Sunday, October 20, 2013

A Nice Morning on Cuesta de Loreto.

SOLD
                        Cuesta de Loreto  9 x 12 in. oil on panel

(* UPDATE: This painting just won 1st. prize on Daily Paintworks for October!)

This was done yesterday on Cuesta de Loreto a few hundred feet from our door on "calle sin nombre" which goes off  about where this road leaves the picture on the left. Donna Lee and Elaine West painted in the same location and we all came up with  good but very different results. I'm posting Donna's below and I will include Elaine's later if I can get her to send me a photo of it. Elaine lives on a houseboat near San Francisco and is a very good plein air painter - we always enjoy her company when she's in San Miguel. I haven't got out to do plein air for a while as I've been doing a lot of color experimentation in the studio lately. It's been interesting (even a lot of fun) but after yesterday I would  say that the experience of painting on the street (so far) remains the best. I think it's a good idea to try different things though. It's not all that surprising when something you've discovered doing one approach pops up as a nice inclusion in the other - I think there's a little of that in the example above.

And here's Donna Lee's below ..................


untitled 9x12 in. oil on panel     Donna Dickson
There is some great and complicated drawing in this one and considering she spent just over 2 hours on it I find this painting really impressive. Cuesta Loreto really is that steep and Donna has the whole feeling of it just as it is. I love the feeling of height and distance overlooking the town, between the two buildings near center. Five BIG stars Donna !! ............. a very cool piece of plein air work.





   (untitled so far)  9x12 oil on panel     Elaine West

Another great example of  p/a work. Elaine found a rare flat spot in the shade and out of the traffic to work on this one. The guy with the rolled up straw rugs on his bike just happened to come by and made a perfect inclusion for the piece. I love the strong design and those saturated hues. Bravo Elaine !