Blue Heron at Ellis Creek

 

oil on panel, 8" x 6"

Ellis Creek in Petaluma has long been a favorite source of landscape painting inspiration for me, with its great variety of terrain, including marshes, ponds, grasses and distant hills, not to mention avian wildlife in the form of herons, egrets, swans, stilts, and many other winged species.  It's an ever changing ecosystem there and I never get tired of it.

The Marsh at Doran Park

oil on cradled panel, 9" x 12"

This is a scene I've been wanting to paint for quite a while.  It lies just south of Bodega Bay, on a bluff overlooking the bay, and is home to lots of birdlife, especially egrets and herons.  The marsh itself is a riot of color and has a walkway that circles it.  I take my dog here often to walk the loop and contemplate nature.  I painted this scene alla prima (in one session) from a photo I had taken and decided to leave it in its sketchiness.  My favorite pieces are often the ones I've done alla prima, those that convey a visible sense of spontaneity.  A singer doesn't sing half a song one day, then finish it the next; a poet doesn't recite half a poem one day, then finish it the next.  A painting like this is of a moment as well, so why not paint it in one go?  

Tomales Bay Ridge in January

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

A quickie digital sketch done yesterday late afternoon.  Just as I finished, the sky turned all sorts of colors -- pink, orange, violet, yellow -- and I managed to capture the gist of that scene with my iPhone before leaving, with the hope of turning that into a painting.  

Tomales Bay Ridge

oil on gessoboard, 6" x 8"

A palette knife plein air study done from a pullout overlooking Tomales Bay.  

Bolinas Lagoon on a Summer Afternoon

oil on canvas board, 8" x 10"

A plein air sketch of a section of Bolinas Lagoon in late afternoon, done with a palette knife.  The oranges of autumn are starting to appear along this beautiful stretch of landscape, of which there are many choice views along Olema Bolinas Road.

Bolinas Marsh with Eucalyptus Tree

acrylic on hardboard panel, 12" x 9"

This sketch was painted en plein air in acrylics, which means I had to work even faster than with oils.  It was really just an excuse to paint that eucalyptus trunk with all its beautiful color variations.

Bolinas Lagoon

acrylic on MDF panel, 12" x 16"

This is a plein air painting I did the other day from the roadside just outside the town of Bolinas, looking across the lagoon to the wilderness beyond.  It is a spot I will return to again because it is a scene of such staggering beauty.