Seascape

This piece is all about the warm reflections in the water at dusk in Sausalito.

The stretch between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz is sometimes called the “Slow Coast.” It’s a wonderful area to spend a day painting. In this view I am looking down on a stretch of beach as the waves gently roll in.

This view of the convergence of ocean and coast brings us to Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach. As a painter it’s so fun painting the mix of colors and shapes of our coastal shallows.

I’ve painted at Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz many times. In this piece, there is only a hint of the archway. Instead of focusing on the opening in rock formation, I’m taking in the effects of the sunshine bouncing everywhere and the colors reflected in the water.

In this painting, with a focus on early summer wildflowers in the foreground.

Point Lobos is amongst the most beautiful places on earth. It’s full of happy memories for me and it’s those feelings I leaned into as I was painting this in my studio using photos and plein air oil sketches as references.

In this piece, I’m capturing a cypress as it clings to the absolute edge a cliff at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. This is a magical area just north of Half Moon Bay with amazing coastal vistas, a moody cypress forest, tide-pools and a beach where seals hang out and pups are born.

Summer evenings offer no assurance of warmth on San Francisco Bay which is often overcast and cold this time of year. In this piece I’ve captured the San Francisco Sea Scouts out sailing on a balmy evening near Alcatraz.

Tropical mangroves play a vital role in healthy coastal ecosystems by helping abate erosion and serving a vital habitat for juvenile sea creatures. Mangroves are adapted to areas that are periodically submerged by salty tides. I love their ‘long legs’ and painted these on a visit to Fiji.

While I’ve highlighted the sailboats in the title, my primary interest in this scene is the interplay between the between the oranges of the rocks and particular blues of the waters in the Caribbean.