Busy day on Balboa Island. Had the opportunity to paint during the kids boating and swimming school. Very busy place. To top off the day we had an earthquake. I felt my easel jump and didn't know what was happening. It was the buzz of all the walkers and island dwellers. 
Down in the Plaza of Orange today. Working on value, atmosphere and perspective, oh ya and cars too. And I am still working on this one, but I love to upload my work to see it from another perspective. I see a number of things to fix, but I am pretty happy for the most part. I was out with my painting pal Kim who was working in oil. I am hoping to get back to that soon or just figure out a balance so I can work on both in plein air. 
Took a little trip to the Fullerton Arboretum today. It really is a beautiful place. It was fun and I met a few artists I know that were out sketching. Thank goodness...they shared their lunch because I forgot to pack one. Thanks Deborah and Ginger. 
I went back down to my sister's house to paint yet another day this weekend. It was beautiful. I got a little closer to painting the canal. If you look closely it is at the end of the street. I think I am into cars. I need to work on them. You would think a car would be easy to paint, but they're not. They are very simple geometric shapes that need to fit into a perspective of a street going off into the distance and have atmospheric perspective as well. That is the blueish gray haze that colors get when they are far off. The value, highlights and shapes are much more important than thinking this is a car. This painting was more than I should have started for a plein air session. I had a short period of wondering if it would come together and then it did. I really enjoyed doing this and I know that I will go back because there is plenty of subject matter.
Took a ride down to Newport Beach to paint the canal behind my sister's house. Well, I looked at the water and all the boats docked and went into visual overwhelm. So I turned around and there was a red car. So as you can see the red car won out. While I was painting I had a few visitors. One of which knew about this old yellow house and the 100+ year old woman that owned the house and just died 2 weeks ago. It is a house with much needed work and will probably be rebuilt in the next few years by new owners. So I feel pretty good about this house that called out to me. I am sure its days are numbered. I love these old California simple box houses. 
Painting plein air is really fun especially on a vacation get away like Balboa Island. It was a warm day, but when your at the beach the breeze takes care of you.
