Pt. Bonita, Marin Headlands, Acrylic on canvas, 16×20, 10/2023
I haven’t painted outdoors in over a month so it was good to get back out into the sea air on a perfectly sunny autumn day. I’ve been hitting the Marin Headlands a lot. It’s one of my favorite spots. There’s a lot of different hillside terrain and of course, a great place to expereince the seascape and bluffs. This time I went through the 5 minute tunnel and drove almost all the way to Rodeo Beach but hung a left up the hill to Point Bonita, famous for its lighthouse. I also discovered some cool army installation ruins that would be a great place for an eventual en plein aire synthesizer generator session (which I will vid/post here). I parked and hiked to the end of the northward vista trail, went under the barricade, down the path and found a spot to set up my easel. I always look for off trail spots so hikers can easily get past. I came to a fork in the trail and I was able to set up right on the cliffside with an interesting perspective of being able to look down a couple hundred feet and out over the bluff so my horizon was uninterrupted ocean. Off in the distance is Pt. Reyes and Bolinas. There is a lot of foreground, not my forte, but I thought it would be good to get out of the usual comfort zone. I am not a figurative painter so when it came time to paint the ice plants right in front of me, I had to defer to my abstract methods. Also in the frame is a magnificent sandstone cliff that I gave the impressionist treatment. The rock jutting out to the left is the same one I’ve painted from different angles. It always somehow looks like an elephant and so it happened again! Do rocks have spirit animals? The painting took about 4 hours to complete. I’m a little rusty but I generally like the piece and it was good to be out there hearing the seagulls and watching seals pop their heads out of the water. As always I hope this painting puts you there.