The Cabrillo Bridge spans the freeway that cuts through the edge of Balboa Park in San Diego. From it, you can see the steep canyon side and the towers of the Museum of Us that rise above the foliage. It is a great place to stop and take in the vista, and a great place to paint. I was there this week and wanted to capture the chaos of all the trees and bushes.
The San Diego Watercolor Society painted today at the Trevi Hills Winery in Lakeside. This was our first large paintout in twenty-one months and something to celebrate.
The light was sharp and fierce, backlighting the olive trees, grapevines, and dried grasses. I remembered how much I like the combination of Quinacrine Violet and Yellow Ochre for suggesting backlit scenes, particularly when combined with light blues.
I was nearly finished when I noticed a few individuals helping each other pack up. I put them in the painting but am still uncertain about this call.
My Tuesday Zoom group continues to paint still-life scenes. After two months, I look forward to the challenge that this kind of subject provides.
I began this sketch by painting all the basic shapes directly on black paper with gouache. Then I enhanced the sketch by drawing over the gouache with a black chalk marker. I think I see the influence of my recent trip to the Grand Canyon in how I treated the shapes and colors of the vase and of the linens.
We are back from a four-day camping trip to North Timp Point on the rim of the Grand Canyon. I painted each day. Here are three of my favorites.
Our group went down to San Diego’s Tuna Harbor Park and spent the morning painting. The Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum is adjacent and pretty much dominates the view from the edge of the harbor. I liked the shape of the ship against the sea and painted it.
Sunset Cliffs, along San Diego’s shoreline, always has a grand vista for a painter. Its elevation gives broad views, and its warm sandstone formations contrast nicely with the sea. Sometimes, it also offers a roiling sea, as was the case this week.
I mostly used a fan brush to suggest the turmoil of the sea and the layers of the sandstone. The effect was fairly abstract, and for a while, I thought about adding definition to the cliffs. In the end, I decided that I liked the mystery and so left it as I painted it.
Here are the other three still-life sketches from my Zoom sketching group. These scenes featured objects on a table.
