ScottandFinn:OTI::pics,notes:::9/30/20

Open To Interpretation 

Aliso Beach, Scott, and Finn (his white poodle)

#stradaeasel

Notes: rolled out in the midday heat...thought had been to see sunset at Main Beach, Laguna Beach...but an idea came along in the morning...do a panorama of Aliso Beach...pictured it on the out!...the South Bluff with the Palace at one end...the North with the Rock House and Bridge at the other...inbetween everything included from Lost Pier Snack Stand to the Palm Grove entrance...thought to make a long pencil/ink/inkwash sketch on the Blick big paper...and, and first grabbed the camera to take reference photos from one end to the other...Scott was under his umbrella with his pooch, Finn, and I ran the whole idea by him..."cool"...I thought so too!...took the pics, and thought to get a snack, and sat down on the low wall by Lost Pier, heat exhausted..."David, is that you?"...I turned to look, and it was Lorraine, one of the group of plein air painters four days back...she was with a friend, and we chatted...explained my Aliso Panorama notion..."cool!"...I think so too!...anyway, they were finished up painting for the day...I asked for their autographs, and they kindly obliged...passed along my phone and name too...I need to get better cards...ones I have just have email, which is problematic...so, soh, I went over to the beach...big surf day...big crowd...and I was melting...and just as I got past The Spot, sighted Scott with Finn, both napping under the umbrella...that's it, I thought, I'm done...number thirty, Scott and Finn sleeping under umbrella at Aliso Beach...the last one of the stradaeasel challenge...and just right...a Panorama would have been spectacular, and, and over the top...the little ink drawing just right, and a segue to Inktober, which begins tomorrow...thought is to each day for Inktober, fill up one of the Blick big papers with gesture pencil/ink/inkwash mini-takes of oceanside folk...behind me while drawing, was a gal from Encino(?)...somewhere far inland...I showed her my drawing, "cool", and learned she knew Scott too, and too often comes to Aliso...and asked for her autograph...as I noted, there's an Aliso Beach community I'm becoming acquainted with!...cool...onward...

:)

DavidDavid 

Wood'sCove:OTI::pics,notes:::9/29/20

Open To Interpretation

Wood's Cove, Laguna Beach

#stradaeasel

Notes: out and back...back by 9am, before the Fog burned off and the heat turned on...Wood's Cove is where my SCUBA classes would go...ended up there after not being able to quite locate The Tower, which is nearabout Nyes and Victoria Streets...discussed finding it with Scott of the Giant Red Van at Aliso, where I went first to snack JackintheBox #21 and large coffee...as we talked, I looked over Scott's shoulder, and he had a large photo poster of The Tower on his Van's wall...go figure...it's confusing to find, as signs all over, Private Property, No Beach Access...way to get there is from where there is access at low tide...but tide was high, reaching the stairs at Wood's....did the sketch quickly from mid-way down the stairs...these small coves are wonders, and I try to ignore the homes on the bluffs...eventually, the thought, I'll collect plein air oils of each...a project for years!...meanwhile, the photo is knockdown, a new favorite!...oh, to have professional grade camera gear!...photos have all been with my Canon Powershot SX50HS, a few with the old Rebel and the 70-300 green ring lens...always forget what it is called...dioptic or something...perfect for out and abouts...my long time photo gear in Yosemite...somewhere my Canon underwater point and shoot...those three always with...and the big SLICK tripod, and a goose neck attachable thing...a fellow on facebook is lighting up the facebook birdwatcher group with Ospreys, Kites, Hawks, from Bolsa Chica...bit jealous of that...after tomorrowmorrow, last day of strada challenge, I'll leave off Laguna for the wide sandy beach towns, Seal Beach to Corona del Mar...Corona is the first of the cove and crescent beaches, the wide beaches start up again past Dana Point...a few coves/crescents past Carlsbad at La Jolla...AMTRAC train can deliver me there...then San Diego bays, and some kind of beaches to the Mexican borders...from there, the wild coastline of Baja California...I dont think Mexico permits building right up to the ocean's edge in Baja...some of that for certain...I dunno...a sometime! 

