Frank Bette Center Plein Air 2026

I had a really good time returning to the Island for this event. Due to our more frequent visits to Alameda over the past year, I've gained more experience just existing as a normal human being, and not simply an artist swooping in to search for inspiration.

Since we have gained more friends living in Alameda, we've been coming here to have fun and experience it more like a local. I think that has given me a deeper appreciation for the community here as well as the things and places that get overlooked in the pursuit of aesthetics.

The locals of Alameda have a pride that I don't see a lot of in most other Bay Area cities, and it's hard to describe. Its proximity to San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, would lead you to believe that it's going to be similar, and yet it's entirely unique, even though it has elements of each. It's both hidden and easily accessible. The iconic industrialism and military vestiges almost fortify the warm and friendly communities inside of it. There is grit that gives the city character, and yet it feels much safer than most other cities in the area.

I feel like these paintings are more indicative of this growing relationship I have with the city than in years past. I hope that these strike a chord with you, especially if you are someone who either lives in Alameda or are familiar enough with it to understand what I am trying to say through these pieces.

"Protection" Gouache on paper mounted to cradled panel. 4x6 inches.

I ended up at this park somewhat on accident. I was looking to see what I would find at the Ferry Point area. There are a lot of cool things out there, including Almanac Brewing, many different distilleries, and even hydrofoils! Where I actually painted was a park called the Alameda Seaplane Lagoon Promenade. The park itself was a lot of concrete and recently planted landscaping, so maybe it's a fairly new park? It's pretty clean, but the best part for sure are the views! You can get a nice SF skyline view if you look northwest, but I was mainly struck by this side-view of the USS Hornet. The contrast of this dark gray imposing monolith against the liveliness of the seagulls and business of the cables and crates is what I wanted to show here.

"Might Of The Masses" Gouache on paper mounted to board. 4x6 inches.

I had a lot of fun with this one! As I said when I first posted it to my stories: when the scene is complex, go loose! Why, might you ask? Because unless you are going to go through the effort of precise drawing and proportions, you are going to get some things wrong. Any obviously wrong placement is going to stand out severely. Instead, if you go loose and try to imply the gist of what's going on, your viewers' eye will fill in a lot of the detail. As long as there are enough correct marks that contain the detail, you can get a lot more loose inside of those marks. In plein air, I think certain things can be sacrificed in the pursuit of a more energetic or poetic piece.

"Summer's Here" Gouache on paper mounted to board. 6x6 inches.

This was a subject that had caught my eye during a prior scoping mission. I thought that I would keep it in my back pocket should I need to access one quickly. My fellow plein air competitors absolutely understand the importance of a fall-back plan, subject-wise. I think I made a mistake by going so dark in the shadows, so they sunk in and lost the luminance I could have gotten had I not set myself up to fight with the values. I still think it's a worthy subject, but I need another crack at it to be satisfied.

"Drawing Down For The Evening" Gouache on paper mounted to cradled panel. 4x4 inches.

There was a really nice bright sunset that we were treated to on Monday. At this point, I certainly would have expected more wind, as is the usual on Alameda. We were treated to perfect weather the whole day, and near-perfect weather the whole week! We went to Bay Farm Island after the artist reception dinner at the yacht club. I was right across the water from it, so it was an easy place to get to. It is a really popular spot for fishing, bike riding and jogging, so I would imagine that a lot of locals know it. I really enjoyed working with this palette. This color doesn't last long, so a small panel is a smart choice for quick sunsets.

"The Maritime Corridor" Gouache on paper mounted to board. 12x18 inches.

This painting was a revelation for me, personally. The main reason I have used both oil and gouache during plein air events is because I have always had more trouble going larger with gouache, and oils usually are easier to go large on location with, painting-wise. It's all the other drawbacks to oil painting that I get tired of!

This painting is much larger than I've ever tried to go with gouache in plein air, and honestly? It's one of my biggest gouache paintings I've ever done! And yet, I was able to execute it in 2.5 hours(one sitting). So if I can get to this level of finish so quickly with gouache, why do I need to bother with oils, especially if I ever travel out of state to a plein air event?

I'm going to have to put this to the test again, but the results are very encouraging. Regardless of how you feel about this painting objectively, I think this painting is really cool solely for the direction it's pointing me to.

