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.

Painting Under the Oak

I almost ran out of gas on the way to China Camp. I loved the oak by the road where Marilyn was last week, but did not want to paint the same view she had done so well, so I turned my head to the left and did a different view of the same marsh. I sat down to paint quite contentedly when a sudden breeze flipped my palette. It landed face down on my shoes. After scraping the blobs of color off my boots, I settled for doing what I could. At around 11:30 the fog dissipates and the sun comes out, changing the entire color scheme but I didn't have to worry. A minute after I stepped back to look at the painting, the wind blew the easel and the attached 24 x 24" birch panel. "Oh well," I thought to myself, "at least it's acrylic, the paint's dry." I re-arranged everything, sat down again, and a wasp gall the size of a tennis ball fell on the truck, scaring the heck out of me. By then I was hungry so I ate some trail mix, pondering what to make of this nature plot. I managed to finish close to 2 pm, after getting bitten my multiple female marsh mosquitoes, and completed the last details in my living room.

Island in the Marsh, China Camp

The fog was beginning to burn off and gave an interesting sky. The bright blue showing through the white/gray/purple fog. This is only one end of the Island that looks strangely marooned in the marsh. I don't think I captured the patterns and colors in the marsh very well, but to add to it would probably destroy it. There is still some orange fuzzy stuff on the pickle weed showing.

I did another one on the same sunny day at China Camp.  This one I did very fast when a lot of children from an adventure camp descended on the beach. It came out in the spirit of  a finger painting.

Karen

Family Outing at China Camp

Again I became involved with moving things. I caught the kids skipping rocks. All three figures were composites in motion. At the end I gave them more identity because the kids wanted to know if they were in the picture.

Acrylic on canvas 12" by 16"

Karen Zullo Sherr

China Camp Marsh

Colors in the marsh
streaming shadows
grass in motion
fishing for the right combinations

Watercolor over Graphite
14 X 21"

Low Tide Near China Beach

I was painting near Vicki Salzman, on a narrow trail just above the beach on a very sunny Monday. Because it took more time than normal to get to this park in Marin, I was trying to load some calories by munching on these potato chips I had brought, and later on a chinese chicken salad that I had bought on the way there. My paints were drying fast because of the heat and the backs of my arms got sunburned, because I stupidly wore a short-sleeved polo to paint on a day like this! The pool near the small beach was full of the richest, most incredible reds, blues, greens, in fact it was like a lesson in RGB color. Vicki and I were fascinated by it (so was Marilyn), but we also discovered just how difficult it was to depict that color while remaining true to the values in the overall scene. This was my attempt at low tide. Rebeca

Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16"

Cabin on the beach at China Camp

This is about the fourth time this month that I have been to China Camp State Park. I felt obligated to do something in the village, a building or boat or something there on the beach. No water this time just the hint of tidal action on the beach.

I struggled with the background trees above the cabin, but decided they were background and forget it. The rest of the painting worked out OK. I am trying to mix colors on the paper and maintain the transparency of the paint. I am feeling a bit more comfortable with the new palette of colors that I have been using now, but have some way to go to really feel at ease and knowledgeable.

China Camp Boat

7/13/09 Watercolor over Graphite , 11 X 14
I've been experimenting more and more with opaque watercolors so some parts of the painting are wet-in-wet transparencies and some drier opaques–contrasting the 2 approaches. Favorite opaques of the season seem to be Venetian Red, Winsor Newton an earthy rich orangy red, and Cadmium Red Purple, Holbein, a red with blue tinges. Jaune Brilliant #1 is a slightly orangy yellow with lots white by Holbein.

Five Pines Point at China Camp State Park

Marilyn and I struggled to keep up the group's reputation today. Only two of us painting, but a friend stopped by to encourage us. I neared despair on this one, especially the left side. I had to try a couple of rescue glazes to try to save it. Marilyn had some good advice about the shadows too. It is a little over worked for my satisfaction, but it came out better than I was thinking it would. Marilyn was laughing at my groaning.

I liked this one so much better than the one I did today that I decided to upload this one too. I painted this last Friday July 10th. I got a few mosquito bites, but didn't suffer much. I was surprised at how few colors that I used to paint this one. I am liking my new palette. I wondered why it is called Rat Rock Island. Then the more I looked at my painting, the more I saw a rat.

China Camp 7-13-09

This is a view of Buckeye Point at China Camp. It was difficult to find shade, so I was very close to the road guarding my toes from the traffic. It didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. I ended up trying to glaze over the reed bed and fussing with a tree. I didn' t get the separation of the distant hill and the point as I intended. I couldn't figure out how to do the reeds in the foreground, but after the second attempt to fix it, I had to quit.