Today I was back in the studio painting working on my Coastal Vallemar piece. Do you ever get to that point where you wish you could press the undo button and get back to where you were before? That is how I felt today when I was struggling to get just the right intensity on the foreground weeds. The more I worked, the less sure I was. That was when it was time to loosen up with the above sketch. I grabbed a 8" x 10" canvas and decided to do the piece above as quickly as possible.
I've been working on this 20" x 10" oil on canvas for the last week or so. I'm feeling it is almost finished. Alternately, I have been working on my gull painting I started in November. It's interesting to work on a nearly monochromatic painting along with this color rich piece. I keep gravitating to the sun filled colorful pieces rather than the more somber coastal gray day paintings.
Today I hiked from Vallemar out around the water treatment plant across the hills of Mori Point looking for new inspiration. It was a lovely day and there were quite a few hikers out, but still peaceful enough for me to find my own quiet connection with my surroundings.
Above Mori Point I found new horizons for new art. 
I added a little bling from some recycled jewelry to the tiny #11 seed beads on one of my gourd stitch necklaces for a new twist. With Christmas on the way, this will make a nice gift for some lucky lady.
At home, I am visualizing what my 8' space is going to be like, and how I can arrange my work for the show.
Our palm tree in front of the house has been the home for nesting Barn Owls. Apparently there is a youngster who is unable or refusing to leave the nest. Every night for weeks there has been a terrible screeching all night long as this bird begs for food. 2 birds were visible this morning after the storm of yesterday that removed more dead palm fronds.
My Coffeeberry shrub is fruiting in my mostly native front yard, and the berries just became ripe. Today the shrub was hopping. Robins and this Black-headed Grosbeak gorged on berries until the neighbor outdoor "bad cat" bird hunter showed up. I also glimpsed a bird that appeared to be an Eastern Warbling Vireo with the usual Pygmy Nuthatches and Chickadees. There was also a tremendous outbreak of termites that were thickly covering the pickets on the fence. Yikes!
This newest piece (above) is called "Joli's Apples". It is an 8" x 8" piece in progress. Below is the completed "From Mori to Marin". This canvas measures 14" x 11".
Above: Sunday, October 12th I finished this panoramic painting of Mori Point looking south.
Meanwhile, I am beading up a storm in the evenings. I am now working on my 5th tubular peyote stitch snake necklace but this one is in "my colors" rather than snake colors.
The above painting is called Mori Point Tsunami completed yesterday. I worked on the painting below at the same time. It is called Mori Point Breaking and was conpleted today. These are both 10" x 8" oil on canvasboard and will be shown to sell at the Open Walls/ Small Works exhibit in December.
I've been wanting to paint Mori Point for a long time but couldn't quite manage to haul my supplies there to do plein air work. I have taken lots of wonderful photos at Mori Point, and decided to reference those. Here is a 20" x 10" painting on canvasboard in progress.
l paintings are details of Mori Point with surf. I've just started these and I plan to do them fast, keeping them fairly loose and a bit abstract. I'm working on these simultaneously. They are 10" x 8" on canvasboard.
n't want her to wear this dress to my niece's birthday party, but she has another one and she wanted to wear this. It's the first portrait I've done in oils in recent years. This has aspects that are wrong here, and I may just restart this one or move on! I find fast drying acrylic paint, that I used exclusively up until a couple years ago, much easier to handle for this type of work. I painted with oils at the SF Art Institute in the 70's when I worked much more slowly and was not as prolific.
Here are two more studies of oak trees in the golden California grass. Both paintings are 8" x 8" oil on canvasboard.
I have been wanting to do some California Oaks with golden grasses. This was inspired from s trip to Yosemite over the weekend. This is an 8" x 8" painting on canvasboard.
I decided to do a whimsical interpretation of a sunflower in my garden. This is a 10" x 8" oil on canvasboard painting.
I am currently working on these two studio pieces and love working larger on this 18 x 24 size. Working large presents different challenges in mixing large quantities of paint and taking more care in planning the dark and light areas of the composition to keep my colors clean while working over a longer time period with wet on wet paint. I see I need to get better lighting so I have a full spectrum of color that does not alter true color perception. This light is very yellow, and does not show the art properly.
This painting is a 8" x 10" oil on canvasboard piece inspired by the amazingly hot weather and fabulous clouds we are having. Who would believe Pacifica could reach 90 something?
