I am a animation storyboard Artist, currently working on Star Wars Rebels.
The first pass of this painting never sat right with me. I was waiting for another over cast morning with a lowering tide to continue it on location but those conditions never came. Then the season changed and now the colors have started shifting green. I missed my window of opportunity to continue it en plain air so I decided to just clean it up from memory at the apartment.
Lunchtime painting. I walked up the creek towards the Phoenix Lake spillway and found a lot of fungi blooming on a tree. iNaturalist tells me these are Smokey Polypore mushrooms.
I had to stop on the way to Zeldie’s house to paint the dramatic clouds above Santa Rosa. I drove up the hill on Fountaingrove Parkway to where all the big houses were. The scars of the fires haven’t healed yet but the replacement mansions were already rising from the ashes. I set up by the charred remains of an old foundation and while I was working some kids walked over to see what I was doing. After a few minutes of chatting they ran home to paint. It was a productive hour.
Lunchtime painting over by the Tamalpais Creek bridge, Looking west towards Kentfield. Really wet on the trails after the storm, I couldn’t go very far without mud boots.
The post rain clouds were fantastic this afternoon. I caught them at the tail end of the day over at McInnis Park, in San Rafael. I setup on the dock, just behind Gravity Vault Climbing Gym and enjoyed a stunning view of Mt. Tamalpais as the sun set.
Walked across the street to see what the heavy rains and flooding the day before had done to the salt marsh. The damage wasn’t too bad but the storm had left the grass and reeds in a tangled twist which was rather pleasing to look at. That was enough for me so out came my easel.
I drove up to the ranch yesterday morning and just as I got to Alexander Valley the rain began to thin. The Light was marbled and beautiful so I pulled over below lake Elizabeth to paint. Worried about another downpour, I set up under the back door of my little hatch back car but it was all for not because the weather only improved. It was another gorgeous morning in Alexander Valley and I was happy to be back home once again. I didn’t even mind when the neighbor’s security guard stopped to interrogate me about trespassing.
The light yesterday afternoon were pretty fantastic. I had some time before driving back down to Marin so I swung by the winery to paint the view looking south. It started raining on me about an hour in and I had to wrap up earlier than I would have liked.
Painting next to the footbridge behind Kent middle school. The tide went out faster than I expected and I saw the water drop about two feet. I had to retool the composition a few times just to keep up. Probably should start checking the tide charts before heading over to the salt marsh.
Downside of having a really light painting kit: The wind got me again. It blew over the painting and chipped it this time. I had to scrap my first pass to get all the rocks out. ugh
Big deal here in drought stricken Marin CA, it actually rained! Excitedly I took my gear across the street and started to paint a soccer/football game over at Kent Middle school. It was just a drizzle at first then the wind picked up and it turned into a proper storm. I had to fight to hold onto the canvas. The match across the marsh got called around the same time my umbrella crumpled in the wind and took my painting for a ride. Drenched I pulled my pallet from the mud and ran back home.
The Canadian in me mocked my retreat back to the warm apartment but the American in me enjoyed finishing the painting while drinking wine and watching movies with the kids.