"The Court of Neptune" Gouache on paper mounted to cradled panel. 6x6 inches.

I've walked and driven past this fountain so many times, and almost without fail, it has amazing lighting in it, no matter what else is happening around it. Shout-out to whoever designed that court, because they really knew something! I really liked the opportunity to use the colors I did in this painting. The colors are mainly a result of all the different things bouncing their color into the stone fountain. I think this is gonna become a subject I come back to often.

"The Tower Across The Bay" Gouache on paper mounted to board. 4x4 inches.

I was pretty tired at this point, and was not even sure I was even going to paint anything else that evening. I could have easily opted not to, but the light was nice, the Sutro Tower is an icon, and the conditions were nice too. It was such a tiny panel I was gonna work on that it didn't feel like it going to be a huge investment no matter what the results turned out to be. The muted sunset colors are something I'm really familiar with, being from Sonoma County. This painting is meant to be discovered; a tiny jewel you can place among your other small pieces on a wall or what have you. It's not one that screams for your attention, so its charm is in the feeling of finding something that feels like only you appreciate.

"Battle With The Wind" Gouache on paper mounted to board. 6x9 inches.

The title says it all. It wasn't like this the whole time though! When I started, there was a bit of a breeze but nothing insurmountable. Unfortunately, I was not prepared for the cold Pacific Ocean wind to come a-howling about 75% of the way there. Guess what's hard to paint with freezing hands and stinging eyes: small details! I did my best, and truth be told, I was able to handle it artistically. I added the wave caps at the end to depict that wind that everyone on Alameda Island is certainly familiar with.

"Industrial Calligraphy" Gouache on paper mounted to board. 7x5 inches.

This painting was another revelation of sorts, though in a completely different way. The title is a good hint. Gouache has a quality to it in that when you lay brush to paper, what you see is what you get in terms of placement. It's usually not moving much unless it's a lot of water in the mix. With it also drying matte, it almost has an ink quality when drawing with it.

I am sure I'm not the only person to discover this about gouache, but how come so few gouache painters take advantage of the mark-making opportunity it offers? There are artists like Mike Hernandez and Tiffanie Mang whose colorfully marbled flat strokes are very visually appealing, but that is only one of many potential techniques. I feel like the texture and shape of each individual stroke can show a lot of gesture and expression in it. Think of brush-and-ink art, but in color, mixed with other techniques I'm already using.

If you're not familiar with Erik Tiemens, his gouache work is completely different than most other gouache painters out there. He has a mixture of Hudson River School sensibilities with the expressiveness of early-20th-century watercolorists. The brushwork expression is fantastic.

I'm really excited to explore this direction more!

"The Trail Down" Gouache on paper mounted to board. 5x7 inches.

My final piece of the event was actually done on the "Off-Island-Day" where artists can opt to paint in a nearby area or neighboring city/county. We decided to take our chances on the coast after carefully checking the conditions. The Marin Headlands are probably the easiest Pacific Coast access to Alameda, so I would imagine that a lot of East Bay area folks are pretty familiar. The wind turned out to be nothing to be very scared of. It's not a great place for you if you're a shy painter. I set up near one of the main bridges that give you access to the beach, so I definitely had a lot of passer-by's.

I've become immune to most plein air annoyances, but you do have to smile and give them a little acknowledgement or else it just becomes worse if you just straight up ignore everyone. Personally I prefer to never speak to strangers if I don't have to, but the attitude I try to give off is "I'm friendly, but I'm pretty busy right now." That is usually enough for most to get the hint. The problem is that most of the people who are interested in engaging with me the most are the people who don't get a lot of social cues... My favorite interaction while painting is just a quick walk-by compliment. Once I'm done with painting though, I'm usually down to chat away!

If you're interested in checking these out in person, you can come to the South Shore Center outdoor mall in Alameda at the end of Park Street Saturday August 1st from 10 to 4 pm. If you can't catch it, I'll be moving some of the unsold inventory over to the Frank Bette Center on Paru Street where my work and many others will be on display. You definitely want to come to the outdoor show if you can, because the best work will likely be gone by the end of the day.

More info can be found on the Frank Bette Center website:

https://www.frankbettecenter.org/

-Sergio