Overpass

6x8
Oil/linen panel
Plein air

A view of the skyline of San Diego! Well, if it were not for this overpass pass blocking the view. Though it looks like I was positioned on the road, I was just off to the side. Cars, trucks and buses were zooming by. For whatever reason my love for painting freeways bridges still gets the best of me. More to come for sure! I love painting on clear, bright days because of strong and pronounced shadows. This makes for a stronger composition. This was a beautiful San Diego morning.

Mountain Farm

6x8
Oil/linen panel
Plein air

Green, green and MORE green. Green was a big challenge while painting in Colombia mainly because it's a tropical country. If one isn't careful with green the painting can go south in a hurry (done plenty of those!). The big challenge is to add some variation with temperature and value in order to seperate the greens. In real life, standing in front of this scene with eyes squinted, it pretty much read as one solid dark value with little variation in temperature. Not good for the painting. I didn't do much here with value, but instead wanted to seperate the greens using temperature and chroma.  This is a farm that we visited that belongs to the uncle of my mother-in-law.  He and his wife have lived on this farm for many many years.  No road leads to this place, only a footpath.  Such the serene and tranquil life.....

Pance

6x8
Oil/linen panel
Plein air

Well it's good to begin the new year with a batch of plein air paintings!  And actually I ended 2012 the same way I started 2013, painting outdoors and loving every minute of it. Thank God for vacations!! My wife and I spent 5 awesome weeks in Colombia for Christmas and New Year. We got back to reality (San Diego) last week. Though it's my fourth time in Colombia, this was the first trip that I was able to take my plein air gear. And I'm glad I did! I got a nice dose of inspiration. This first post was painted at a little mountain town called Pance, a popular destination because a river runs through the village and a lot of poeple like to swim and enjoy the cooler temperatures.  By bus, it's about 2 hours outside of Cali, Colombia (where my wife is from). What you don't see in this painting is the bus ride.  We were in a 25 seat bus (all occupied) and an additional 30 people were standing during the trip.  Incredible.  I was one of the unlucky ones standing and I was clutching my plein air gear the entire way up.  But it was all worth it.  This village had a lot of offer as far as things to paint.  I could have spent an entire week there.  More to come!