painting it!

East Beach. 8" 1/2 x 11". Watercolor.