A Plein Air Life

My friend Billy and I went out today to go to the beach. The plan was to go to trestles at 7am so he could get his longboard in the water, I was going to be painting while he surfed. So when I woke up I was ready to go, but it was such a flat surf that we just went for a drive. It was a nice drive.

When we got back home, I still wanted to paint, so my daughter Lucy and I went for our own drive and took our painting gear along. I am so glad that she went along. The time we had painting together was priceless and will always be remembered as the first day she did plein air painting. We both took on the same view and she did great.

Flat Wave Day (18 x 22 on board) – 12.28.2002

This view of this cove is somewhere in South Laguna Beach. I am sure that I will someday know the name of it, but we just stumbled on it and I did not take note of the beach sign that lead us down the long concrete stairway to the beach. The entire time we painted, the sun was obscured by a light layer of clouds so the lighting was mostly flat. Once in a while the clouds would thin out and the blue/green water would sparkle. It was a special time for Lucy and I. She was proud to hear the kudos from passers-by. It was getting dark, so we began to clean-up when all of a sudden, something really unexpected happened. The sun was low and peeked through the window of sky at the horizon between the clouds and the water-line. BAM! The sky was on fire. A lady with her adolescent kids stopped by to talk about our paintings and I told her that we had come here from being in WA state for 8 years. “The best part of moving back”, I told her, “is right behind you — Look at THAT!” The sky got brighter than before and the sun glimmered off of the ripples on the ocean. What a way to end a perfect day of painting with my girl. (CAO Criollo)