Benicia Boat Wreckage

Larry, I love the way you handled this composition.

The design is so dramatic. I think it is your best effort yet.

Benicia and China Camp

China Camp has so many good views, it seems inexhaustable. My first day there, I set up next to where Vicki was working, on a hillside pathway, and did this view of a cove with an island and a little inland pool. The day got brighter and brighter, and the little pool looked impossibly blue. Bicyclists zoomed past us on the pathway, calling out their opinions of our paintings as they went by.


My second time at China Camp, I didn't even leave the parking lot. Instead I set up near some other ladies from a different plein air group, and painted this view of a long pier and some buildings. It was great to meet more painters, and I joined them for a critique at the end of the session.


Benicia was so windy that I wimped out and positioned myself on the leeward side of the cute little restroom building. This kept me and my canvas from blowing away, but offered rather limited views. I hate everything about this painting of Benicia.

Benicia Boat Wreckage

Benicia = windy. I think I was on D Street near the old boat yard. I could see other interesting subjects within that old yard. Today it just felt good to get out and paint again after being gone for two weeks. I didn't figure out how to do the water the way I saw it, but decided to leave it. The tide came in an covered all my dark sandy beach on the right side before I got to painting it, so I guessed.

Catching Striped Bass in Benicia

I couldn't get as close to the fishermen as I wanted because of the wind. I took shelter next to a small building as a wind block. There was not place to stake my easel. It is a great easel but I have been hard on it and it is having problems. It is starting to become clear that subject matter is a key thing for me. More thought needs to be given to it as an element.

Karen

Benicia's Waterfront

A local artist approached me while I was painting this acrylic on birch panel (16 x 24"), to mention this was "one of the most painted views in the area." "Very original I guess I'm not!" I thought. What can I say, artists like rotted, rusty, old things, the trashier the better. There's beauty in them, and so most of us were attracted to this spot. What I didn't count on was the weather, but I'm sure my collaborators will fill you in on that. The details did consume all of my three hours, maybe more. Even my trail mix melted (but I didn't realize it), so I ended up smeared in chocolate thinking it was [the pigment] burnt umber. Rebeca