"Bixby Bridge Big Sur" (oil on linen, 8" x 10") sold

 

sold

The famous view of the Bixby Bridge at Big Sur, California. Completed in 1932, the concrete span, one of the highest bridges of its kind in the world, soars 260 feet above the bottom of a steep canyon carved by Bixby Creek. I love Big Sur!

"Bixby Creek Bridge, Big Sur" (watercolor on paper; 9" x 12") sold

sold

I love Big Sur, California. Ocher and green hills, intense blues of the ocean, colorful wildflowers, the Bixby Creek Bridge, and so on. I visited it this summer, this time under sad circumstances. The coastal paradise was as beautiful as ever.

"Watercolor from Start to Finish": I Am Teaching Watercolor at The Art League School!

Week 1: Introduction and Painting Donuts!
"Donut Bliss" (watercolor, 7" x 10")
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My dear friend Alice Kale, who teaches watercolor, has been pestering me to do the same for some time, and I finally surrendered to her persuasion. I took over another teacher's slot at The Art League School in Alexandria, VA. It is a six-week-long intensive introduction to watercolor, called "Watercolor from Start to Finish". An enthusiastic class of 18 has been meeting every Saturday from 9:30 to 12:30 for watercolor fun. At this point, we have just one more class to go. And what fun has it been!. This is indeed the beginning of a new chapter in my art career, as I will continue to teach as a regular staff at The Art League School from now on!

The first week I brought donuts to the class, since I thought their simple shapes and fun associations would encourage the beginners (minus two who are experienced watercolorists) to dive into watercolor without fear. And I was right. Some students ate donuts first and painted them from photos!

Week 2: Fruits and Vegetables
"Carrot Bunch" (watercolor, 9" x 12")

Drawing and painting from life is an invaluable training whether the subject is humble everyday things, or a figure. So carrying on the theme of still life of donuts of the first week, the students were asked to bring some fruits and vegetables of their choice for the second class. Several brought a bagful of produce; I love this class! Shapes got a little more complicated, but we are not so worried about drawing for now. (To those who want to improve their drawing skills, I recommend Bert Dodson's Keys to Drawing.) Instead we are focusing on the importance of values, edges and color temperatures in a painting.

Week 3: Landscapes
"Bixby Creek Bridge, Big Sur" (9" x 12")
sold

Week 4: More Landscapes
"Yaquina Head Lighthouse Sunset" (watercolor and gouache, 9" x 12")
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For the next two weeks, we painted landscapes. I did a demo of gradated/varigated washes and the students were let loose to work with the photos they brought, while getting accustomed to the watercolor terms such as washes, glazes, wet on wet/wet on dry, dry brush, etc. Landscape painting can get overwhelming with so many elements to deal with, so I emphasized that the class should look out for big shapes first. If one breaks down a picture into big shapes, there are usually only three to five. That's not so hard, is it? But landscapes often involve leaf/grass textures; boy, many went astray with them. It's been 23 years since I started painting watercolors and the memories of the excitement and frustrations are all coming back!

Week 5: Animals
"Emperor Penguin Love" (watercolor, 8" x 6")
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Changing gears, we painted animals this week. What fun it was! Several painted their dogs; many others painted colorful birds. It all comes down to this: paint what you know well and hold dear. And it showed. I am definitely keeping the subject of animals as part of my curriculum.

Week 6: Flowers
"Red, White and Blue" (watercolor, 7.5" x 10.5")
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One more week to go. Next week we will be painting flowers. We actually took a vote on this; between flowers, portraits, buildings, flowers won. But I let the class know they can paint whatever they choose for the final week. It's going to be fun and challenging no matter which!

Week 6: My awesome class intently painting flowers

Collage of My March Paintings

Collage of My March Paintings

March is almost over!  What a month it has been!  A snow storm after a snow storm. Yesterday we had an all-day-long snow/hail/sleet/rain "deluge", which caught weather forecasters by surprise and caused a major leak in my storeroom.  I am fervently hoping that I saw the last of the snowflakes for the season.

You may have noticed that I painted only nine paintings during a 31-day month.  Why? My artistic enthusiasm has been flagging.  I had to dig deeper and deeper into my old photo files to look for painting inspirations.  It has been a drag.

But no more.  The long-overdue spring has finally sprung!  My garden is about to burst with spring flowers.  Here are some I caught this sunny morning.

White daffodils

Miniature daffodils being watched over by a pig statue!

Crocuses and snowdrops

Hyacinths buds

Goodbye, winter.  Hello, spring!

"Big Sur Blue" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 16")

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I don't know why, but whenever I think of the color blue, Big Sur, CA is the first thing that pops into my mind.  As I wanted to paint a "blue" painting, Big Sur is what I came up with.  Although I visited this beautiful place only once, I still dream of the intense blues of the Pacific Ocean from Big Sur! Obviously, I am not the only person who loves Big Sur.  All the previous paintings have been sold!

"Big Sur Wildflowers" (oil, 10" x 8"; sold)

"Big Sur Moment" (oil, 11" x 14"; sold)

"Big Sur Blue" (oil, 5" x 4"; sold)

"Big Sur Widflowers" (oil on linen; 10" x 8") sold

sold

Some places are so beautiful that they beg to be painted over and over again.  Big Sur, California is one of those places.  I visited Big Sur just once several years ago, but am still haunted by the memory.

"Big Sur Moment" (oil, 11" x 14"; sold)

"Big Sur Blue" (oil, 5" x 4"; sold)

By the way, today is the first day of Leslie Saeta's September 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.  I will try to keep up with the challenge!

"Big Sur Moment" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

sold

Reference photo

As I wrote yesterday, I started a new series called "California Colors."  All the paintings of the series will be based on the pictures I took five years ago during a family vacation to northern and central California.  The occasion for this two-week vacation was a family wedding.  A nephew of my husband got married at a Napa vineyard!  It was the kind of a beautiful wedding you see in movies.  A lucky boy!  He and his wife now have two adorable kids and live in San Francisco.  A lucky couple! 

I had been to the city, but not to the rest of my favorite state.  So we made a vacation out of a wedding.  Why not?  Do you know what happened later in that summer?  A younger brother of the groom decided to get married six weeks after the said wedding, instead of waiting for a couple of years as he and his fiance had promised to the family.  The year of 2007 thus became the year of family weddings.  We made the two remaining boys swear that they would never ever get married in the same summer! 

The second wedding took place in Minnesota, my husband's home state.  We love Minnesota, but Minnesota is not California.  Besides, we were burned out of vacations.  We took just a few more days off in addition to the necessary time, in order to visit with relatives.  The trip didn't result in as many glorious pictures as the California one either.

We had only a day for Big Sur toward the end of our trip, which was a shame.  How can you explore this spectacular spot on earth in one day?  We made a lot of stops to take pictures, that's all.  But I still  dream of the incredible blues of Big Sur.