My family took about a month long road trip this fall in order to attend two “plein air” festivals. We did the one in San Luis Obispo, CA at the end of September then we had two weeks to kill until the plein air festival in Sedona, AZ. During the two weeks, we drove up the coast to the northern tip of California and then started South-East to be in Sedona by the 15th of October. I painted and my wife Laura and I took tons of pictures along the way. We had our 6 month old daughter, Madison, in tow so it was a “first time” for a lot of our experiences. Both
of the festivals organize host families for us to stay in while participating in the festival, so for the two weeks on the road, we camped and stayed in cabins and motels along the way. Tough at times with a little one, but well worth the scenery and life experience.
San Luis Obispo is a spectacular place to paint. The Central Coast has a lot of 
Eucalyptus and Sycamore trees, rolling hills dappled with Oaks, the best barns I’ve ever seen, pleasantly aged in the dry climate there, and of course rugged rocky coast.
The painting above is of Morro Bay looking South along the docks. I love painting boats and docks, the older and rustier, the better. The painting to the right is called “Manuel’s Pumpkin Patch.” Manuel was kind enough to allow me to set up my easel and paint next to his barn. In the background you can just make out the old Oak trees that make Central California’s landscape so recognizable. The painting below
“As The Tide Comes In,” is of the coast just north of the San Simeon pier in the wildlife refuge. I was struck by the way the rock had been uplifted from its original state (you’ll 
notice the strata in the rock is vertical rather than horizontal) and then eroded by the relentless wave action of the Pacific.
We stopped at a nursery in Los Osos and I noticed all of these yard Bhuddas around. It was like painting a still life outside. I did organize them a bit for compositional reasons. You can see the way they lead up through the painting. It was a great show and well organized.
I also got to meet a couple of my favorite plein air artists which alone makes doing the festivals worth while. A couple of notable ability and friendliness were my dear friend Jill Carver, and Walter Porter, whom I’ve done numerous plein air events with, Brian Mark Taylor, Greg LaRock, Niles Nordquist, Michael Situ, and Scott Lloyd Anderson.
So after the San Luis Obispo Plein Air Festival we went up Highway 1 all the way up the coast to the tip of California. I think the coastline between San Luis Obispo and Carmel is some of the most spectacular. We stopped at Julia Pfiefer State Beach and State Park and stayed a couple of nights in Big Sur. I showed Laura and Maddie the 
amazing Point Lobos National Reserve and painted the following couple “field studies.” The left
one I unfortunately did not get a real good picture of and it sold later when we got to Sedona. I felt it was one of my best field studies ever and seemed to flow from the brush as paintings seldom do. The one on the right has more of the typical Point Lobos colors, rock formations as well as a hint of the coastal cypress.
From there we stayed at a hostel in the Golden Gate Recreation area. That evening I painted the last light on the bridge as the sun went down. I love looking for a composition that’s not so predictable. I had to re-draw this painting several times in order to get this 
composition. After San Francisco, it was a long and windy road up the coast. There were some beautiful spots for sure, but until we got in to Mendocino and Humboldt Counties, the home of the “Avenue of the Giants” the rhealm of the infamous Coastal Redwood Groves, we were on a mission.
The Redwood groves of Northern California have a special energy. Totally overgrown with moss, ferns, and fallen pine needles, an artist has to describe the form in harmonies of green and brown. An absolut highlight of the trip was painting along the “Avenue of the Giants”.
Just as it started to get really beautiful, close to the Oregon border, we had to turn around and head South-east in order to be in Sedona on time. On the very last day of being on the coast, I painted the “Coastal Reflections” piece. To access this spot we took the turn off for Trinidad, CA and went south along a scenic drive. I love 
describing the form of rocks, and seeing their reflections in adjacent water is a total bonus.
On our way South we went through Yosemite National Park, but not before weaving our way through the 6 Rivers National Forest. We’ll have to return to that area eventually, it was amazing, but we only had time to drive through and pretty quickly. We got to 
Yosemite late in the day, but had just enough time to set up camp and drive down in to the valley. It was a first time for everyone and the evening light wove through the canyon in ways that reiterate the amazingness of the Universe. The next evening I painted the painting to the right. From there we drove over the pass through Tuolumne Meadows and stayed in Bishop, CA. Again I would have liked to spend some time in that area. The East side of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range are jagged and create beautiful shapes in their shadow and light patterns. After a long trek in the truck, through the outskirts of Las Vegas, across the Hoover Dam, and in to Arizona, we arrived at my good friends Cody and Sara Delong’s house in Cottonwood, near Sedona, AZ. Cody Delong is an excellent painter and has a studio in Jerome, AZ.
The Sedona Plein Air Festival is one of the absolute highlights of my year. It’s a well organized event and the sales have been stellar for me. We arrived in Sedona a day early so I could get used to the colors and let Cody show me some of his favorite spots to paint. We four wheel drove ou
t to the trailhead to Sycamore Canyon and painted in there. The painting to the left is what I came up with from the day, and again I wasn’t able to get a great picture of the piece before it sold (a GREAT problem to have). The painting was more about the design anyway, so the picture at least shows that. The picture to the right, a similar subject, was painted toward the end of the week and was one of my favorites of the trip. I love trying to capture the tension that’s created when a tree is clinging to life by its roots. The creekbeds around Sedona go from just a trickle at certain times of the year to a 
complete torential inundation during heavy monsoon seasons leaving the banks bare and the trees clinging to what didn’t get washed away. As in the painting on the upper left, sometimes debris from the flooding gets wraped around bigger trees and rocks. The light delicately dances through the leafy canopies and creates amazing dapples of warm lit
color on cool rocks.
The “Cactus Glow” painting was painted off of Schnebly Hill and was a fun painting. Trying to get the paddle like forms to read is the major challenge. Light bounces around in the shadows in remarkable ways. It was an evening painting and Laura and Maddie were waiting patiently in the truck.
I took the “Presenting Sponsor Award” for my “Quick Draw” painting. The “quick draw” contest if you don’t know, is a two hour painting session at a designated area, in this case it was at the L’Auberge De Sedona resort along the Oak Creek. Immediately after the two hour session, it’s brushes down, and the paintings need to be framed and prepared to hang in the opening reception that night. I painted the “A Creekside Breakfast” painting at the lovely little cafe that they have built next to Oak Creek. The dappled light, again, played a key role in this painting. I’ve began to consider texture juxtaposition and the surface quality in addition to strictly value, temperature, and edge relationships in my paintings. For this painting I won a half page ad in Southwest Art Magazine! It’s coming out in the January edition.
My Grandmother on my mom’s side lives in Scottsdale, so we drove down for a visit. She got to see Madison, we got to see her and we tied an Oldtown Scottsdale gallery trip in to the mix.
Over all the trip paid for itself, and we had a great time. Maddie got to see just how big this world is, Laura got to take some amazing pictures, and I got to paint my heart out and meet some other amazing people and artists.
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Thanks for taking the time.
