Today we painted at the coast. North of Santa Cruz is a little village named Davenport. It's main claim to fame is a cement plant, but it offers great views of the Pacific, bluffs and beaches and quaint barns, homes and ranches. It was 65 degrees and beautiful, a slight breeze blowing offshore. We usually paint from 9am to noon and stop for lunch to compare paintings and have a friendly critique session. No one gets out of line with their comments but we do give honest opinions about what is good and what might be changed, moved, left out, etc. I feel so lucky to have found this group and always look forward to seeing them again each week.

Getting my work framed and noted so we can hang the exhibition tomorrow afternoon. This will be my first exhibition of plein air art and it is exciting. There was no contest attached so there is no jury to worry abou, but only twenty painters from our group are being shown. Also one of my works got picked to be on the promotional brochure. the one shown in the user pic.
will tell you more as the exhibition moves along.

I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet. I want to, because I think it will help me "loosen up" my style - since you have to paint pretty fast.

I did find a nice Mabef backpack easel on eBay, so at least I've got the gear when I can get the time!

The setup your group has sounds really nice!

Anyone else interested in plein air oil painting? It's my favorite time of the week. I belong to a plein air group in the SF Bay area and we paint every Tue and Thur. The great part is that we are not a club, there is no membership or dues and we use a website to pick places to go. If you want to paint, you just show up. Very loose and therefore, very enjoyable. Let me know if you ant more info.

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Anyone else interested in plein air oil painting? It's my favorite time of the week. I belong to a plein air group in the SF Bay area and we paint every Tue and Thur. The great part is that we are not a club, there is no membership or dues and we use a website to pick places to go. If you want to paint, you just show up. Very loose and therefore, very enjoyable. Let me know if you ant more info.

Most of my painting is plein air...anyone else into that?

 Three years ago, my wife and I made a long weekend trip to photograph Death Valley. I particularly wanted to shoot the sand dunes at dawn and we made a special effort to be out in the dunes when dawn's first light came. When we finished that morning, I made numerous notes about my impressions of that morning and recently decided to incorporate them into a prose poem.  It was a special morning and I include another poem written that day and one of the photos.

 

. The black sky was interrupted by several points of light as I left the motel room at Furnace Creek in that pre-dawn hour. Death Valley was obscured by the absence of a moon. Fifteen minutes later, a sign;” 100 ft below sea level”. Another 15 minutes and I’m at sea level, the altitude of our ancestors in their journey toward land. Then, the slate colored sky opens the mysterious valley a little more and I arrive at shimmering sand dunes. Everywhere, the tracks of men, reptiles, mice and more.

 As I make my way out through hummocks of mesquite and dirt, up the sides and downs of small dunes, the larger dunes in the distance move away as if to say “not me, no climbing thru my skin” The size of the dune and the navigational difficulty are proportionate and yet there are tributaries of sand almost at the same elevation where one can walk for a mile without the problem of climbing and slipping down any side. Wide rivers of sand with graceful curves caused by wind, rippled surfaces come to life as the sun rises higher in the sky and crests the mountain range. Scalloped edges from wind and rain –tiny prints and wavy tail trails running across the dune’s surface.

Small yellow flowers float alone in the middle of a half-acre dune. As the sun finishes its ascent above the mountain, the shadows are defined even deeper.   The landscape appears black and white, not beige and dark brown. Miles of curves open up as the lee side of one silica wave abuts the windward side of another. Across the valley, to the distant range, one wave overlaps the other. The oceans of sand roll on and on. Humans weren’t designed to ascend sand dunes. But, all those millennia ago, we were not designed to leave the water, either. 
 

        

DAWN

 

There is a gentle moment at dawn

when things seem to wait.

The sun pauses

before cresting the hill,

the birds go silent

watching for the sun.

The branches cease to tremble

waiting for the birds.

The wind is slack,

lost in the trees,

and I’m motionless

before it all.