:)

DavidDavid

MainBeach:OTI::pics,notes:::9/28/20

Open To Interpretation

Main Beach, Laguna Beach

#stradaeasel

Notes: out and back at midday...too hot...thought to go to Crystal Cove and sketch "intrusions", a geology thing...Crystal has a brochure guided tour of its geology...but gate closed where I thought to park, no luck...continued on to Laguna and turned on the side street by the Laguna Arts Museum...thought to get lucky with parking and do a sketch from the bluff, hopefully in shade....much luck!...found one right near the shady Kiosk which has view of Main Beach, and Bird Rock, which is covered with Pelicans...here's link to an artist's watercolor from same vantage: 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/512766339/painting-of-laguna-beach-main-beach   

...was hungry, but restaurants, nice ones, thereabout, looked pricey...took pics of the Museum, and the Pelicans, and, and maybe tomorromorrow I'll go there before sunup, try a plein air oil...just two days left of strada challenge...reached home and a bowl of Hormel chili, with bread/creamcheese, and cocacola soda...

:)

DavidDavid

AlsioRocksSurf:OTI::pics,notes:::9/27/20

Open To Interpretation

Aliso Beach Plein Air Oil

South Bluff, rocks, surf

11x14 canvas board

#stradaeasel

Notes: Game on...on the radio...Angels at Dodgers...last game of the short season for the Angels...Dodgers going on to the playoff...Dodgers 3-0 top of sixth...two down...Ward up...out and back late...rolled up on Shake Shack around 7:30am...line a bit long, so continued on to JackintheBox #22, large coffee...and Aliso...the big white truck and the big red camper in their respective parking spots...neighbors they are...visited with Scott...'Are you going to do another oil painting?"..."ah...." actually I thought to do a charcoal of the truck and camper..."yep"...and I set up...truck camper neighbors for sometime!...morning overcast...did a really good preliminary sketch, which won a 'it looks just like it" praise later on...and I started to mix towards the grey of the sky, and lost patience, and went with the violet purple...I just have three colors and white and black...four...Ultramarine blue, Thalo blue, Alizarin red, and Cadmium yellow...should have cad yellow light...from those colors, I can mix all the others...been awhile, so I've forgotten mixing routes to get to colors, especially greys...so, the pallet, a piece of aluminum foil over a five gallon bucket plastic lid with small bungee underneath for grip, tended to a redvioletpurplebluegreen theme...I wanted to get the green of approaching waves as they approached...it fit with the grey sky and grey greenish ocean...but, I thought, there's simultaneous contrast with red and green...so thought maybe the red sky might help...I dunno!...it's a curious looking painting!...midway, Monica, the plein air artist, see post three days back, showed up with her friends...they were there to paint too...I handed out Bobcat cards and rambled on and on about the Valley/Yosemite..."this is my Half Dome now", pointing to the Palace on the Bluff...another artist, just Sunday holidaying with his family, joined the conversation, from who I got the 'it looks like it" praise...the Sun came out, light all changed, and I lost track of what I was about...it's okay...lol...waves do eat rocks!

:)

DavidDavid

AlisoRockSurf:OTI::pics,notes:::9/26/20

Open To Interpretation

Aliso Beach, South Bluff Rocks and Surf

#stradaeasel

Notes: out and back to Aliso Beach...put two hours on the parking meter ticket, snacked JackintheBox #21 and coffee...thought on the way was to study the rocks and waves...this a sometime from the first day...just ocean, sky, waves, rocks, sand...I've begin counting up the things in a view!...elements, shapes...unbeknownst, I aligned the two foreground wave fronts...squinting, or looking at tiny thumbnail, they make a slant line in the middle of pic...a what to do what to do, as it actually helps give a sense of the waves coming in...watching them, they're all over the place...and, and I tried Blick's archival student charcoal drawing paper...it's like all the other 'archival' papers...too white, too smooth, with a weird canvas grid like tooth to it...dont like 'm...Strathmore's newsprint is like the best for charcoal...MiTientes,  the same size pastel papers, are almost like the newsprint...I have a couple blank MiTientes sheets somewhere...I can go on and on about the hunt for an archival charcoal ground as good as newsprint...one thing, really expensive board or paper freezes one up with anxiety...unless one can throw economic caution to the wind!...used another brand of charcoal than General's sticks too...too soft too coarse...General's charcoal sticks are like unique!...and the NuPastel sticks a close relation...anyway, I'm closer to making a plein air oil of those rocks and surf...there's a gauche of the scene on the web that's spot on...see if I can link...brb...see google search, All and Images: Mike Hernandez, Aliso Beach Laguna 8x10 gouache...

