9th and Camelia

Two months ago I was going to finish my painting of the church on 8th and Camelia, but when we got there, there was a memorial service going on. We realized it would be terrible to stand across the street, finishing our paintings while people cried in front of the church. So we went a block away to 9th and Camelia. I loved the extra-wide sidewalk and the car lineup. Phillip and Kendall were there and I was able to include them in the otherwise barren landscape. But when I got home I had to admit the figures were too small. After 24 hours of deliberation, I gave in and scraped them, but not without first taking a cell phone photo (you can find it here) to use as reference for the second attempt. The finished painting shows the correction I made to the figures, as well as the revised sidewalk, which I lightened.

Mobile Home Parks in San Pablo

I haven't been posting lately because my camera needed a new lens, then I found out I lost my camera chip, and could not buy an SD chip right away. Here are two mobile home acrylics roughly the same size, about 18 x 24".  The first painting, the one with the alley and the boxy mobile homes was done very recently on 23rd St and Market, in the company of a new member named Anne. I returned alone on a Sunday to finish it, when it was sunny enough. A man walked up to me and said he had seen us the day before, painting at 23rd and McBryde. The second painting was done in October when Darryl, Karen and I painted in front of Saint Anthony's Cemetery on El Portal Ave. The late afternoon light was wonderful. Inside the Chevy truck there was a Chihuahua named Little Toy that was very endearing. I may still place him in this picture (but on the street).

Waggs & Whiskers, Appian Way & Santa Rita Rd

I was painting in a very active Saturday afternoon parking space in front of Waggs & Whiskers - people delivering and picking up dogs to be groomed. I like this little shopping area on Appian Way. The local residents are very loyal to the Central Market and Waggs & Whiskers. I think they have worked hard to keep a local market in that location. And the taco truck is always busy.

Especial Lunch, San Pablo & Andrade

What I liked about this site is the way the stop sign leaned into the TAQU, the hand lettered street numbers and the way the flags invited you in. The Stop sign really was leaning; I didn't just paint it that way. Also the side walk and the road had a lot to say--it's own story to tell.

Pupuseria on San Pablo Ave

This was one of those paintings I was convinced  I was ruining. I have always loved the brightly colored pupuserias, meat markets and taquerias of Richmond and San Pablo. To be specific, I love the irregular signage and of course, the colors. At first I struggled with the cadmium yellow of the building, then decided I could not capture it with the pigments I had. The other struggle was the Kragen Auto Parts sign, which I had at first done with a palette knife and then continued with a brush. My final challenge was the changing light. I edited out some details from this 18 x 18" oil when I revised it at home, not thinking they were necessary for the overall feel.
A pupuseria is a Salvadoran restaurant serving pupusas, a  handmade corn tortilla stuffed with cheese and eaten with pickled cabbage.

Tormey

It turns out we were not in Selby but in Tormey.  Across San Pablo it is Selby but the row of  houses where we were painting is historically a town called Tormey.  It is all considered part of Crockett now I was told by some of the residents on the block.  It is a wonderful painting location with hills and houses, goats and horses and many varied views.  I am still working on this painting but wanted to post it because I gave out my card with our blog address on it to some of the people that lived in the houses I was painting.  We plan on going back next week. It is 24 by 36 and large to finish in one session. Karen

Above Port Costa Church

Marilyn and I went to Port Costa. I think it was Feb. 20th. We went up on the hills above the town. I painted the church from there, but didn't finish it. I got sick the next day and just got around to finishing it. I was sitting in the sun and the paint was drying too fast. That was a bigger problem because I was using a half sheet on a board. A vertical half sheet is a handful without an easel. I thought the roof of the spire was too dull. So I glazed perinone orange lightly over it, and it seemed to help. I also boosted the contrast in the trees and finished the far shore of the Carquinez Strait. The painting is about 14x20 as shown.
Larry Hatfield

White Houses Overlooking Carquinez Strait

I tried incorporating more texture using some home made modeling paste. I have been trying to do this for awhile but was reminded after I demonstrated making the paste in Rebeca's acrylic class. A student asked me how or when to incorporate texture and I had no answer. I decided to try and see how. So far my only answer is add it carefully and with restraint. I will continue to try. In this painting I felt the texture added an interesting dimension to the surface. It is 18 by 24.

Karen

Sparky's Garage, Port Costa

After I finished this, I thought I should have done it as a horizontal painting since I was fascinated by the windows and planters below. The perspective on the Victorian windows above were a bit of a challenge since they were going at odd angles. However the yellow patch at the top may add some compositional interest and a relief from the busy windows.... The weather in the morning was sunny, then cloudy so I decided on just grey — in my continued exploration of black and grey. Both the items behind the windows plus it's reflection was really the center of my exploration in this painting.

