5" x 7" oil on canvas panel

Quite a few months ago I emailed Marco Bucci asking for some painting in the field tips, at the time I was mainly asking about a beginning palette suggestion. One tip he mentioned was on my first trip out, to just try and paint a trash can, or something equally simple. That way I can build up my confidence and not just get overwhelmed.

Well two days ago I set out to test my pochade box. I recalled his suggestion, but I really wanted to paint a boat in the Berkeley harbor. I didn’t have a particular boat in mind or anything, but it sounded like a peaceful location and I thought the reflections would be a lot of fun to paint with. I rode my bike out to the Berkeley marina, locked it up and went on a walk with my painting gear on hand. I saw many many boats. Tons of reflections. I got overwhelmed. I rode back home dejected.

I’m always interested in growing as an artist and trying to push myself out of my comfort zone(s). Obviously I had succeeded in that, but it also felt like a failure. One of my big reasons for wanting to paint from life is to confront the tougher artistic choices. When working from a photo or another painting, so much of the work has already been done. There’s the composition, the color arrangement is figured out, and I’m translating one 2d-image to another. Working from life one has to settle on a composition and translate that onto the page. There’s also the whole issue of figuring out what colors you’re seeing, but then also making choices of change. (For example in this painting the golden gate was so far in the distance that combined with the hazy day, it’s colors were way muted, and it was more of a med/dark blue. I exaggerated the red of the bridge to bring emphasis and recognition to that area).

Well today I set out again, this time determined that I’d settle on a composition. There are some neat industrial building some ten blocks away from my apartment, so I walked over there. But there was construction going on, and the sidewalk was a bit busy. So I walked towards the race track, figuring I might find something nice along the shore. The golden gate bridge and the hills north of it were neat looking, it was a very atmospheric day and that interested me. But I didn’t see anything I wanted as a foreground element. Two hours and much walking later, things weren’t looking good. I was getting worried at this point. I recharged with lunch on Solano Ave and happened to spot a walking path (indian rock path). That sounded interesting, so I headed up to see what I’d see.

It dead-ended, in well, a huge rock. Stairs, and a bench, had been carved into it. The view was pretty amazing as I had a panoramic view of the whole bay area. There were people climbing around on the rock, which was neat, but I started to feel self-conscious about painting there. With the other day’s failure still in my mind though, I forced myself to setup and paint! (google map location)

I was so high I didn’t really have a foreground element, and I still liked the way the bridge was affected by the haze, so I just focused on that. It was really windy up on the rock, so I came to the first flaw of my pochade box, that being the way the “shelf” attaches. It just wasn’t strong enough for me to trust that it’d stand up to the wind. So that just sat next to me, it served its purpose, just wasn’t as convenient. Otherwise it all worked well.

I have to figure out how to better photograph my paintings, the colors are close here, but it’s a little darker here than in person.