Golden Gate Avenue at Dusk

Golden Gate Avenue at Dusk

original oil painting 12x12 SOLD

Plein Air Painting and Beyond

An Exhibit of Eight California Painters

Castilleja School Art Gallery, Palo Alto

I was invited to participate in a show at Castilleja School.  It's an all girls, private school in Palo Alto. The show is titled "Plein Air Painting and Beyond, An Exhibit of Eight California Painters."

The art teacher asked us to write something about our approach to plein air painting.  Here's part of my statement:

Plein Air Painting and Beyond

Plein air painting relies largely on spontaneity and intuitive reaction. An artist must paint quickly outdoors - usually in two hours from start to finish - to capture the light in a scene. There is no better way to learn to see and mix colors than by studying them directly in nature. By standing on a street corner in San Francisco, painting outdoors in natural light and struggling to match colors, the job of mixing colors in the studio for other works becomes infinitely easier. My plein air paintings are generally sketches that can be used as references for future studio compositions.

The painting above was completed in my studio from a photo and a quick study on location.

Studio Gallery, San Francisco

Me and Karen White at Studio Gallery dropping off paintings for "94109" show.

My paintings at Studio Gallery.  Stop by to see the show - it runs through May 11th.

Fort Mason, San Francisco

Fort Mason, San Francisco

original oil painting, 6x6, SOLD

Elliott Fouts Gallery

We've had warm sunny weather this winter, so I've been painting with a friend at Fort Mason. The buildings above are part of the Golden Gate National Park Headquarters.  I believe it was all part of the Presidio - at least the architecture is the same.

The low sun angle and dry weather create more intense colors in the landscape.  The Canary Island Date Palm casts a striking silhouette against the white stucco buildings.

This painting is reminiscent of my Southern California paintings.

19th Ave at Dusk, San Francisco

19th Ave at Dusk

original oil painting, 20x20 SOLD

Elliott Fouts Gallery

Heading South on 19th Avenue near Ulloa Street at dusk.  This area is just outside of the Golden Gate Park.  The Pacific Ocean and Ocean Beach are down the hill on the right.  The sun was setting on the ocean and causing the warm light on the homes and trees on 19th Avenue. 

Chestnut St, San Francisco

Chestnut St, San Francisco

original oil painting 20x20

Viewpoints Gallery
SOLD

I painted recently in San Francisco on the corner of Hyde and Chestnut Streets.  I have painted at this corner before and decided to paint the view looking down Chestnut Street.  The Bay Bridge is in the distance where it crosses Yerba Buena Island.  Across the bay are the hills of Oakland and Berkeley.

The dark shadows in the foreground draw your attention to the San Francisco Bay and the hills in the background.  I tried a different color palette for the hills, viridian green and ultramarine blue.  It does a nice job of pushing the hills back.

6th Street, San Francisco

6th Street, San Francisco

original oil painting, 14x11

SOLD

6th Street is a busy thoroughfare in San Francisco. In the distance is the Golden Gate Theater on Market Street. The Golden Gate Theater opened its doors in 1922 as a vaudeville venue and was restored and reopened in the late 1970s.

The composition was interesting for me, because the buildings on Market Street come in at an angle to 6th Street. The perspective of the buildings was a challenge.

California Street, San Francisco

 

California Street, San Francisco

original oil painting, 8x10

SOLD

 

California Street is over 5 miles long and one of the longest streets in San Francisco. It has a number of important landmarks including the Fairmont Hotel, Mark Hopkins Hotel and Ritz Carlton. The view in my painting is the eastern portion of California Street which runs from Market to Van Ness Avenue.  You can see Polk Street in the foreground and the cable car lines in the street.

 

You may have noticed that I like to paint streetscapes.  It makes for challenging compositions.  Part of the challenge is deciding what architectural elements to paint and what to leave out.  Simplifying the color palette brings harmony to a city scene that can be full of bright garish colors on signs, buildings and cars. 

View of Bay Bridge, San Francisco

View of Bay Bridge, San Francisco

original oil painting, 8x10

SOLD

The Bay Bridge is an impressive site.  You can catch a glimpse of the bridge from many streets in San Francisco.  It's actually a pair of bridges spanning the San Francisco Bay between San Francisco and Oakland.  A western span connects downtown San Francisco to Yerba Buena Island and an eastern span connects the island to Oakland.  It has one of the longest spans in the world, which it feels like when you're driving across it.

My painting shows the Bay Bridge in the distance on a street in San Francisco.  In the foreground, on the left you can see a typical San Francisco building with curved corner windows.  When painting cityscapes it's difficult to decide how much detail to include in the painting.  I simplify the information while trying to suggest a sense of depth and space.  Then I hope to find a balance that works in the painting.

