More Arboretum Mayhem

Some more paintings from the Cal Poly Arboretum.  This on is a fountain in an english garden.  All the plants are cut with very specific shapes.  I really just wanted to paint the fountain, but have yet to figure out how to do it without quite a bit of greenery around it.  It was really hot today.  Had to be about 90 while I walked up to the arboretum, so I was glad that the place I sat while painting this was in the shade.  I actually think I was a bit too hot to paint as I had sweat rolling down my face while I was painting.  I'll revisit this at some point in the future.

This is a sign leading into..... you guessed it, the California Collection.  I don't know that I really got the wood of the sign the way I wanted to, but there are some things I like about this painting.  Using my trick of red in front and blue in back, it looks like the ground goes from front to back in the painting.  The rock in the front partly because of the red in the ground looks much closer than the sign or the rock behind the sign.  I don't know if you can tell, but the sign is not specifically perpendicular to our viewing angle.  The left side is just a bit smaler than the right.  I love the way the planter and plant came out.  It is just a mass of green coming out of this fantastic red pot.  I actually tried to paint the leaves individually, but quickly decided just a few splashes of a darker green would suffice for the leaves.

Hope you all enjoy these paintings.

Morro Bay City Limits

Yes, this is Morro Bay.  I know there was some question about what this painting is.  This was painted from a picture taken in Morro Strand.  You actually have the city limit sign with some bushes behind it, and the rock in the background.

The thing I like least about this painting is the sign.  I thought for sure I would like it best when I was drawing it.  As it turned out, painting around all the letters was pretty difficult.  I think I'm getting much better at letting the paint mix on the paper.  If you look at the bush behind the sign, there are lots of different colors, brom yellows to greens, blues and purples.  They all seem to work together to give you the feeling of a huge bush.  and if you look at the ground around the bush, it is blue at the top, which pushes it back, and has a reddish tint on the bottom which serves to pull that area forward.

Hope you all enjoy this.  It was fun to draw and paint.

New Sketches

Two buildings from the Engineering complex here on campus.  I couldn't tell yo the names of them, but I can tell you they have some fun angles to try to paint.  I think these are really fun and I can't wait to get out and paint more of the campus.  While I was painting, a student happened along and stopped to look over my shoulder for a few minutes.  Truthfully, I was getting a little annoyed, when he said, "Those are looking pretty good" and went about his way.  

Hope you enjoy them too.