Marilyn Hill
Watercolor
14 X 11"

Yellow Building at Port Costa

Port Costa has many things that I find interesting to paint. I love the hills nearby also. I had a great view across the parking lot and could watch the people coming and going. Having the buildings and the hills beyond and the cars in front let me play with shapes and colors until I liked the balance of abstract and representation. It is a 18 by 24 acrylic on canvas. Karen

Bull Valley Inn - Port Costa

I was going to just focus on the sign and the windows near it, then this guy sat down on the bench and I stretched out the composition to include him. This is the first time in 2 years that I included a person in my plein air painting. I came away feeling that I had made it more complicated than I wanted to. I also had to crop it a little since I tend to make the vertical lines lean to the left when I am drawing. I did it again. I have been playing around with some new brushes and so some of the brushwork is uncertain as I try different things. I used a 2" angled flat brush for the underpainting of cobalt & Ultramarine blue on the left background and perm. orange for the building in sun. I left the white for the sign and the guy's hair white.

Larry Hatfield

John Muir Historical Site

Monday it was raining. I was already to paint in Port Costa so I decided to redraw the painting and play with the color and explore some of the direction my painting seems to be going. I think I still prefer the first one though.

John Muir Historical Site

Saturday I painted southern view of the John Muir building— augmenting it a little after returning. I think it was better before the augmenting— then again maybe not. I wanted to develop the color a little more.

John Muir's House II

I darkened the shadow side of the building and intensified the color in the windows a little.

John Muir Historical Site

A view of John Muir's home. I struggled with the perspective, and the detail drawing so long that I only had an hour to paint, then finished it at home. I dumped a lot of detail before I was done, but it was a struggle not to be distracted by it. I eliminated a very big tree that was obscuring some of the house. At first I thought I would use it as the right frame element, and there was a palm on the left, but I decided to leave both out.

Larry Hatfield

Point San Pablo

This little floating town reeked with small town gossip and personal intrigues. On the first visit I felt a little like a tourist looking in. The second time, I felt I knew the dogs and was getting acquainted with the people. This was an old dredge that was no longer being used for its original purpose but made a beautiful model to paint. My original idea was to make the front of the building, facing the water, a dramatic dark with the dark shadow swooshing off to the left. Other things began to happen as the light changed and the painting spoke for itself. So I ended up leaving the front a medium value instead.

Bay Street, Crockett

This 18 x 24" acrylic on canvas has an interesting story. Karen, Annette and I drove up the streets of Crockett looking for a view of the strait, and ended up at Bay St. I walked up and down that steep street until I found a view of the bridges and the C & H plant, but once I had set up I noticed that right in front of me was a view of something I love: cars. Manicured places and objects have never held my interest the way deteriorated stuff does, so I pretended I was painting the strait, but I was painting the house directly in front of me. Its inhabitants were going in and out but never once said hello, so I took that as a clue that perhaps a second visit wasn't in the stars. The boat's owner, I overhead, was leaving the following day for Colorado, so I took a cell phone camera picture and left at 1 pm. I got home with just an underpainting and some quick color notations. The challenge was to finish the painting maintaining the color scheme I had seen. I also wanted to preserve the detail I could have noticed while standing in front of the house, but all I had was my memory and a cell phone pic as references. So the brushstrokes aren't as loose as my other work, but I think the colors came out ok. Rebeca

Condos at Meeker Slough

I like the combination of habitats at Meeker Slough both human and wildlife and wanted to focus on the condos for this painting. I stopped early because I am trying to do more with less so I felt it was done. The water was starting to fill in the marsh area where I was painting so that stopped me as well. It is acrylic on a 16" by 20" canvas. Karen

Crockett

I think there were too many unhappy ghosts after Halloween. We all seemed to have a difficult time painting today. I tried to save this one, but I am not happy with it at all. The big eucalyptus tree was too dark, so I tried to lift the color, now its lighter but looks scrubbed. I cropped it quite a bit to focus more on the building. That is what I wanted to paint. There is no roof, and I wanted to get the glow of sunlight inside. That is about the only thing that did work on this painting. I darkened the tree behind the building and darkened the foreground grass in hopes of making the sunlit building the most contrasty thing. The yellow tree kind of competes, it was going to be more yellow-green, but I left it.

Larry Hatfield

A Street in Crockett

A beautiful day in Crockett. I drove up the hill above Pomona Ave and got a nice view down toward the strait. I liked the way this painting developed and the tension between the flat abstract pattern of shapes and the suggestion of distance. Karen