Crystal Cove/Pelican Beach 8-6-07

I know it seems like forever since I posted on my blog, but I have been so busy doing the trophies for the Afghan Hound Club of America and working on some studio commissions that I have been unable to paint any Plein Air paintings. Yesterday a group of us from the Plein Air Artist of Riverside went to Crystal Cove down by Laguna Beach, to watch a demonstration by signature plein air painter Jeffrey Horn from the Laguna Plein Air Painters group. Each of us painted a painting after the demo and Jeffrey gave us some helpful hints. This particular area of Crystal Cove is called Pelican Beach. I loved the way the sun started peaking through the clouds and making the bluff just sing. After painting for a while on the beach we made the walk back up to the car (what a walk, it didn't seem that bad going down) and went into Laguna Beach to see the Pageant of the Masters exhibit and the Art-A-Fair. We were hoping to run into our friend Helga who has an exhibit at the Art-A-Fair but unfortunately she was not there. However, we did run into Robin Hall. Some of us in the group had taken a workshop from Robin last Jan. It was fun seeing her and catching up. She has a wonderful exhibit at the Pageant of the Masters, so if you are in Laguna be sure to see her paintings. After enjoyinng all the art we had dinner at the cafe at the festival and returned home very late last night. I also would like to mention on Sat. the 4th of Aug. Luz Perez and I went to Ada Passaro's exhibit in Torrance, CA. The exhibit is from a group of 80 painters who painted at the 10th Annual Henry Fukuhara workshop at Manzanar. It was a beautiful show. Then we headed down to Laguna to see the Laguna Plein Air Painters figure show. Our friend Lisa McDill has a charcoal drawing in the exhibit, this too was a beautiful show. So see I have been very busy. After the Afghan Hound Nationals in Sept. I hope to get back to my weekly paintings to post on my blog so don't discard your link. I am hoping to go to San Clemente this Sunday to paint, if so, I will post the painting next week. Until then, Enjoy! Terry

Catalina Island

Two of my painter friends, (Joan Coffey and Louise Smith), and I went to Catalina Island on Tuesday and returned late Wed. night. We were exhausted from the trip as we tried to paint every minute as there was so much to paint. We arrived early afternoon and needed something to eat before we started painting. We ate lunch, sipped on margarita's and watched the boats come in an out of the marina. It was such a beautiful setting. We checked into our hotel and decided a 20 minute nap was in order. After awakening from our short nap we were ready to go. We thought we should find a place where there wasn't a lot of traffic so we walked over to Descanso Cove past the famous Avalon Casino. By this time it was around 5 p.m. While painting we started noticing all these cats. One of the ladies told us they come down every evening as people set out food for them. While looking up into the mountain side what would appear but Bambi! She was so cute and seemed so curious about the cats also. She was not afraid of anything and just walked around behind us for quite a while. We finished our first paintings around 7:30 and packed up. We found a cute little restaurant that overlooked the marina and had a bite to eat before turning in for the evening. I told Joan and Louise that I wanted to get up at 5 a.m., I wanted to see the sunrise and possibly get a painting. So up at 5 and out by the marina at 5:30. What no sun! I guess because of June gloom you don't see the sunrise this time of year. Oh well, I still got a nice painting of the marina with the casino in the back ground. The reflections off the boats in the foreground were incredible even though there wasn't a lot of light to capture. Around 10 a.m. the sun was starting to peak through the clouds and I noticed how beautiful the light was hitting the mountains behind us, this prompted the little 5 x 7 with the birds on the roof. We checked out of our hotel and left our baggage in their locker so we could go have lunch. By this time I was feeling really tired. Wished I had taken a nap. After lunch and walking back out by the marina I was taken by the umbrellas and decided another painting had to be done. We packed up around 5 p.m. and went catch our boat back to Long Beach. What a whirlwind 36 hours. These 3 paintings were also done using palate knife. Notecards and paintings are available. I think this has brought you up to date on my week. Please feel free to make comments. Terry

