So Seattle has our summer weather, reaching record breaking temperatures. While the Bay Area stayed a consistent 60 - 70's all week. In the mornings I see the fog slowly rolling in over the hills and by the afternoon I can't help but think it might rain. I guess that's what inspired this painting....looks like a storm is brewing over those hills?

(gouache on 5" x 7" watercolor paper)

Inverness

Sorry for the MIA, I've been working on a couple side projects involving digital paintings. But I did manage to paint over the weekend at Inverness, Ca. The day started out with clear blue skies and a mild breeze. But by the time 1 o'clock rolled around, the winds were ridiculous... causing my easel to continuously sway. Here's the Point Reyes boat located behind the Inverness General Store.

(gouache on watercolor board)

Metamorphica

Tonight was another session at Metamorphica. The evening started off with a lecture and demo by creature design artist Jason Felix. And tons of costumed poses by Bad Unkl Sista. No tables were set up this time so I couldn't set up my paints. So I grabbed a seat on a comfy couch in the back and dusted off my heavily neglected sketchbook.

Zip Line

I'm still playing catch up with the blog and I'm mentally still on vacation. But here's a couple images from my trip to Costa Rica. This photo was taken during a canopy (zip line) tour starting at the foot of the mountain range where Arenal Volcano is located. With 12 platforms to zip down from, we were cruising over 150 feet of humid forest and spectacular views.
Being the first of the group to jump off platform # 1....I won't lie - I was terrified! The second I got onto platform # 2, all I heard was "Ready? (Click) Go!"

One of the longest zip lines measured 1200 ft. and lead you through a hole between these large branches filled with leaves.... no clear site when and where you will end?!

So after flying passed large tree trunks, screaming through large branches, we ended the afternoon (last platform) cruising over a beautiful river. But I couldn't end the trip without a quick thumbnail painting.

(gouache in sketchbook)

Red Torch Ginger

It took awhile...but I sent a postcard to my parents from Costa Rica. Instead of writing, I decided to share a painting of a flower I saw every morning. It's name is the "Red Torch Ginger" flower. This firery-red flower blossoms into a shape of a torch! Here I masked off the Costa Rican stamp and started painting.

Here's the final painting.(gouache on postcard)