Painting Newport Back Bay

Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve and Ecological Reserve represent approximately 1,000 acres of open space. Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve surrounds the Ecological Reserve. The park includes the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center. Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve totals approximately 140 acres. The Nature Preserve is made up of the bluffs surrounding the Bay. Here is a link with history of this Nature Preserve which I think you will find very interesting. Upper Newport Bay Intro

PAAR's locations chair found this wonderful place for us to paint and after meeting up with some other artists we have found out about more hidden treasures in the area that we will be returning to paint in the near future.

We left out around 8:30 from my house and met up with Lisa McDill at King of Frame. King of Frame is famous for their wonderful plein air frames. Pat Ford and I had each placed orders and thought we would stop by and pick them up on our way to Newport to paint. We each took some paintings to have Terri and Randy Higbee give us some help in framing. If you are in the need for frames this is the place to go. kingofframe.com - Custom and Ready Made Frames, Plein Air Frames They will make the frames up while you wait. Since we had each placed such a large order, Randy suggested that we go out and paint and stop back by after to pick up our orders and he would have some wine and cheese for us to celebrate the day! Now this is the way to treat your customers. Pat, Kathi Scarpace and myself went out for lunch at a fabulous deli recommended by Randy, then headed out to the site to meet up with Lisa for an afternoon of painting.

I chose the above view because I loved the way the light reflections from the sun hit the water. It was amazing how when the tide went out, how different the whole location changed. That's when I knew it was time to call it a day. I am very happy with this little 9 x 12 painting, oil on canvas board. I feel I really captured the mood and the rhythm of the scene. Your comments are always welcomed.

A bit of exciting news. My painting "Overlooking the Crowd" Weekly Paintings by Terry d. Chacon: September 2009 which I painted at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium has juried in to the SoCal Artists Asso. exhibit in Laguna Beach, CA. The reception is Dec. 5, 2009.

Until next time, ENJOY THE ART! Terry d. Chacon

Christmas Painting 2009

"Guess Who's Coming to Christmas Dinner"

24 x 20" oil on wrap around canvas (Terry d. Chacon)

Every year I paint a Christmas painting to add to my collection. You can view past paintings on my website under giclee prints/seasonal. This painting will also be available in giclee and notes. This year I used a photo submitted by Debbie Rogers from Texas. Thank you Debbie!

When I received the photo from Debbie, I took one look at it and my mind starting racing. I had been trying to come up with a theme for my yearly Christmas painting and knew this would be the one. After getting permission from Debbie I drew my ideas out on a sketch pad and then on the canvas

and proceeded after with a wash.

There were 5 puppies in the original photo, I took the puppy out in the middle of the back seat (a black and blue) to add the Christmas present. The Santa is Debbies husband who was helping to keep the puppies in the convertible so Debbie could take their photo. I loved the innocence of the puppies. Each puppy has a different look; curious, precious, mischievous, perfect for any Holiday painting. I have no idea how they managed to keep them in the car, but the photo was priceless and I knew it would make a very special Christmas painting.

After letting the wash dry I painted the complete painting using my palate knife. I love the effects of the palate knife. The palate knife is what I use to paint my plein air paintings and have done a couple studio pieces too. I am liking this effect more and more. Working with the palate knife leaves a lot of paint on the canvas, you can move it around with ease, like buttering toast. It was also a challenge working with all the whites in the photo. Each white has a different color mixed in so it separates them from each other. Actually was a challenge but a lot of fun and I really like the end result.

Looking forward to your comments.

Until next time enjoy the ART! Terry d. Chacon

Painting the Zanja #3

"Zanja at Grove" 9 x 12 on canvas panel

So sorry for the lapse in my weekly blog. 23 days ago I came down with a cold which escalated into a sinus infection. Boy has this taken a toll on me. I have been busy with some studio works and have managed to get a little something done each day.

Painting the Zanja as you may recall from a previous blog is a paint out event put on by the Redlands Art Association and the Redlands Conservancy Redlands Conservancy CITRUS HERITAGE COMMITTEE. This is my 3rd painting. I had hoped to paint more but with being sick that put quite a damper on my getting out and painting on location the past few weeks. Yesterday a group of us met at one location out near Mentone. After looking it over we all decided it was not a location that we were interested in painting. We moved onto another location to find that it really wasn't something any of us wanted to paint. Well third time is a charm. I suggested we go down by the University of Redlands. The Zanja runs south of the University and the tree lined streets in themselves are always a painting waiting to happen. I took off after we parked our cars and walked quite a ways. As I turned back to start walking towards my car I noticed this lovely scene. The way the light was hitting the large Eucalyptus, the old broken down bridge that goes over the Zanja and I loved the hole that gave way to the vista that included some beautiful palms with mountains in the distance.

After painting the area we all joined for a wonderful lunch at Macaroni Grill. What a way to spend the day!

Until next time, ENJOY THE ART! Terry d. Chacon

Giclee prints, notes and some of the paintings on my blog are available. Just contact me for prices and availability.