In the Studio Today... Stemple Creek Ranch

September 1, 2013

 

I am very excited to be starting a painting for the Poncia family of Stemple Creek Ranch in Tomales.  Lisa Poncia found me on Twitter, and the Marin group of Twitter folks I chat with have been enjoying Lisa's wonderful photos and blog posts about West Marin and their sustainable farms and animals.

I saw a baby cow bundle in the grass, which Loren went out to inspect and then the mommy headed off with the little guy.  Amazingly, a little cow can walk on it's own almost immediately.  This one was only 10 hours old old, Loren said, and part of the afterbirth was still visible on the mommy cow's hind quarters.

Another young calf also had a white face.  I love the character they each have; it's remarkable.

 

My son, Blake, loved the lamb with the black spot and the brown legs.  We were calling him "Brownie Chip".

The new guard-dog really loves Loren.

It was super foggy yesterday, but I will go back as many times as I need to to capture the right composition for my painting.  I will probably paint plein air part of the time, and from photos to complete the work.  Stay tuned...

The Art of Glass: Kayaking with Google Glass

Kayaking Inverness with Google Glass from Colleen Proppé on Vimeo.

July 3-5th, 2013

I took a two day trip to Inverness to take my dog away from the fireworks.  She is terribly afraid of them, and I can't stand to see her suffer.  Good excuse to escape the 96 degrees it was in San Anselmo, and venture out to Inverness, where it was only 76 degrees with a great breeze off the water.  Tomales Bay Resort has wifi all over the large property, and they have several dog friendly rooms.  Mine had a kitchen too, all for less than you might pay for one night in the city.  You can use the money you save to reserve a kayak next door at Blue Waters.  Tomales Bay Resort will even book your kayak trip for you! A great escape from the hot suburbs of Marin during a heat wave.  If you have questions, ask me in the comments.  I've lived in Marin for 18 years now, and this is one of my favorite places to escape to.

Photo taken with Google Glass, beta.  July 4, 2013  Tomales Bay, Inverness

The Wreck of the Old Point Reyes, Inverness.   24" x 36" o/c available

Enjoy these other videos I created using Google Glass:

• Trail Running with Google Glass

• Mt. Biking with Google Glass

• Interview with Google Glass: 3 Ring Cycles, Bike Shop in San Anselmo

• Kids, Word on the Street, and Google Glass

• My San Francisco Adventure to Pick up Google Glass

In the Studio Today...Historic L Ranch Paint-out

Sunday, September 12, 2010

I had the privilege to visit a private beach today on Tomales Bay; a spot that is right across from Marshall, CA.  The beach is owed by the Doughty family, who run Pt. Reyes Winery, where we will be having our October 24, group show.

What a lovely spot it was today! Some of their extended family were there, celebrating a Birthday today, just enjoying the warmth of the sun and the beach views.  Two of the toddlers came up to me and wanted to paint.  I had some small, 4 x 4 and 6 x 6 canvases, so I let them each take one and paint some strokes.  It was really great how enthusiastic they were.  The little boy even painted on my painting, and it was no problem, as I was just getting started.  He really wanted to help me out!  I think it is wonderful how children have no fear of painting, and just burst right into it.  Had my sons been there, I'm sure they would have wanted to paint too.  I overheard the family saying how nice the kids canvases were and how that was such a great Birthday present for their mom.  Too cute.

I also was lucky enough to be able to bring my dog today!  Mesa loved it.  This painting of me with Mesa is by Kathy Kingston, who is doing a great job with PR for our next show.  I took a photo of her with her whippet, "Lyric"... below.  I will post my painting when I have some more time to work on it, but here are some photos of the beautiful day on Tomales Bay.

In the Studio Today... Plein Air at Tomales Bay

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Rocky Shore at Elephant Mt., originally uploaded by cproppe.

I will be painting with "Art on the Farm" today at Historic L Ranch on Tomales Bay. Hope to stop by the last day of the Box Show at Gallery Route One as well. Enjoy the day, folks!

In the Studio Today... Art on the Farm 2010

June 17, 2010

Paintings by Laura Williams

I just updated the Art on the Farm Blog. This is a great group of artist from around Marin County and the Bay Area that visit Marin Organic farms and paint, photograph and exhibit as a group annually. I am posting a few photos from our group show at the Pt. Reyes Vineyard here. Enjoy! For more info, visit the blog I maintain at www.ArtontheFarmBlog.com We have started up the 2010 painting season, and the website has a schedule of farms we are visiting.

Three Cows, by Kanna Aoki

Paintings by Alfredo Tofanelli

Colleen Proppé and Artist/Animator, Christina Richard from BC Canada

Donna Solin and Catherine Moreno, two artists volunteering at the winery show

In the Studio Today...Inverness Sky; Day #2

Monday, October 1, 2007
"Inverness Sky" 24"x 36" o/c
Day two on this large painting of Inverness and the old Pt. Reyes boat.