Lavender Festival

On Saturday and Sunday the Plein Air Artists of Riverside were invited to paint at the Lavender Festival in Cherry Valley, Ca. I was unable to attend on Saturday due to previous commitments so I went early Sunday morning and stayed all day. I finished 3 paintings. The first painting is a small 5 x 7 of the lavender bush. While having my lunch I was looking at each individual bush and decided a close up painting would be nice. The second painting was done late afternoon. The third painting done early morning is a vista that I thought was so beautiful. Especially the way the sun was hitting the distant mountains and the nice shadows in the foreground. The little red roof of the pump house in the center of the painting also helped in my decision to paint this particular view. After we finished painting for the day, we sat over under the huge trees and watched on of our fellow artists do a portrait painting of a young lady and listened to the lovely music. The musician playing the piano just graduated high school and is on his way to Julliard. These young talents are amazing. His younger brother also played the violin and he was incredible also. While sitting there an announcement came over that they would like everyone to stay for dinner. They had fixed lavender brisket and salad with lavender dressing, mint brownies and lavender cookies. It was the end to a beautiful day. Enjoy the 3 paintings all painted using a palate knife. They are for sale, if interested contact me. Terry

951

This has been a very busy week with the Plein Air Artists of Riverside. On Friday June 22, 2007, eight artists were asked to paint at the 951 event at the Riverside Art Museum. The event had 600 invited guests who watched the artist at work and asked a lot of questions, enjoyed the wine and specialties as they strolled through the museums beautiful galleries and listened to the lovely live music available on each floor. The saxophone player who played on the first floor was only 19 and so accomplished. I wanted to buy one of his cd's, but by the time I was finished painting, he was gone. I am hoping to find out his name and order a cd, he was terrific. Another thing that I learned was that the museum has a 3rd floor. It is actually the rooftop which has a stage and a beautiful view of downtown Riverside. Definitely a future painting site! I painted outside by the red carpet entrance to the museum and was taken by the way the light and shadows was affecting the beautiful satin draped pedestals with the flower bouquets. This painting is 5 x 7 and done mostly with a brush. I started another painting of the beautiful newly painted blue doors of the museum, but will have to go back another time to finish them. Terry

JUST IN: The sax jazz player's name is J. Boykin, google him and order his cd. He is great!

Veus

I am trying to play catch up on some paintings that I have completed in the last month but have not had time to post them on my blog. This painting was a commissioned piece by my dentist. This is her dog Veus. She got Veus to protect their home after they had a home invasion. He is such a great dog, so friendly. April, Lolita and I went to visit him and their greyhound Tony and take some reference photos for the painting. Veus and April became quick friends and played until they just couldn't play anymore. I liked the composition of the reference photo for this painting as to me it shows his gentle nature, but he looks the part. Painting is 11 x 14 in oil. Terry

Lone Cypress Pebble Beach

Last year while visiting my son at Pebble Beach he asked me to paint him his own painting. He wanted something that nobody else would have, no prints, no cards. I told him to pick out some scenes that he really liked in the area and one of them was the Lone Cypress on the 17 mile drive. He talked about how cool the Rolex clock towers were at each of the Golf Courses so I knew I wanted to incorporate that into the painting. Here is the end result. My son's 21st birthday is this weekend. We are meeting him and a few of his friends, my brother and his wife in Las Vegas to celebrate. I have made a note card of the painting and will give that to him in Vegas. He will see the real painting and take it home the following weekend after a visit with mom and dad for a few days. Enjoy, Terry

Hidden Palms May 16, 2007

Yesterday a group of us from the Plein Air Artists of Riverside, met to paint at the Botanical Gardens on the grounds of the University of Riverside. Pat and I walked through the gardens trying to decide where to paint. The roses were in full bloom as were the day lilies. Unfortunately to get there we would have to pull all our equipment up a steap hill and I just didn't have the energy. When walking back to our set up we spotted these gorgeous palms hidden in the cactus garden. The way the light was hitting them was so beautiful. The hard part was trying to bring them out and separate them from the rest of the garden. This is why I decided to call the painting Hidden Palms. Enjoy, Terry

SOLD