:)

DavidDavid

CrystalCove:OTI::pics,notes:::9/25/20

Open To Interpretation

Crystal Cove State Park

#stradaeasel

Notes: out and back late morning to Crystal Cove, State Park...driving back on Hwy One thereabout yesterday, Redtail Hawk overhead calling calling screeee screeee...looked out the window, a wonder as I was in heavy fifty mile an hour traffic...and noted the dark patches at the underside wing tips...so, soh,  went to Crystal Cove today...it's a walk from parking to the bluffs, and then down steep slope path...been a wonder if I can get back up such!...kept things light, just took the small drawing board and the green folding chair....I charcoal sketched the North (labled south in drawing) Bluff, not really realizing how neat it is until I got home and saw the zoomed in photo...the South Bluffs' view I've done before, last September?, but from the bluff south of the bluff I was on-view spot with signs and benches, I mean...I was at the North edge of the Park...the Village and Shake Shack are at the South end...hoped to see Hawk, but no luck...but I did make it back up the slope, in the heat no less-about eighty I'd say...studied the waves...they're like clouds,,,like the fog bank in yesterday's oil!...last night looking at Monet and Turner London fogs (youtube is providing me with old artists and thousands of their paintings)...bluffs too...everyone does bluffs...

:)

DavidDavid

TheSpot:OTI:pics,notes:::9/24/20

Open To Interpretation

Palace, Aliso Beach, South Bluff 

plein air Blick oils on Blick canvas board 11x14 

#stradaeasel

Spot is Lawn Island with
the one Palm Tree on right
-parking spot to right...
Mini Cooper is actually right there!...
but not a parking spot...

Notes:  On the first day, walking back from doing the Charcoal Sketch, I had noticed "The Spot"..."Oh!", I thought, walking past the parking lot Lawn Island with the one Palm Tree, "I should'a' sat there..."...and it's been on my sometime list since...out and back before sunup, I arrived at Aliso with JackintheBox snack and coffee, and the parking spot next to The Spot was vacant!...that's never happened!...usually big pickups or camper vans there...so, soh, I pulled right in, a happy clam..."I can oil paint from inside Silver, my Jeep..." my thought...and I took in that morning's view of the Palace and South Bluff...a fog bank!...thought and thought long on that...and, and, I thought, "why not?" and set up the French Easel on the Lawn Island in the shade of the Palm Tree, and commenced to plein air oil paint in the antique fashion-a first time to use the easel in such environs!...it was early, no one around except my neighbor in the giant Red Camper Van...Scott, his name I learned, and he explained the parking spot I was in, thanking me for being there...usually another fellow with a big pick up parks there everyday, all day, right from sunup...that I'd witnessed!...and they didn't get along, or some such...from there we talked about my painting effort, off and on during the few hours it took...finished, he liked it, and asked, "is that what you saw this morning?"...he had asked how I was going to deal with the changing light, and the fog coming and going, and I explained I had a snapshot in my head...pics above show the fog bank when I first got there...but, it morphed!, of course, as things will held in memory...such is Impressionism!!!...anyway, as I left, a passenger car pulled into the parking spot, and Scott has a respite for awhile longer...there's like a community of regulars at the Parking Lot...dog walkers too...and they've noted my regular appearances, so, for awhile, I'm in the swim...tommormorrow, the North Bluff, and maybe the Rock House, and an exploration of the Park's inland grounds...there's parking there too, on the other side of Aliso Bridge/Hwy One, and I think a trail going into the hill canyon of Aliso Creek...much fun!...onward...

