My Personal Kryptonite

Song - A Work Song of Boat Trackers in SiChuan Province

My personal Kryptonite is Plein Air Painting.

You know....painting mountains, trees, streams, lakes, etc.  OUTDOORS!

Suffice it to say that I like air conditioning or heat, no bugs, nor sand in my shoes.

Am I getting OLD?

I am currently in a three day workshop with Tim Horn.....oh my!

Tim painting the dock & boat house

The workshop is being held at China Camp in San Rafael.  It's beautiful.  It's historic. Tim is an incredible artist and teacher!

But I can NOT paint a tree.




I haven't given up. I keep taking classes and workshops because I love looking at other people's plein air paintings but.....I struggle so.  Too many leaves I think!

 

China Camp was a Chinese shrimp-fishing village which thrived on this site in the 1880s. Nearly 500 people, originally from Canton, China, lived in the village. In its heyday, there were three general stores, a marine supply store and a barber shop. The village was used extensively in the filming of the 1955 movie "Blood Alley"starring John Wayne. Today the fishing village is maintained by the Park Service, with the help of Frank Quan, a descendent of one of the original residents, who lives there. (From Wikipedia)

We began day number one with big cardboard blocks.

Now some of you may think this is easy-peasy.  But depending on the weather, those blocks can change color in an instant, they are constantly changing their shadows and can be rather challenging.

Tim says if you can paint these blocks, you can paint anything. (yeah...right!)

Here he is changing the color of his white block - not so easy-peasy

Tim is especially known for his vintage car paintings, Marin farmland & (my personal favorite) Airstream trailers!!!!  (Hint Mr. B.....it's on my Bucket List)

Please check out his amazing style.....   http://horndesign.com/

Today we painted in the morning with a demo at lunch time and then painted until 4.

Tomorrow I get to do it all over again.

Two little cuties on the beach

The old SEA BREEZ shrimp boat

Some of the existing homes on the beach

The shrimp furnace

The Sea Breez

The dock at China Camp

I painted the "snack shack" this afternoon - I love the old 7-up sign on the right.

I painted this group of buildings in the morning.  We were supposed to be looking for a light/dark pattern.

Time to pack a lunch for one more day at China Camp tomorrow!

 "Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish." -John Quincy Adams