Trailer Park

This one was done outside St. Joseph Cemetary in San Pablo of the trailer park across the street.  I put in the man with his dog from memory later.   I am still not happy with the composition and I am thinking of cropping it and restretching where I think it works best. But I like the impact of the painting,

It is acrylic on 24 by 30 canvas.

Karen

McBryde and Mclaughlin

It was so great to be back painting after all the work putting up our figurative show.  But the figure was on my mind an I managed to get one into my painting of this corner on McBryde just half a block up from San Pablo. It is an 18 by 24 acrylic.  Karen

Jana and Gerry Near Port Costa

I walked around for half an hour looking for a nice view of the twisty roads on this extremely hot day. We were on top of a hill and so I was already overheated when I sat down to paint Jana, who had a reflective umbrella and had brought water. Gerry was even smarter and hid behind a small tree. They weren't so close together. Just looking at Gerry required moving my whole setup about 15 yards up the hill, but I wanted to do something different. Towards the end the heat was too much and I had to leave. I was glad I brought oils and not acrylics, and I was happy with my new cadmium red light, which produced such great, glowing oranges.

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

Waiting for the Ferry, Alameda

It was a much better day in Alameda than last time. The ferry comes once an hour at the time we were there so it gave me a little time to do the people waiting. The van drove away at some point and was replaced by a black one. I did a grayscale underpainting and got things blocked in and then worked in color. It is an 18 by 24 acrylic. Karen

Near the Oakland Airport

I like the marshes near the airport. There were many water birds and airplanes and helicopters. People walked their dogs and were taking pictures. I put some of the elements around me into this painting. It is a 20 by 24 acrylic on canvas. Karen

On the Beach at Alameda

I enjoyed painting at Alameda, painting until the wind came up and I started to freeze. But I had plenty of people to choose from as models and crisp light that made things sparkle. Sometimes I stop too soon developing things, and other times I want to keep going. This was a time I wanted to continue but it got too cold. I am looking forward to better weather. It is an 18" by 24" acrylic. Karen

Cardoon Growing on a Clark Trail Gully

It was a perfect morning for painting, and we settled by a path dodging an enormous gully. I kept looking for a good spot that would show the true size of zigzag-shaped opening, but no luck, so I settled for this view of the hills. Dennis was nearby and I put him in the picture. I had an 18 x 24" canvas and I used acrylic because I was tired of painting in oil after last Saturday's trek.

Clark Road, Wildcat Canyon

This was a very umbrella or mushroom shaped Buckeye tree with Lichen covered branches and brand new foliage. The trick was getting the lichen to stand out without losing the umbrella shape. I continue to experiment with textures on this, using the toothbrush spatter to soften the dry-brush and the fan brush to create grass.

Marilyn Hill
Watercolor
11 X 14

marilynhill.com

Painting at Rheem Creek

It was possibly one of the most challenging painting situations I've ever been in. There was a strong, cold wind coming in from the water. Thunderclouds kept passing us and dropping their showers on us, then the sun would come out and everything would look so beautiful that you felt bad leaving your painting unfinished. This happened four times (the last after Larry left). It was so cold and rainy I put my dog inside the truck! I was so glad not to be working in oils on such difficult weather. The temperature may be why I felt compelled to use cold primaries (alizarin, ultramarine, and lemon yellow) on this 16 x 20" canvas. I finished it at home from memory. Once there, it felt great to work on it without gloves and the constant threat of a flying easel. Rebeca

Pink Truck at Port Costa

The shapes and colors at Port Costa are interesting. I loved the deep colors in the shadows and the greys in the sky and parking lot. I did a lot of color mixing directly on the canvas in this 18 by 24 acrylic. Karen

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

Marion at Cesar Chavez

I had fun with this painting. I was perched on a little hill and the water was choppy and reminded me of the Van Gogh I just looked at on my new 2010 calender. Then the little sailboat showed up just like the painting. I was doing the water when Marion my neighbor walked by doing her exercises. I have run into her at inspiration point also. But this time I quickly put her into the painting. She didn't see me. It is an 18 by 24 acrylic. Karen

The Story at Point Molate

A big challenge for me is how to make the work I do with the landscape a painting. I love the discipline of going outside to paint. But I am happiest with the work when it conveys a story about the places we painted. Point Molate was easier than most place to grapple with for me. The place was enigmatic and mysterious and I think I got some of that in both paintings I did there. Karen

Texture of the Cemetery

I drove all the way to the top of the Cemetery looking for people visiting the grave sites. I passed the Greek Orthodox area and found the graves with flat markers. People kept driving up to get out and place flowers. I decided to work with a lot of texture because I had been thinking about texture for a demonstration I did. I needed to work on the figures more but numerous insect bites forced me to leave and I worked on it in the studio. I will work on it some more I think. Karen

Observation in Oakland

I have started to concentrate on the figure in the landscape and started this one without any figures on the observation deck. Finally a man came and I quickly put him in. He was carrying a baby but that was too much for me and I got something blocked out on his back before he left but it did not look like a child. I continued with the city in the background. I wanted to control how the viewer could see the city and I used a lot of medium so I could move the shapes around. When it dried it started to loose its lights and darks. I am waiting awhile but I may go back into the picture. Karen

Expectations at Miller Knox

I liked the variety at Miller Knox park and only got to paint in one location over the two sessions. I hope the group goes back soon. On the first try I had blocked in a composition that I continued on the second visit. There was a group of people who sat at the picnic table in the distance for a little while and I built the picture around them. I enjoyed this painting and the other small one I did and felt the process had let me forgot about the outcome more successfully than usual. Hope to be able to push this direction more.

Karen

Girl at Miller Knox

It was very busy at Miller Knox for the Labor Day holiday. I started a painting of the trees beyond the laggoon with the Bay behind but soon had a young girl and her sister looking over my shoulder asking questions. Her questions were so good and she was so interested in the process of painting I didn't have the heart to shoo her away. Instead I started another painting with her as the focal point. She stood perfectly still for me. When she left to eat lunch I finished and changed the figure quite a bit so that when she came back I think she was disapointed that it didn't look more like her and we had a good conversation about that.

Karen

Gardeners and Shoppers at Annie's Annuals

I have never been to Annie's before. There were so many possibilities. I loved the way people looked among the plants and flowers and with the netting overhead. I had to work fast. I want to go back into the one with the gardeners to make the composition stronger.

Karen

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