:)

DavidDavid

AlisoArtist:OTI::pics,notes:::9/23/20

Open To Interpretation

Aliso Beach Plein Air Artist

#stradaeasel

Notes: "What are you drawing?"  the fellow driving his car parked in front of me asked through the open passenger window..."Her!" I answered...'she's famous!"..."Oh!" he said, "I'll get out of the way..." and ne pulled forward and began a conversation with the plein artist at Aliso Beach I was drawing...she explained she wasn't famous, and they chatted, both locals it seems...on this mid afternoon out and back, I arrived at Aliso to a full parking lot, but just as I made the round about at 'the spot' a car pulled out, and I pulled right in, noting the plein artist set up on the lawn island thereabout, and thereabout likely for some privacy...and, and I intruded terribly, bubbling over with my stradaeasel adventures...they are the first plein artist I've come across!...and indeed were doing the contest too...after chatting, which didn't phase her efforts at all, I grabbed a snack from the Lost Pier, $25 dollars with tip!, and set up my folding chair behind Silver, my jeep, to snack...but diverted to do the sketch...thenabout the fellow in his car came along...like with Blair, I was so bold as to have her sign the sketch...beginning of a  collection of these!...anyway, with her encouragement, after expressing my wariness of oil paints, I took my folding green chair and my drawing board, and new NuPastels over to my spot, and immersed myself in my effort...had in mind to do a pastel...pastels a stepping stone to oils...but diverted to a charcoal focus on the Palace...thought to color it in with pastels, but forgot the black charcoal mixes in...duh...so just did the sky...I was covered head to toes with clothes to avoid the noontime sun...and after roasting, thought that's it for today...turning about, the artist had left off too...so, soh, who is she?...Laguna famous?...brb...

quote

" Solidly in the California Scene painting tradition, Monica Edwards's works are assured and masterful, with brilliant brushwork and sense of color and light."
.- Mary Platt, Director - Hilbert Museum

unquote

yep...go figure!...

:)

DavidDavid

MiniCooper:OTI::pics,notes:::9/22/20

Open To Interpretation

Aliso Beach Mini Cooper

#stradaeasel

Notes: Out and back to Aliso Beach...arrived 6:38 am, or so the parking receipt said...thought to stay awhile, but really sleepy...while snacking JackintheBox fare, #21 and large coffee, at the lot, a Mini Cooper drove by, packed with what looked like art stuff, and drove right to the Palace view spot...a no parking spot which is never parked in!...I was readying to take the French easel and set up for the oil plein air thereabout on the sand, where I've often been, but thought to wait, least I intrude in someone else's effort...I dunno...they may have just been traveling, but did seem to know to drive right to the spot...and the young slender girl, dressed in hoody and skirt, got out, and, and contemplated...looked long at the Palace...artist or not, she gave the scene the art once over...long enough for me to do a charcoal sketch...my attention diverted a bit, and she had drove off-gone...hmmph...and I left off for home, the sketch enough of a wonder for the morning!...

:)

DavidDavid

Oak St. Overview:OTI::pics,notes:::9/21/20

Open To Interpretation

Oak Street Overlook, Laguna Beach

Aliso Beach south

#stradaeasel

Notes: rolled out late afternoon...wanted to see sunset...found parking at Oak Street, did sketch from the overlook benches...continued on to Aliso...wanted to see late afternoon light on the Palace and the rocks, palms, plants and such...a few sketched rocks look like rocks...rocks aren't hard to do...I just lose patience trying to sort them!...photo shoot in progress...Aliso is a shore break...steep...so when a set comes in, and one is thinking the waves a nothing burger, if a large wave of the set rolls up around knee high, the receding water will knock one off one's feet, and a tumble roll into deep water...so, soh, a refrain is parents taking their tiny tiny kids down to what they think is the water's edge...the edge is where the last wave left its mark!...they go to far, and wop!, their toddler knocked over, and rescued by a quick grab for a flailing arm...oh, the kids are in tears, and traumatized for life regarding the ocean!...found a stylized way to do waves with the charcoal stick...a big thing!...left to stylize is the ground hugging plants...ice plants, spear plants, lots of different things...a puzzle...they're right in front of me when I park...next Aliso visit, a plant study...the snack bar at Aliso opens at 9am...it was closing when I arrived around 5pm...I think it's called The Lost Pier...Aliso once had a really neat pier...got the ramp finished for Maya my dog to clamber up into the pickup bed with camper of the White Truck...this a much delayed project...thought of all kinds of ramps, commercial ones considered...settled on two pine planks together with an outdoor carpet contact cemented for paw grip...and, got a new escape proof, I think, harness...it has two sets of body straps...Maya doesn't know what she is in for, but if the ramp and harness work, she'll be along on the out and backs!...

