North Head Lighthouse

North Head lighthouse 9x12 oil on gessoboard

   It was a strong winded morning at the North Head lighthouse as I put on 4 layers of clothing and hunkered down to paint. I was able to wedge myself into a land crevice about 18 inches deep beside a fence which grew another 25-30 inches of tall grasses which helped to break the wind slightly. Still the easel and box stood vulnerable to the winds to where I had to hold the set up with half the hand often gripping the fence with a few fingers when the winds really kicked up. Not as bad as the admiralty lighthouse painting adventure but perhaps nearly as cold and exhausting.

Plein air in Purdy

Purdy bridge- 8x10 oil on linen

   Another cold windy summer day on the puget sound as I painted the historic Purdy bridge for my plein air outing. When built in 1937, the Purdy Bridge was the 1st bridge in the U.S. to utilize a reinforced concrete box girder design... ya learn something new every day.

Chambers Bay plein air

Chambers Bay golf course 8x10 oil on canvas

   This summer I have switched up my plein air formula. After the initial shock of going from maybe 15 colors to only the 3 primaries and a brown and a white, I then switched from gessoboard to cloth switching between linen and canvas. Then I tried a few stretched canvases that are gallery wrapped so I tried the "paint the sides" trick which is a little odd and hard to transport. Still I was able to get this fairly decent study overlooking the Chambers Bay golf course.

Working on site at the festival Saturday July 19th

 For those art enthusiasts, I invite you to come join us on  Judson Street
in Gig Harbor's Historic Waterfront District for the Summer Art Festival. Support your local artists, musicals and community events in an all day event that runs both days.  I have the pleasure of working Saturday in the Peninsula Arts League demo tent along side other talented artists to paint, chat about art and answer any questions you may have about all the wonderful things PAL offers the community. See you there!