Monday, April 21, 2014

Watercolor with California Watercolor Association: Baker Beach

This is a watercolor I made on April 19, plein air on Baker Beach. The day started Sunny and beautiful, I walked around to find the spot where I wanted to paint from. There were four other artists from the California Watercolor Association who attended this paint out as well.

I finally decided to paint the view from top of the hill, where Juanita was standing. A little breeze started, and it got worse over the next hours, finally at about 5 pm, I had to give up because the wind broke my tripod setting! I rushed home to put the final touches on the painting, while I still remembered the colors. This was the very first plein air painting that I was not able to completely finish on the site.

While I was painting, at one point I heard a group of young girls and then suddenly there was silence, I looked back and saw four girls ages sixteenish, with their "hello kitty" phones, getting a film of me painting in the wind, with my hat flapping wildly and me trying to stabilize the panel with one hand while I painted with the other! I hope I did not look totally hilarious!

Anyways, here is the painting: It is 23 x 12 inches on Arches 300 lbs rough surface.