Weekly Painting #15 - Pudding Creek Afternoon

We went to Fort Bragg/Mendocino over the Memorial day weekend. I attempted to catch up on some Plein air sketching while the kids were playing at the Pudding creek beach. Saw this mom and toddler wading the water. The afternoon sun was lit up the cliffs & people and I couldn't resist painting the scene. I quickly sketched the composition and started on the painting but couldn't finish it on location. Continued the painting at the hotel and finally took a photo today. Here is the sketch and some scenes from the location.

Weekly Painting #14 - Mackerricher Beach Plein Air

Plein air Gouache sketch from last weekend at Mackerricher beach, Fort Bragg, CA. It was a perfect day to sit on the cliff and work on my sketch. I was contemplating a different location and a different composition. But with a short time in hand, I had to settle for this view closer to the parking lot. It was a relatively quick sketch, completed in about an hour.

Weekly Painting #13 - Cuppa Finch

Cuppa Finch, anyone ? I saw a teacup bird feeder project from Pinterest a while ago and built it last month. Guess who loves it? The orange house finches, of course. The first time I saw them , I ran inside the house to grab the camera and got some shots. They were pretty shy initially but now don't mind me hanging out along with them in the garden. I crack up every time I see a finch sitting inside the cup on the food and eating the food. So not one, but two finch paintings for this week :)



Here is another painting of my houseguest. Done on a 6X6 ampersand clay board.


Here are some pictures of finches on the teacup :)

Weekly Painting #12 - Cracked Egg

Cracked open an egg for painting last week. I knew I would get caught up in this one but couldn't resist. The position of the broken eggshells changed from how I laid out on the blue plate and I couldn't find my reference photo. Boy, it was rough !! Gone was my resolution of keeping the painting time under two hours. While the majority of the work was done last week, I found myself going back to it couple of times. I think I am done ( for now :) ).

Weekly Painting #11 - Garden Center Cactus

During one of my many runs to garden center this spring, came across this cute cactus with a flower. It's one of those tiny pots with the clear plastic handle. It looked as if the little garden center cactus was having it's own private party with all the party streamers :).