Dana Point

I sketched for a few hours, just watching the waves until I lost my shade. My camera doesn't do justice to graphite sketches, however, this is one of my favorites because it is so simple and I also like the unfinished line of the cliff.

Dana Point

The clouds have been slow to pull away from the coast in the morning. It has made it a little cooler in the past few days but today and for the rest of the week the heat will increase. The painting is on Yupo. It was windy and there is sand on the painting surface.

I will be spending a few days at the beach till I get a painting that works. I find that I have to be in front of a subject to paint it. The water and wave movement is still a chanllenge to me. I think I will plan a day of drawing. When I draw I slow down and see better. I look, draw, then look what I have drawn comparing it with what I see, then look and draw more. The more time I look and draw, the more I see.

Dana Point, California

I took another day of wave study. It is such a wonderful place to paint and sketch. You all know how time consuming drawing can be and studying these waves is going to take more time and more days. I stay away from the beach during the weekend because of the people out of school and off work, but during the week and early in the morning the area is only populated with locals. Summer vacation is coming up and that means children out of school and family vacations. My beach will be filled with models. It's a wonderful predicament, having to go to the beach over and over again. But someone has to do it. LOL.

Dana Point, California USA

These were from a few days ago when I went to Dana Point, California to paint. It is one of my favorite beaches. It’s not a swimming beach, the beach slopes fast dropping very deep just past where the waves break. It seems like the waves break right in front of you, almost like they will break over your head but then just stop when the wave hits the sand and pulls back into the deep water. It’s magnificent, dynamic and full of so much energy that when I first sit down after all the schlepping of painting gear and prep I just have to sit for a while and breathe in the show.

Watercolor on Yupo


Watercolor on Yupo

Graphite on paper

Watercolor on Yupo

Watercolor on Arches

This is Dana Point, California. It was a rainy day and lovely painting weather. I love that I could see the cloud dropping rain as it passed by, but at the same time there were patches of clear blue sky.