Reflections of an Artist

Painting Eaton Canyon

      I have been in the studio for too long and needed desperately to get outside to paint plein air, so I went searching through my old emails and found a contact number for Walter and Martha McNall. They host a plein air group of oil and watercolor painters who go out on Thursday. I was very excited to learn from Martha that the group would be meeting at Eaton Canyon, north of Pasadena. I have wanted to paint Eaton Canyon for months but haven't gotten around to actually doing it, so I was looking forward to the day.

      Driving into the park I immediately saw a face I knew, Laura Wambsgans. It turned out that I knew three of the other artists, including Lynne Fearman, and met many more. Walking down the path, I decided to set up near the first water crossing next to another artist and a third joined us later. The day was perfect with a little haze but plenty of sun to form interesting shadows on the hills in the background.

      Since I haven't painted plein air for months, I wasn't sure how well I would do. Luckily, it was a good day and the paint flowed. I am using my new Holbein paints and love the quality of the colors. I painted till noon and then went back for the informal critique that Walter did for the oil painters and Brenda Swenson critiqued the watercolor paintings. Brenda is the demo artists for the May 5 meeting with the SFVAC. It gave me an opportunity to meet her before the upcoming meeting. She is a wonderful painter so don't miss that demo.

      Thank you to everyone who helped make today a lot of fun.