San Francisco Street 4 (in progress)

I'm working on a larger version of the painting I posted last week.  I liked the painting so much, I decided to paint a larger version 16"x20."  I started the painting by laying in the values using transparent red oxide as an underpainting.  I'm about half way done. So far I really like the painting.  It can be a love/hate relationship when I'm working on a painting. We'll see how it comes out when it's finished.  I'll post the finished painting.

San Francisco Street 3

San Francisco Street 3

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

Finally, I'm back to painting after the holidays.  The sun is moving higher in the sky and I'm getting direct sunlight in my studio again. 

The painting above is a street scene with a cable car line.  I don't always know the exact location of my photographs, because I'm often taking pictures as I'm driving around San Francisco in my car.  (I do wait until I'm at a stop sign or stop light.)  I like to include cable cars because they give the paintings a sense of place and they make a nice focal point for my paintings.

Sailboats on the San Francisco Bay

Sailboats on the San Francisco Bay

6x6 original oil painting

SOLD

Sailboats are a common sight near the Golden Gate bridge.  In the summer, SF Bay sailing is interesting because we get winds up to 30 knots. The water around "The Gate" can get very choppy and very dangerous...not a place to hang out at if your sailing skills are not up to par. You also have to worry about huge shipping tankers coming in through the Gate since this is the main shipping channel. Along with the strong winds are the tidal currents of up to several knots.

I had an opportunity to sail in the bay when my brother-in-law, Jeff had a sailboat in the Bay area.  My husband went out with his brother, but I was afraid to sail with two farm boys from Iowa.  Now that I've been painting sailboats I see the beauty in the graceful lines of the sails and the boats skimming across the water.  I'm looking forward to the America's Cup in 2013 in San Francisco.

San Francisco Street 2

San Francisco Street 2

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

Steep rolling hills, a dense eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture and stunning views of the Pacific and Bay, make the roughly seven mile square that is San Francisco, one of the world's most visually interesting cities.

I have long been drawn to street scene compositions. I have always been intrigued by the juxtaposition of the natural and the man-made. I find that the contrast of the tall buildings, and the long shadows that they cast, with the softness and color of the natural elements, like trees and bushes, brings both tension and harmony to the composition.

Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco

Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco

11x14 original oil painting SOLD

The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco was originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in order to exhibit works of art.  Bernard Maybeck designed the Palace of Fine Arts and was inspired by Greek and Roman architecture. The 1100 foot pergola and central rotunda were built around a lagoon which provides a mirrored surface to reflect the grand buildings.

The painting above was painted plein air at the Palace of Fine Arts.  I painted with my friend Camilla, on an unusually sunny day, with clear blue skies.  Capturing the perspective of the corinthian columns was a challenge, as well as the gold color of the rotunda dome.  This 11x14" painting is available framed.

Sailing on the Bay

Sailing on the Bay

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

Race organizers recently announced that the 34th America's Cup race will be held in San Francisco in 2013.  The race will feature multi-hulled, swift catamarans in a shorter race format.  Sailing events will begin in 2012 and the finals will be held in late 2013.

Pier 27 along a stretch of the bay waterfront will be the hub of the America's Cup activity.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing team won the previous America's Cup in 2010 on behalf of San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club, and got to choose the location, timing and types of boats for the next race.

So in the spirit of sailing, I've painted a small sailboat against the sparkling blue background of the bay.

Pacific Heights, San Francisco

Pacific Heights, San Francisco

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

Pacific Heights is located in one of the most scenic settings in Northern California with spectacular views of the San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Bridge and the Presidio. It's an affluent neighborhood characterized by painted Victorians and mansions that were largely built after the 1906 earthquake.

I captured this view on one of those perfect afternoons when the Golden Gate was free of fog and the Marin headlands seemed so close across a glistening bay. I'm sure it was days like this that made Pacific Heights attractive to the builders of these beautiful houses.

Market Street, San Francisco

Market Street, San Francisco

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

 I've always liked to paint architecture.  Josef Woodard of the LA Times described my paintings of Ventura as "townscapes."  Following in that tradition, I've painted a cityscape of San Francisco, looking down Market Street at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero.

I'm attracted to the shapes and colors in architecture and the abstract juxtapositions.  I like the long shadows that tall buildings cast in the city.  With buildings of different heights, the sun can peek through in different areas. 

Cable Car on Hyde Street

Cable Car, San Francisco

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

I feel lucky to live so close to San Francisco.  Over the weekend we went with friends to the ACT Theater to see the play "Scapin".  The evening was warm and when we left the theater at about 10:15 pm, the streets were filled with people.  I was inspired to paint a street scene of San Francisco.

In this view you can see the Hyde Street cable car with Alcatraz and Angel Island in the distance.  It was a clear warm day with views across the bay.