Plein air lanscape paintings from Santa Barbara and beyond…
This is a bend in the creek on the west fork of Cold Springs Canyon. I loved the patterns and design created by the uplifted geology and the flowing water. I hope you all are finding time to enjoy the wildflowers and pools spring-fed by this winter’s rains.
So many colors to paint out there and so little time! The morning mist was burning off as I made this painting from the top of Eling’s Park. The second was capturing the mustard bloom from the one of my favorite trailheads.
The Botanic Garden meadow is glowing with flowers and humming with bees right now from all of the rains this past year. I’ve had a very large 4-foot-square canvas that I’ve been waiting to paint at some point and the excuse to cover it with saturated oranges and greens was irresistable. This one will fill the wall with a sunlit garden. I took some process photos for fellow artists out there who, like me, enjoy seeing the steps behind the scenes of how the painting was created. Basically I start with big shapes of color and break them up into smaller and smaller shapes.
The Canyon Sunflowers are in full bloom on the edge of the bluffs along More Mesa. The Mustardseeds and Wild Radish flowers are over head-high in places. My daughter’s middle name is Spring. The word has so many great meanings. Nothing beats an early spring morning– the time of beginnings and potential when everything is sprouting and vital and so full of energy and fresh life.
I have so many fond memories from college of laying on my back on the fallen Eucalyptus trees and looking up at the orange spectacle of Monarch Butterflies riding wind currents in and out of the sunlight and shadows. Before the storms came, it was great to see that their numbers were once again on the rise in our area after a couple of really low years. Hopefully they escaped the wet winter in warmer southern climates.
I tend to paint in the places I feel like hanging out and spending some time. Lately that has been up local creeks sitting on boulders and enjoying the sounds of falling water. The first was a small 6×8″ study catching the glowing water in Rattlesnake Canyon a bit off trail. The second was looking towards the mountains from San Ysidro Canyon and enjoying the colors of the afternoon shadows crossing the creek.
Coches is a harbor on the west end of Santa Cruz Island that could awaken the inner pirate in anybody. The tide was low when I visited so I walked out to the point and caught this view looking back towards the sheltered beach. No sailboats were out that day but I had to throw one in thinking about what a timeless place this would be to sail into, pretending you were a lost explorer on an uncharted coast.
The road down to Coches, a crazy drive on a dry hard packed day was a little too risky after the storm so we painted from above. Such incredible beauty with a variety of chaparral greens sprouting amongst the oranges and reds of the iron rich soil. The sun played peek-a-boo with the overcast haze. I finished in time to run down to the beach to explore the point and take a quick swim in the turquoise water. A few large turban and abalone shells rested on an expanse of sand marked only with fox prints…
I was very fortunate to paint this weekend with a fun group of fellow Oak Group artists on Santa Cruz Island. The weather gave us some dramatic light with sun and clouds to interpret and the islands were so beautiful with their crenulated folds and bays and sheer rocky cliffs hovering over turquoise tide pools filled with colorful life. And, of course, the foxes were cute too.
Such a beautiful sight to see the Seven Falls fully flowing and spilling down the mountains again… what a gorgeous green Spring it will be! We are so fortunate to be getting all of these rains this year and to see them quenching the thirsty drought. It’s good to think aboveground about our full reservoirs but also to consider ways we can design watersheds to slow and sink the run-off and fill our aquifers.
Kevin Gleason Art 