Paintings 127 and 128, Poppy Field in watercolor

Poppy Field I, watercolor, 5 x 7"

Poppy Field II, watercolor, 7.5 x 11

Three weeks ago, the pea field next to Young Avenue was bursting out with poppies and wild purple mustard. I just had to go down and paint it. In Poppy Field I, I added a barn that isn't really there. Poppy Field II was a demonstration painting that I did for my CUMC art class.

Again, I'm trying to pick which one to enter in the juried art show. Suggestions?

Paintings 124, 125, and 126 McNee Ranch, Revisted

McNee Ranch I, watercolor and ink, 7 x 4.5"

McNee Ranch, watercolor on canvas, 14 x 11", collection of Bryan Richter

McNeeRanch II, watercolor, 7 x 5"

I am entering the 50-50 show at the Sanchez Art Center, in which I pick three California landscapes, painted in both watercolor and oil. I am deciding between these three to go with the oil below. Which do you recommend?

Painting 123 Surfer's Beach in Oil

Surfer's Beach, oil on canvas, 12 x 24" is reexamined from a watercolor painting. I went back down to the beach to repaint the ocean, mid mountain, and rip rap in plein air.

Paintings 121 & 122 Spider Mums

These two watercolor paintings, 5 x 7", of spider mums are sample paintings for my CUMC class. The technique is called wax resist. On our trip to Yosemite, I saw a print of a floral watercolor painting with wax resist. Evelyn used to do wax resist every once in a while. It's such a fun, I feel I am back in elementary school.

Painting 120 McNee Ranch

McNee Ranch, oil on canvas board, 12 x 16", is from a photo that Kim took of the open space that was just given over to Golden Gate National Recreation Area. This area has been a favorite spot for locals to walk their dogs off leash for decades and reaches from Pacifica to the hill behind our house. In the first of February, a dog walker was told by a GGNRA park ranger to leash his dog, which he did, but the incident blew up, and the ranger tasered him. It was big news around here.

Painting 119 Bamboo

Bamboo, watercolor on handmade rice paper with bamboo leaves, 12 x 8" is a sample painting for my CUMC class on Sunday. The paper, which I bought from Duane last year, is from Evelyn Wright's estate. I believe that the paper was hand carried by Duane from Japan.

The idea of the bamboo painting is to keep things simple, to say much with as few brush strokes as possible, to allow the negative space to speak.

The red mark is from my chop which says "Mary Kay" in Chinese. My chop was carved by an old gentleman in the Kee Fung Ng Gallery on the corner of Grant and Clay Streets in San Francisco. In December, I sent my friends down to get chops carved and found out that the old gentleman had passed away and no one else was carving. So sad. It makes my chop even more special now.

Painting 118 Pigeon Pt. Lighthouse (oil)

Pigeon Point Lighthouse, oil on canvas board, 12 x 9" is the same painting that I did in watercolor, but I switched to oils. I like the windows in the lighthouse, the water splashing, and the mustard in the loose foreground.