I've mostly been doing larger gouache paintings outdoors lately which means I'm not doing as many Paint Drips, but that doesn't mean I don't have these to offer! I would like to share these here, along with some stories to go along with them.
"Big River Beach, Mendocino" 8x11 inches. Gouache on Watercolor Paper. $350
Since my girlfriend Vanessa was participating in Gualala Art Center's plein air event, we decided to make a trip of it. We set up camp near Jug Handle State Beach, and the next day we drove into the town of Mendocino to get to work. After taking a ton of great pictures on the cliffs surrounding the town, we went down to Big River Beach to do some plein air painting. It was really hazy, so I used a more watercolor-like approach. The thing I love about gouache is that you can thin it down to make washes, then when you need to model form and add detail, you can paint more opaque with it.
"Greenwood Cove, Elk, CA." 6.5x9.5 inches. Gouache on Watercolor Paper. $300
After painting in Mendocino, we found out about a festival happening in the town of Elk, we decided to go check it out. It's such a cute little seaside town on the Mendocino coast. We happened to go when they were having some little festival. Crowds of rural folk doing things like grease pole climbs just was not our vibe, so we just had to go down the cliff to go paint instead. Fortunately it was a great warm evening that just lent itself to fantastic painting conditions. The town of Elk is surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery of the north part of the PCH.
"Point Arena Lighthouse" 6.5x9.5 inches. Gouache on Watercolor Paper. Coming soon to Christopher Queen Gallery in Duncans Mills, CA. INFO HERE
We woke up the next day to much more fog than we had dealt with the previous day, so we needed to go south to get out of it. We went down to the Point Arena lighthouse, which was on our agenda to check out anyway. It happened to be warm enough and the wind still enough (a rarity there) to be able to set up and paint on the cliff. This is a classic lighthouse that looks like something you would find on the coast of New England, which is why I think it's such a popular subject for painters. I feel like this painting really captured the watercolor feel I was looking for with gouache.
To end the weekend, we found an awesome izakaya (Japanese pub) in the town of Point Arena that we just fell in love with, then went to the lovely Point Arena cove. If you've never been, it's awesome! It's like a mini-port town surrounded by gorgeous sea cliffs. We took a bunch of pictures but definitely will go back to paint there in the near future. It's the type of place that has tons of different subjects even aside from the cove itself.
Coming next: Sonoma Plein Air 2022!