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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Laguna Memory, 8X10, oil on linen, Laguna Beach seascape oil painting















"Laguna Memory"  8X10, oil on stretched linen.  Painted on location at Heisler Park, Laguna Beach, CA.  I spent a special day here painting with other LPAPA artist members on Memorial Day weekend.  The weather could not have been better, the colors were high key this day.  I walked around trying to decide what to paint, everything was so gorgeous.  I saw this cypress tree reaching out over the ocean bluff, as if it was pointing to the jutting rocks below and the clear coastal waters.  I thought it might be nice to include part of the cypress to frame and add a design element to the painting.  The bluff was made very warm in color and the rocks below have an added cooler blue over the warms to separate the two.  I used Cerulean blue in the sea and faded it out towards the southern coastal waters.  There was little tide and waves, so I painted in the swirling white water as it gently moved past the rocks.  I purposely left out people and any buildings in the distant bluffs to give this a serenity.  Price is $250.    The second image is how it looked when I left with it on location.  It fell on the seat of my Jeep and I spent 3 more hours studio time correcting the mishap.  Luckily, the seat of the Jeep only smeared it and no dirt got into it.  I think the accident was a good thing as I improved upon the plein air work by painting from the images I took later that afternoon in the studio.  Life of an artist is not as easy as it looks.

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