Monday, March 28

We will try again! Aquatic Park is located at the intersection of Addison and 2nd Street. Take the University exit off 80. As you come off the overpass, get off at 6th street. Make a right on 6th Street and another right at Addison. Continue past the train tracks onto 2nd Street.  Park on the street.

Saturday, March 26

This session has been cancelled. We will not meet at Berkeley's Aquatic Park this Saturday, but we'll try again next week. Stay tuned!

Toxic Art Materials

I saw an article today in the East Bay Express about toxic art materials. Its a good article and a good reminder about health hazards. There is a photo of Rebeca in her studio.

Larry

Monday, March 21

The session at Berkeley's Aquatic Park was cancelled. We will try again next week. Aquatic Park is located at the intersection of Addison and 2nd Street. Take the University exit off 80. As you come off the overpass, get off at 6th street. Make a right on 6th Street and another right at Addison. Continue past the train tracks onto 2nd Street.  Park on the street.

Saturday, March 19

This session has been cancelled because of the sudden showers we are likely to experience this Saturday. It does not look like the weather will cooperate. We will try again next week, at the corner of 8th and Camellia streets in Berkeley.

Julie at the Hoffman Marsh

We were lucky it did not get drizzly until after our three hours were up. Julie was right in front of me and we did not have that much space.  The grassy area between Rydin St. and the marsh is not that wide. Everything was wet.

Julie paints with another outdoor painting group and joins us occasionally. She was working on a wonderful painting of the marsh itself that included the Central Ave highway 80 overpass in the background.

This is a 20 x 16" acrylic on canvas. I used a lot of matte gel for the green grass and the sky, and kept changing the marsh behind the eucalyptus trees. I may continue to revise this painting. I usually line up three or four paintings and revise them simultaneously.

Monday, March 15

We will be painting at the Hoffman Marsh. This is the marsh that lies between the popular Point Isabel dog park and highway 580. The marsh is a delta for a creek that leads to San Francisco Bay, and it is one of only a handful of undestroyed wetlands in the Bay Area. Says wikipedia that "there is currently a controversial proposal to add a 98,000 sq. ft.Kohl's department store on a site between Costco and the marsh. Many residents are worried about potential negative effects that increased nighttime lighting that will have on endangered birds. The Richmond Annex Neighborhood Council has officially opposed the project."

Directions: Please note that the entire marsh appears as part of the bay on Google Maps. That is, under water. Don't panic. From highway 80, take the Central Ave exit and turn west towards the bay on Central. Pass the entrance to highway 580 to your right, cross over 580, and turn right immediately after, on Rydin Rd. We will not be meeting at the end of Rydin Ave where the side entrance to Point Isabel includes a parking lot. We'll meet instead at the corner of Central and Rydin. Park along Rydin (they have never given tickets) until you're sure of where you'll be painting, then you can relocate your car to a more permanent spot. There are bathrooms and water by the Point Izzie parking lot.

Saturday, March 12

We are canceling this painting session because neither of the two coordinators can be there this Saturday. We apologize and hope you will be able to join us this Monday at the Hoffman Marsh.

View of the Bay

I painted this watercolor and ink some time ago during one of my first outings with the group. It is a long composition: 5 1/4" x 14 1/2" I gazed out at her beauty and painted quickly, basking in her azure-lavender, always changing loveliness, San Francisco's eloquence. 
Curtis Burbick

Monday, March 7

We will be painting at the Hoffman Marsh. This is the marsh that lies between the popular Point Isabel dog park and highway 580. The marsh is a delta for a creek that leads to San Francisco Bay, and it is one of only a handful of undestroyed wetlands in the Bay Area. Says wikipedia that "there is currently a controversial proposal to add a 98,000 sq. ft. Kohl's department store on a site between Costco and the marsh. Many residents are worried about potential negative effects that increased nighttime lighting that will have on endangered birds. The Richmond Annex Neighborhood Council has officially opposed the project."

Directions: Please note that the entire marsh appears as part of the bay on Google Maps. That is, under water. Don't panic. From highway 80, take the Central Ave exit and turn west towards the bay on Central. Pass the entrance to highway 580 to your right, cross over 580, and turn right immediately after, on Rydin Rd. We will not be meeting at the end of Rydin Ave where the side entrance to Point Isabel includes a parking lot. We'll meet instead at the corner of Central and Rydin. Park along Rydin (they have never given tickets) until you're sure of where you'll be painting, then you can relocate your car to a more permanent spot. There are bathrooms and water by the Point Izzie parking lot.

Saturday, March 5

We return to the area below San Pablo Ave, on 8th and Camelia.  The area is a mixed use, light industry and residential. There are small cottages, churches, and retail stores nearby.  It is also part of the West Berkeley plan that is a hot topic at the Berkeley City Council now. The area has historically been zoned to protect the light industry use and small business, and has been home to many artists studios.  The fear is that the changes the city is proposing will drive up prices and make it unaffordable for artists.

Camelia is parallel to Gilman and one block west on San Pablo.

Boynton St., Berkeley

The narrow Boynton St. snakes its way through the Berkeley hills, leaving little space for neighbors to park their cars. We had to set up shop on the sidewalk. Others tried the stairs leading from Maryland to Boynton, striving to capture a view of the bay. This was a smaller oil, 16 x 20." I used a lot of stand oil to work faster than usual, since I had challenged myself to get all nine cars in this painting. I worked from the background towards the foreground, from the more distant cars to the closest ones. By the time I got to the Volvo in the foreground, I was tired.