In the Studio Today... Inverness Sky #1

Friday, September 28, 2007
"Inverness Sky" 24" x 36" o/c
I started blocking out the colors and shapes in this painting today. I did another painting of this boat this spring for my show at the Two Bird Cafe, but that painting was a close up of the boat. This one is much more of a landscape that happens to have the boat as one of it's elements.

In the Studio Today... Heart's Desire; Session #3

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

I added details today on this little 6" x 6" painting. This is the natural wood frame I have purchased for all my 6" x 6" paintings. It adds some depth and width to the tiny canvas and goes well with the yellows in both the beach scenes. Now I will move on to work on the waves and the man flying his kite on Limantour beach, below...

In the Studio Today... Heart's Desire Beach; Session #2

Tuesday, May 1, 2007
I added some of the figures into this little painting that I started this morning.

In the Studio Today... Session #1

Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Two, tiny, 6" x 6" canvases... You can see I am just starting to rough out the background colors today. These will be beach scenes from Pt. Reyes: One is a close up of two mothers and their single children at Heart's Desire beach, with a seagull flying in the foreground, and sailboats in the background...the second painting will be of Limantour Beach; the ocean with a man flying his dragon kite before a breaking wave...

In the Studio Today.. Heart's Desire Beach; Session #3

Tuesday, April 24, 2007
About 2 hours outside today, working on the beach foreground, sand, and a mother and child, walking hand in hand. I love how painting sand and water, you can continually change the look by layering more colors and strokes and it never looks "wrong", it just keeps changing as you progress. One thing I try to remember when I am painting is to never be afraid to add more paint, more colors, a new texture. This was drilled into me by a drawing teacher in college who kept telling me that sketches were never something to save, but practice work. So, it forced you to go for movement, and try to capture things quickly and with out perseverating on details. When I paint sand and water, I often think of Harriet Matthews, telling me not to feel any one spot of my painting is sacred. Things can always be changed and made to feel loose and fresh if you keep the attitude of a quick sketch in mind. Detailed views of "Heart's Desire Beach" below (Click to enlarge):

In the Studio Today.. Heart's Desire Beach; Session #2

Thursday, April 19, 2007
I had just an hour today to block out where the boats are, and add detail to the cliffs. This painting will become a collage of 3 or more photos I took at Heart's Desire Beach, Pt. Reyes National Seashore, in the summer of 2005. The people on the beach will be from separate photos, and I may add a bird flying into the forground from a third image.

In the Studio Today... Heart's Desire Beach; Session #1

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Today I started a new painting of Heart's Desire Beach. The canvas is 24" x 30". The scene involves several sailboats beached on the shore before the trees, some people walking on the beach, and the buckets and seagull in the foreground. It should be a fairly detailed painting that focuses on the boats and characters in the scene when it is finished.

In the Studio Today... Inverness Boat; Session #4

Friday, March 30, 2007

Final session on the "Inverness Grocery Boat". I have decided to leave out the writing on the boat that says, "Pt. Reyes". I think most people who see this will know where it is from. The biggest additions today have been the left side of the painting: I worked on the "right" side of the boat's bow, which was a previous swatch of yellow paint, and the grasses below this section of the boat are more detailed today.

In the Studio... Inverness Boat; Session #3

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

This is actually a session from last Friday. Today, I spent my painting time doing yard work, so I am going to have to wait until Thursday to paint again. Although this painting is not quite finished, I am going to start a new painting on Thursday and Friday, and take a break from adding details to the boat. I have been wanting to paint a large landscape of Heart's Desire Beach, and I will start that one this week.

In the Studio Today... Inverness Boat; Session #2

Monday, March 19, 2007

Another hour or so of detail today, especially focusing on the sand. A couple areas of the sky I see I do not like, but will work on.

In the Studio Today... Inverness Boat; Session #1

Friday, March 16, 2007

"The Old Boat at Inverness Grocery I"
An icon as you enter West Marin towards Pt. Reyes
30" x 30"
I love this boat. I'm sure I will paint it a hundred times or more and enjoy it every time. There are so many colors in the shadows, and reflections in the water surrounding the scene. This is after the first hour of painting, blocking in the colors.

In the Studio Today... Black Mt. Black Dog; Session #4

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

"Black Mountain, Black Dog, Sunset" Inverness, CA
18" x 24"
I added the dog today, and played on the sand and in the water... Mountains grew pinker in the sunset. Water took on the light of the sunset. I enjoy painting water, and I look forward to working on more bayscapes soon. I was looking at a painting of boats on the water today by American Impressionist painter, Frank Weston Benson (1862-1951). His painting, "Calm Morning"
is at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I would someday like to be able to capture the light on the water and on the subjects upon the water as he has in "Calm Morning". The figures and boats in his painting are truly glowing against the blue sea.

In the Studio Today... Black Mt. Black Dog; Session #3

Monday, February 26, 2007

Another very short session today- about 1 hour. I added the sailboat, and more details in the shadows of the mountains.

In the Studio Today... Black Mt. Black Dog; Session #2

Friday, February 23, 2007

Another short session, adding warm highlights to the mountain and Bay.