:)

DavidDavid

AlisoAcrylic:OTI::pics, notes:::9/20/20

Open To Interpretation

Aliso Beach Skim Boarders

#stradaeasel

Notes: rolled out 7am...picked up breakfast at Shake Shack about 8am...traffic snarled on Hwy One just south of Newport Blvd, going and coming!...police all over...some dust up I suspect...so, soh, a long commute...stuck to the plan to work on an acrylic of the Palace...tried one of the 11x14 clayboards I bought from Blick by mistake...thought they were gesso boards...really smooth and nice...was at a loss how to approach with the acrylics...held the painting with the little bungees...blocked in big loud colors...work out from there, somehow...oils stay wet, so easy to work with, acrylics dry while your painting!, but you can paint over dried areas quickly...the Skim Boarders were a welcome addition...rather have them for focus than the Palace, which, I've learned was built by the Gucci family, since changed, and now an  "event rental" mansion, or some such...the Bridge house has a story too...Laguna kind of an architects' playground!...I need to move the family in the foreground to the left, and under a big umbrella...fix the perspective on the Skim Boarders...lots of things...I'll fuss with the acrylics until I have what I want the oil to look like, then try that oil plein air...I bought a set of gauche too, so those will help getting a color scheme...my bare left foot, and my knees, got sunburned yesterday, everywhere the pad on my lap didn't cover...too much!...time for a snack and nap...

:)

DavidDavid

Palace:OTI::pics,notes:::9/19/20

Open To Interpretation

Palace, Aliso Beach

#stradaeasel

Notes: out after Sunup...late for "work", sorta speak...arrived at Aliso Beach around 7:30 am...paid for parking, then a quick forth and back to JackintheBox...sausage crousant, hash brown patty, large coffee....snacked back at the parking lot...I thought to flipflop around the South Bluff and charcoal sketch the Anthropomorphic Rock...tide was in though...what to do what to do...I cleaned and organized the gear and Silver, my Jeep's, interior...put each media's stuff in different five gallon buckets...and grabbed the inkwash, and watercolors, the Canson plein air pad (a terrific, thick paper ground), the folding chair, and, and joined the crowd...folk all up and down the beach by like 9am...it's Saturday...sunny  blue...the Palace scene just doesn't lend itself to light and shadow!...which is what I tried to capture with the sketches...camera battery died, so no reference pics...but it's the same scene viewed on Day One...and all my India ink bottles were dried up...finally found one...but no nibs with, so used the bamboo pen...it's nice, not fussy, and my handshaking goes with it!...each time I close study a scene, I get closer...and the beachgoers with their poses and umbrellas and chairs, are now in the mix...so, soh, this is the routine to be: first day, scout and charcoal sketch, second day, black inkwash, pen ink watercolor, third day, acrylic full size, full on, fourth day, the oil masterpiece!...all on site, all plein air...and then do a studio one, and a transparent watercolor one...I can't ever see being done, especially with plein air anything...oh, folk commenting, looking over my shoulder, I realize, is no worse than the chit chat in art class, and in truth, I miss that...talkabouts are nice...onward!...Angels won yesterday, over DBacks, I think...

:)

DavidDavid

SkimBoarders:OTI::pics,notes:::9/18/20

Open To Interpretation

Skim Boarders, Aliso Beach

edit: it took all day for the Pond to break through...

Watch "RAW: River Breaches Sand Berm Start to Finish + BTS with @Jamie O'Brien" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/gHl0poo9FnU

