I painted these palm trees once before several years ago and every time I see them they seem to ask to be painted again. They are beautiful and proud, thus the name "Roadside Sentinels". They are located near the Mission at the eastern end of Los Rios Street in San Juan Capistrano--away from the busy area where the restaurants are located. I think they are three friends withstanding the elements of time--much like many of us. Crazy, huh??
I was painting at Diver's Cove recently and noticed this young gal with shoes in hand getting her feet wet. It was such a beautiful day. I think she would have liked to go all the way in, but was without a bathing suit. I've felt that predicament a few times when plein air painting at the beach with only my paint clothes with me.
The vase was a gift from my daughter a few years ago. It was made by one of the artists at Art A Fair and I had admired it when my daughter was at the show. So, I received it later as a present. I love it but was sad when I realized that because it was raku it wouldn't hold water. I have managed to over come the problem with some difficulty a couple of times by stuffing a heavy plastic bag into it to hold the water. However, it works better as part of a painting!
This little treasure came from the relics of my "growing up" home. I never considered what might have happened to the "heating element" until I started to paint it. Oh well, it's apparently long gone. This was fun to paint--flowed well--except for when my husband wanted his dinner and I wasn't ready to quit painting. He did have to wait for a while. Sometimes when we start painting we don't anticipate staying at it for so long, but then it is sooo hard to pull away once we are really involved. Thank goodness for a fairly understanding spouse!!
I decided to combine some realism (the seashell) with some fantasy (the background). I liked the idea that you can hear the sounds of the ocean when you put a seashell to your ear so by adding some creatures from the sea into the background I was helping the seashell along with its memories of the sea. The seashell is placed on a reflective surface, thus the reflection.
A silver vase of roses from my garden. Staying loose was a challenge as the vase and flowers both had a lot of "intricacy" to them. Somehow for me it's a very soothing painting.
I've rarely used the little silver mouse figure (he really is designed to spear into a piece of cheese), but thought it was cute enough to paint. Hope no one is afraid of mice (even though he isn't real)!
The little carved dog has been in my collection, along with the Panda, for a long time. So, it was fun to pair them up and imagine they are having a "play time". Probably dogs and pandas don't normally get along, but in a painting anything is possible.
I know, this was already on my blog, but I inadvertently deleted it when trying to upload the new (hopefully improved) version of it. I added more color to the man's shirt and felt that added a lot to the picture. Previously it was gray and rather dull. Anyway, this is a restaurant in Lido in Newport Beach that has wonderful food and great coffee. It is very popular!! I saw this scene from down the block at Cannery Paints where I occasionally take a class from Dana Cooper. During the day we get to go eat at Alta's.
Rose Impression #1 has been juried into the Randy Higbee 6" x 6" show in Costa Mesa. The gala opening is December 3rd. There will be a lot of talent there and the interesting thing about the show is that every piece of art can only be 6" x 6". Please try to attend the gala or come by later to view the show. Address is: 102 Kalmus Drive, Costa Mesa. (Very near the 55 freeway).
This is a painting of the gazebo in Heisler Park, looking toward the city of Laguna Beach. It's gone through quite a few "iterations", but this is the final. Quite a learning experience. Isn't it amazing how much there is to learn (about everything), not just art. But, there's more to learn about painting than anyone who hasn't done it can imagine. Fortunately it's all very rewarding and a lot of fun.
This painting was done from a photo challenge created by Lee Brown of the website www.adaynotwasted. He is a professional photographer and took the photo of this waitress at a restaurant in France and then posted it for his followers to paint. The subject matter is out of my normal genre, but I certainly enjoyed the challenge.
The bottle was found in our hills years ago by my son. He found two of them at the time. This one has the letter W embossed in the glass--no idea what it stands for. If anyone knows, please let me know.
This little cutie (the dog) joined my son Dale's household a few days ago. She is a female Cairn Terrier almost 4 months old. She obviously plays hard and sleeps hard (with her friend). I was unfamiliar with this breed, but it looks like she is going to be a wonderful pet. It's so good to once again have a dog in the family! Welcome, Izzy!!!
I have some beautiful rose bushes in my backyard, so decided it was time to paint some of the roses. It's getting toward the end of the season so it's probably not a wise time to start on this endeavor, but we shall see. This one is called Floral Scent and has the most wonderful scent of any other rose I have. I can almost imagine the fragrance just sitting here looking at it!
Sorry I haven't added to my blog for such a long time. I did Art A Fair again this summer and the show always seem to be "all-consuming". We had some other family medical issues that were time consuming and that's where my excuses end. Oh and also the computer! I don't know if many of you are this way--I try to limit my "computer time" and even at that I spend too much time on it. Not enough hours in the day! 
The koi pond at the Mission in San Juan Capistrano is always a magnet for grown-ups and children alike. I painted a couple of views on location, but wasn't happy with them so decided to do one in the studio so I could focus more fully. It was still a challenge, but I was happy with the final result so thought I would post it. Let me know--I'm open to all opinions (well, almost all).
We travelled for at least 30 minutes crowded into the back of a truck over very rough trails to get to this location. It was well worth it! We were far away from civilization and could see no reminders of it so we were allowed to imagine how it must have been way back when. There was such a feeling of vastness that trying to incorporate it all in a painting (particularly a small painting) was quite a trick. This was a very unusual experience and I think all of our painters enjoyed it.
I painted this last week while standing at the edge of the road leading to Black Star Canyon. The panoramic view was spectacular and it was a beautiful day. Doesn't get much better than that! The following day was cloudy and stormy so we felt we had been blessed the day before with the sun. Black Star Canyon is in the Silverado Canyon area. I hadn't been there before but it is well worth the trip. Actually I shouldn't recommend it as I didn't quite make it to the canyon as this scene captured me before I got to the gate leading to the canyon. Next time I will go farther!
This is the old courthouse in Orange County located in downtown Santa Ana, CA. It was built in 1901 and has been on the historical preservation list. Really a Grand Lady. I started this on location but had to finish at home in my studio because painting from this location became imposible with the traffic.
This was painted at a park in Brea, CA. The view across the highway was of the sandstone cliffs and fortunately from this perspective the busy highway wasn't visible. It was a beautiful day and a great discovery to find this park.
I was painting at Sherman Gardens Library and Gardens in Corona del Mar. They have a wonderful koi pond and this lucky fellow is part of their koi collection. 
This is a view at Irvine Park, in Orange County, CA, that I discovered last Wed. when I found some time to go paint. I haven't followed the path to find out where it ends, but did follow it far enough after I'd finished painting to see the riverbed totally full of raging water. This was after a large rainstorm and it surprised the heck out of me as I'd never seen hardly any water in this particular riverbed. Hopefully I can do a painting later of the riverbed when it is full.
Another riverbed scene. They are fun. I think I did a better job of creating the necessary distance from foreground to background? I want to go back! SOLD
This was painted in a little park in Carlsbad, CA. I went with a group from our painting group--So. Calif. Plein Air Painters and we had a wonderful demo done by Rita Pacheco. It was a fun day.
I had posted this a few days ago, but decided I was unhappy with the pears being green. I haven't figured out a way just to delete a picture and then replace it (perhaps there is no way), so I had to delete the entire blog and enter it again. The mat is painted with an iridescent white which makes the painting have a different "sheen" from different angles of viewing.
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