Rodeo Beach Rocks, Marin Headlands

This was from the end of April. I had a big problem with a rock that looked like a giant dead turtle. I didn't know how to fix it, so I just cut it off the bottom and made this a 9.75 x 20.5" horizontal. The bottom half of the painting wasn't finished because of the high winds that made it difficult to continue. The winds nearly took the board out of my hands. So, I tip-toed back through the poison oak. Then trudged back across the sand hoping the sand would remove the p.o. from my shoes. I wanted to paint the mustard colored tops of the cliff. I started out aiming to paint Bird Rock which is to the right, but decided on this.

Larry Hatfield

Belated Rodeo Beach, Marin Headlands

I started this 24 x 24" oil last week, but used the following week's session to go back up the hill and look again. There are elements I modifed in my effort to make the painting frame the beach. For example, I was judicious wih the tree branches and roadside bushes. I never took a photo the second time I went, because I am finding memory a better guide for colors and values. I went home and redid the main values. Now I am happier with the noontime light.

Pregnant Women at Rodeo Beach, Marin Headlands

I was painting this 16 x 20" acrylic in a big hurry because I was with my dog and there was no shade. I did the rocks, sky and water in an hour. I left the sand undone and ran to the car to get my dog in the shade and turned on the air conditioning. As I sat there, the women who had been at the beach crossed the parking lot and I snapped a few cell phone pictures of them and of two men. I went home and "fixed" an otherwise boring composition with these figures. I had to imagine the colors and many details as my camera is only 2 megapixels and the figures were tiny. I was thinking of Joaquin Sorolla, whom I greatly admire. My only frustration is that this picture does not show the colors as they look in the painting. Rebeca

Old Fort Barry Chapel

I have been wanting to paint this building for some time. Its the old Fort Barry Chapel, now the Visitor Center at the Marin Headlands National Seashore. It took me a long time to find a place to paint it. I tried several angles and always there was something in the way. Those big trees in front block most views. Finally I went above it and took some photos thinking I would have to do it at home. Then I saw a closed trail and some shade, so I parked there and painted.
Larry Hatfield
10x14" Watercolor

The Dog That Was Not a Cow

When I arrived at a good spot at Rodeo beach a black dog was playing gainst the white surf and I wanted to paint that but of course the dog left almost immediately. So I used the occassional other dog to help with the form. With animals I often have to invent because they have left or moved and I have to use memory of what that animal looks like. Some end up looking like something else-- a cow for instance. It is an 18 by 24 acrylic on canvas. Karen

Rodeo Beach

I was perched on top of a cliff overlooking the Southern end of Rodeo Beach. The rock in the middle ground was very black, and the total view full of contrast so I tried to subdue my usual color palette to concentrate on values—except for the colors in the back ground.

Marilyn Hill
4/25/10
Watercolor
14 X 21"