I am a animation storyboard Artist, currently working on Star Wars Rebels.
Woke up to a fire alert for Willits and then while I was painting got another for Corte Madera. You couldn’t escape the smoke today if you tried. It’s blowing in from all over. Wildfires are awful but very selfishly I love how their smoke shifts the light toward warm peach tones and throws my normal color palette out the window. Alexander Valley looked other worldly this afternoon so I set up in the vineyards above my brothers house and did my best to capture the eerie light. 2.5hrs
In was very hot and smoky in Alexander Valley this afternoon and the thick atmosphere really made the landscape pop. So much depth! I drove up above the winery and painted the view looking south until the heat overwhelmed me and I retreated back to mom’s house. I think is was 98°F by the time got back to my desk. I finished the painting looking out the window with a glass of ice water in hand and the AC to protect me. 2.5hrs
Painting on an overcast day in mom’s garden.
After a few days on the road, it was really nice to paint and spend some time with the kids. We had a nice lazy morning watching Revenge of the Sith and then the day really came together as we met up with Jose and the rest of the Sheehy gang by the pool.
Woke up early to avoid the heat and while I was having my coffee the light pouring down from the hills caught my eye. It had a lovely peach tint. Couldn’t go far because the boys were sleeping so I set up by the garden and went to work. I came home about an hour and a half later to hungry kids and Sunday morning cartoons. Good times.
Why am I only finding out now that Joe Hisaishi did a complete film score for Buster Keatons the General. This is beautiful.
Quick low-light oil sketch of Alexander Valley after sunset. 1hr
Another crazy hot day. Around six the heat became tolerable so I walked down the hill and set up on the driveway. Shortly after the goats spotted me and trodden down the hill to hang out. 1.5hr
Well that was a lot more confusing and way more work than I remembered. Long story short, I had to fix some broken code on the site and apparently I forgot everything about site development. Spent the whole day relearning how to setup a localhost and sass compilers.
Drove over to the other side of the ranch around sunset just to mix things up and paint the Valley from a different angle. Started to unpack my paints and like clockwork, the neighbors security detail drove up to tell me I was trespassing on the Young’s Property. Part of me gets really annoyed by this but another part really likes dragging out the interrogation and then casually explaining that my family has lived on this land for six generations then introducing myself as Robert Young’s Grandson… again. Their shift in body language and expression is always interesting to watch. They are good guys, and we really appreciate their keen eyes and hard work. Its just funny how these guys never recognize me. I think this is the third time they have stopped me for painting. Seriously, How many other Plein air painters are there in these hills? 1hr
