Oranges across a Table

It was my turn to set up the Tuesday night still life scene for our Zoom group. There is a lot of thought that goes into one of these. Is it something that the limited range of a computer camera and the Zoom application can handle? Will the other artists like the scene? Will it have the right amount of challenge? And so on.

I started with a bowl of oranges on a blue tablecloth but ended up tipping the bowl against the wall, rumpling the tablecloth, and spreading a few oranges across the table. I think it was a good setup because I had fun painting it and the other paintings were terrific.

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A Painter Paints

A Painter Paints

Our Thursday Plein Air group met at Harbor Island near the San Diego Airport. One of the painters standing close to the bay was backlit by the morning light bouncing off the sky and water. He was very focused, and I think I conveyed a bit of it in this sketch.

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Happy But With Issues

The couple on the bench near where I was painting this morning caught my attention, mainly because their body language was so strong. They stayed on the bench for more than an hour, maintained eye contact, examined each other’s faces, laughed, and raised their voices at times. I thought they seemed very content to be spending the morning together on a park bench as they worked through a tricky issue. In any case, I was delighted that they stayed put on that bench, and I could sketch them.

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Tuesday Night Still Life

Tuesday night still life painting is back! This one is of flowers from an artist’s garden.

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Seaside Sisters

Two women came out of the water and stood at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, in a perfect spot for me to sketch them quickly. They were chatting away and enjoying each other’s company. I don’t know if they were friends, sisters, or both, but I know I loved painting them.

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“Look, Snorkelers!”

This morning the tide was low, and the shore was full of people snorkeling on their own or with private companies. I loved the bright colors of one of the groups and quickly sketched the scene showing the support rafts and individuals. But until I added a mom explaining what the snorkelers were doing, this sketch was incomplete.

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A Beach Afternoon

I wanted to capture it all- the light glinting on the waves, the sunbathers, the kids playing, and the beauty of the day’s ending.

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