Seascape

Point Lobos is amongst the most beautiful places on earth. It’s full of happy memories for me and it’s those feelings I leaned into as I was painting this in my studio using photos and plein air oil sketches as references.

In this piece, I’m capturing a cypress as it clings to the absolute edge a cliff at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. This is a magical area just north of Half Moon Bay with amazing coastal vistas, a moody cypress forest, tide-pools and a beach where seals hang out and pups are born.

Summer evenings offer no assurance of warmth on San Francisco Bay which is often overcast and cold this time of year. In this piece I’ve captured the San Francisco Sea Scouts out sailing on a balmy evening near Alcatraz.

While I’ve highlighted the sailboats in the title, my primary interest in this scene is the interplay between the between the oranges of the rocks and particular blues of the waters in the Caribbean.

I have mixed feelings about the iceplant we see along the Northern California coast. I know it isn’t native and that it’s invasive. Still it can be so beautiful. In this plein air piece I’m drawn to the backlit glow brought on by the rising sun as the fog lifts.

The sliver of blue sky only made a brief appearance when I was painting this from a bluff in Half Moon Bay. Still, that was the moment I had to catch.

There are so many places to paint along the California Coastal Trail. This spot is just spot is just south of the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay. In this piece, I am particularly interested in the subtle variations in the reflections as seen in the wet sand.

A kayaker makes a morning journey amongst small yet towering islets in Resurrection Bay near Seward, Alaska. Summers here aren’t just popular with paddlers, there are seemingly an endless number of bald eagles, seals and whales share the scene.

With harbors increasingly full of white fiberglass, you’ve got to love a red boat.  I have a crush on the red SSS Viking and the high school age young women who participate in the San Francisco Sea Scouts. Here they are sailing toward Alcatraz on a flamboyantly colorful and blustery spring day. The Viking was built by the US Navy in 1938. Today’s home port is the Maritime National Historic Park in Aquatic Park, San Francisco.

This painting has been juried into the California Art Club’s online showcase “Spring Awakening” (March 21 – June 19, 2023)