Oak Street, Laguna Beach

#stradaeasel

Notes:  Out and back...out before sunup...and, and I found the side street that ends with benches overlooking from the bluffs out to the ocean...first, I parked by the white building...was going to do the sketch standing...but on walking across Hwy One, thought, wait, I can park by the stop sign...from there I could just barely see the benches...and I was happy with the sketch...and thought done for the morning...I've been only doing one sketch on the out and backs...more, and I lose my focus...I imagine the sketch on the way, and review it returning...so, soh, but I was hungry, and picked up snack, burrito and coffee, at JackintheBox and continued on to Aliso Beach...thought there to grab the French Easel and paddle over to the South Bluff and that strange anthropomorphic rock...shyness comes over me with such a thought!...I would be set up right in the thorough fare of folk going around the bluff...so, dallied, considering, and then saw some Skim Board kids digging a trench to let the Bridge Pond water collide with the ocean waves...I thought this just happened in winter, but they seemed to know what they were about, and then Blair, the skim board champion, showed up, and went serious on the trench too....I grabbed my gear, newsprint, board, charcoal, and camera, and paddled over for a looksee...considered, and sat on one of the cement benches to take the photos, and do the sketch...the scene just staged itself, what with the kite, and the poses of Skim Boarders...in the distance the north bluff...and, and, when I left off, going back to Silver, my Jeep, I spotted Blair retrieving something from his car..."Blair, can you sign this..."...and he kindly obliged...the sketch now a treasure!...and it totally overshadowed the Oak Street sketch on the way home!...I dont know when I'm going to get all the sketches worked up into plein air paintings...thought is to go back to each view, set up the French Easel, and do an oil painting.,.I bought 30 eight by ten gessoed panels,,.and some better oil paints...better paints are like not so thin and runny as student grades, or some such....and I bought some more flat brushes...this I didn't lnow:...the invention of ferrells, the metal piece that holds the bristles, made it possible to make flat, bright, brushes...this was a boon to the Impressionists...it gave them a variety of brush strokes not possible before with bristles/hairs wrapped with thread-like Chinese brushes...what I picked up from that, is that with the flat brushes I can replicate the strokes I'm making with the hard Generals charcoal sticks...these have gotten to be expensive!...everything is...oh, putting wet white over dry black is a fail, an update of that experiment...thought is someday, when the buses are safe again, though they may be now, as folk are riding them-necessary for many, is to ride to the beach with art gear, and so forgo the expense of gasoline!...I'm content just with my big drawing board, newsprint, charcoal-my Skim Board!

:)

DavidDavid

Top:OTI::pics,notes:::9/17/20

Open To Interpretation

Top of the World Bench, Laguna Beach

#stradaeasel

Notes: Out and back to Top of the World, Laguna Beach...rolled out just before sunrise, and reached Shake Shack just before 7am for Calli breakfast, eggs and fruit and avocado...took the coffee with up Park Road to Top of the World Park...thought, all along the way, was to get a view of one of those side streets off Hwy One that end with a bench looking out over the bluffs to the Ocean...hmmph...so, soh, I find such a bench at Top of the World...go figure!...no where do the upper hillside roads seem to give a view down one of the side streets from the northeast side of Hwy One...and all the views from top angled wrong...took binocs with and checked!...nothing for it but to set up on the sidewalk looking down one of the side streets...for tomorrowmorrow!...took mental notes of some other views...descending towards Crystal Cove going northwest, a view opens up of the long crescent beach and bluffs, in the foreground Hwy One, and the cement medium, and peeking over the medium, bicyclers in a row coming up the hill...another: on the mediums in Corona Del Mar going north, are these popcicle trees in bloom, thorn trees?, with distinctive reddish orange flowers, one group with a palm in front...oh, back home, and coming to the entry of my track, the Orange Cat stretched out napping on the cement...Cat friended with the homeless fellow who is often stretched out on the cement napping too...this for years...I have old pic of Cat sheltering in the rain on the lower rack of the homeless fellow's shopping cart...Top Bench has a memorial plaque...it was a memorial donation...not to be New Ageish, but thought came it drew me up there!...view northeast is Sadddleback and south Orange County and foothills...around the Park is hillsides still undeveloped,  Crystal Cove State Park reaches way back into the hills and meets up with Laguna's set aside wilderness...mountain bikers were slowly coming up the hill, geared with protection for what must be a will ride back down the trails to Laguna Canyon...when I first arrived at Top, the ocean was overcast with a fog, and I thought smog, bank all the way to Catalina Island, which I could see over it...in the short time I was there, it burned off, and, and no smog!...I could see the light tan on the bluffs at Catalina's south end...this after days of sweltering heat, and fire smoke...a clear sky looking west anyway...people in New England, and far away as Old England, with the orange red Sun from West Coast smoke!

:)

DavidDavid