Seascape

While painting a Santa Cruz Harbor scene, I was charmed by this procession of student sailors which. I used the plein air painting I did that day as a study for this studio painting.

Exhibited …

2025 – Harrington Gallery, Pleasanton Art Center, Fresh Works Show

I painted this from the Bird Island Trail in Point Lobos on a foggy summer morning. My initial idea for the piece was to lean into the layers of fog before they dissolved into sunshine and I sure enjoyed the pelican traffic as I was painting this.

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.

This piece is all about the warm reflections in the water at dusk in Sausalito.

The stretch between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz is sometimes called the “Slow Coast.” It’s a wonderful area to spend a day painting. In this view I am looking down on a stretch of beach as the waves gently roll in.

This view of the convergence of ocean and coast brings us to Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach. As a painter it’s so fun painting the mix of colors and shapes of our coastal shallows.

I’ve painted at Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz many times. In this piece, there is only a hint of the archway. Instead of focusing on the opening in rock formation, I’m taking in the effects of the sunshine bouncing everywhere and the colors reflected in the water.

In this painting I turn my attention to the early summer wildflowers in the foreground.

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.