Giant Dipper, Santa Cruz

Giant Dipper, Santa Cruz

original oil painting, 12x12 SOLD

Elliott Fouts Gallery

This is my fourth painting of the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is advertised everywhere during the summer in the Bay Area and it's a fun subject to paint.

The Giant Dipper above is a red and white, 1920s wooden roller coaster. It's a fan favorite, located on the beach with an unobstructed view of the ocean. 

I always look for some bold colors to make a strong composition. However, an amusement park has too much bright color and too much stuff. So I have to make decisions about toning down the color, harmonizing the color and simplifying the shapes. To suggest the atmospheric conditions of fog at the beach, in the background I added a little pink, yellow and pale blue color to the sky. Overall, I try to paint the shapes of color as I see them with tonal variations to suggest depth.  

Sea Swings at the Boardwalk, Santa Cruz

Sea Swings at the Boardwalk, Santa Cruz

original oil painting, 6x6, $175

Elliott Fouts Gallery

The Beach Boardwalk is only open on weekends until the end of March, then it's open daily.  The Sea Swings extend out high over the beach with the Monterey Bay below.

West Cliff View, Santa Cruz

West Cliff View, Santa Cruz

original oil painting, 20x20, $950

Elliott Fouts Gallery

 

A view from West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz. Near the center of the painting are steps down to the beach to an area surfers call Steamer Lane. The Beach Boardwalk is in the distance.

 

I'm very excited to have a new gallery, Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento!  Stop by the beautiful gallery space to see 11 of my paintings.

Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz

Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz

original oil painting, 8x10
SOLD

I was painting in Santa Cruz the other day, on West Cliff Drive near the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum and lighthouse.  I chose another view but took a photo of Steamer Lane, a famous surfing spot in Santa Cruz.  Steamer Lane has consistent surf and two distinct beautiful waves, add to that a warm, sunny day and there were plenty of surfers in the water.

I chose this composition because of the cast shadows on the cliffs created by the angle of the sun. It is a long drop down from the cliffs to the ocean where the rocky bottom contrasts with the shallow greenish water.   

View of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz

View of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz

original oil painting, 8x10
SOLD

The ocean in Santa Cruz is part of the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary, some of northern California’s most beautiful shoreline. Along West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz are stunning views of the cliffs and the ocean.
  

I was attracted to this particular scene because of the colorful iceplant in the foreground, contrasting with the jagged cliffs against the ocean.  I've used cerulean blue in the painting, although I've found it tricky to integrate into my oil paintings.  Cerulean is a bold, pure pigment that leans toward azure and is often used in skies and reflections on water. I think it works well in this composition of the coastline on a bright fall day.

Red Van on Opal Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz

Red VW Van, Santa Cruz

original oil painting, 8x10 SOLD

I can't resist painting old Volkswagen vans. I ride my bike past this little yellow house and red van on the weekends on my way to Capitola.  It's at the corner of Opal Cliff Drive and Court Drive in Santa Cruz.  They had this old red van which I really liked, but recently they got a newer red van.  Luckily I got a photo with the old van on a day with wispy cloud formations in the sky.

  

Beach Street, Santa Cruz

Beach Street, Santa Cruz

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

As you're walking along Beach Street in Santa Cruz, to the right is the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, the Wharf and the Pacific Ocean.  On the left is the street scene above.  Beach Street is lined with surf shops, bikini shops, restaurants and all things related to surfing.

Surfer Girls

Surfer Girls

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

During a recent trip to Santa Cruz, I watched the local school kids compete in an Interscholastic Surfing Federation competition.  The boys were out in the water and the girls were on the beach, waiting for their heat. When the horn blared, signaling the end of the heat, the boys came in and the girls paddled out. It's great to see so many young girls surfing.

This painting makes me think of another surfer girl, my friend Alicia.  Alicia and I spent two years surfing together at Mondos in Ventura.  We went out a couple of times a week, encouraged each other and learned to surf.

During the winter when the waves got big and the ocean was a churning mess of white water, Alicia had a rule: three and out.  Paddle out, catch three waves and get out.  You'd be amazed at how much energy and strength it takes to paddle out through the white water and stay in position to catch a wave without getting swept down the coast with the current.  My admiration and respect goes out to all surfer girls.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

8x10 original oil painting
SOLD

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is located on the ocean with views of Monterey Bay.

A couple of years ago I painted plein air at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with a friend, Kathy Ellis. It was a beautiful sunny fall day, and all of the rides were closed.  We were the only two people around, except for a few staff members.  It was a challenging place to paint with all of the bright colors and architectural structures.

I've wanted to paint the Boardwalk again.  My painting shows a busy day at the park with the entrance to the world famous Giant Dipper roller coaster in the background.

Capitola Beach

Capitola Beach 2

8x10, original oil painting

The end of summer brings warm, sunny weather to the California Coast.  Sometimes September and October are the hottest months of the year, but the days are shorter and the sun shifts lower in the sky, bringing more dramatic shadows along with it.

Capitola Beach is located along the Monterey Bay, just South of Santa Cruz.  The town hugs the coastline with shops and Spanish-style homes that date back to the 1920s.

My painting shows Capitola Beach on a warm, sunny weekend, when everyone was at the beach.

VW Van, Santa Cruz

VW Van, Santa Cruz

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

As unusual as it may seem, a VW van in front of a Victorian house is a common image in beach communities of California.  The Pacific Ocean seems to attract these classic vehicles.  For five decades they've been hauling surfers and their gear to the beach.  Just as the shoreline attracts people today, much of the Victorian building boom occurred in coastal communities in the early 1900s.

I was attracted to this yellow house on Broadway Street by the queen palm tree. The queen palm is ubiquitous in California beach communities from Southern California to Santa Cruz, but rare on the Peninsula. It's a soft flowing graceful palm tree, whose undulations in the wind, seem to mimic the surf nearby.

Summer at the Beach, Santa Cruz

Summer at the Beach, Santa Cruz

6"x8" original oil painting

SOLD

On the weekends my husband and I go to the beach in Santa Cruz.  While Craig surfs, I paint, draw, photograph and watch the surfers.  We go to the Hook, off 41st Avenue, near Capitola.

In the winter, the surf gets big and powerful, but in the summer the surf is usually small and glassy.  The steep cliffs lead down to the beach, where the summer sunbathers hang out.  This painting is the view from the cliff, overlooking the beach.