Plein air lanscape paintings from Santa Barbara and beyond…
This is painting paradise for me. It is actually so beautiful it is dangerous… big cliffs and unbelievable views combined. My knee is all skinned up from walking around on wet rocks with my eyes up on the view. The design possibilities are endless here… every few feet I want to start a new canvas.
8×10″ oil on panel– This sweet confluence is up Limekiln creek. I had just enough time to get it blocked in before the rain was falling– an hour later it was sunny again. You can’t beat a redwood grove for mystery and beauty in any weather…
18×36″ oil on linen– Happy Mother’s Day weekend! Can you spot the mom and baby seal who were swimming around like real-life mermaids in China Cove last week? Point Lobos is such an ideal landscape I felt like I was plein air painting in Neverneverland– the windblown pines, the turquoise inlets, the colorful plants clinging to the rocky cliffs… I love it. 
Garrapata Dawn– 8×16″ oil on panel– This was painted on a lovely Big Sur morning. This is by far one of the prettiest parts of the planet I’ve ever experienced. 
Late Afternoon Glimmer– 6×8″ oil on panel– This small study of light on the water was painted at Limekiln State Park where I slept in the overflow site, under the bridge at the edge of the sand listening to waves roll in all night and the rain falling at one point.
15×30″ oil on canvas– Not a bad perch for posting up an easel and watching the waves roll onto Garrapata State Beach in Big Sur… I’m curious who the lucky folks are whose homes are on the ledge and who call this place their back yard.
15×30″ Oil on Canvas Panel– Nothing has more beauty and mystery than a deep, fern-filled redwood grove with a playful stream meandering through. Places like this are medicine for the spirit– my breathing slows, my shoulders drop a few notches lower and I feel completely grounded and at peace here. My hope for the trees in these woods is that they all grow to be giants and that after they fall they are slowly and gently returned to rich soil by banana slugs and other beautiful decomposers. 
20×24″ oil on canvas– I pulled off the highway near the a bridge and turned my easel parallel with the wind to paint the evaporating haze over the ocean…
Oil on Canvas 12×24– I had to pull over on my drive south on the Big Sur coastline to paint the early sun warming these cows. One of the cows pointed out to me, “Moo.” Translation: “They’ve got the best grass here… its delicately seasoned with sea salt from the misty ocean breezes.” I meant to try a bite, but was too busy painting. Next time…
16×20″ oil on Canvas– Morning Light on the Carmel Coast
20×24″ Sunrise through the Cypress Grove– oil on canvas
I loved painting the cool, misty light illuminating Point Lobos last week. I think it is one of the most beautiful places anywhere… truly a paradise for artists. I had fun painting with sixty of them as part of the Carmel Plein Air Art Festival.
10×20″ Acrylic and Casein– This is a painter’s paradise… I’ll have to go back with a few miles of canvas some day. 
