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Color Splash, pastel, 12 x 9"

 

Last April I went on an art excursion with a dear painting buddy, Mary Fassbinder.  It was the year of the most recent super-bloom, especially in Southern California, and Mary promised a glorious display of color to paint and photograph up here in the north. We came first to Lake Hennessey (Napa County), a huge, manmade reservoir that has a picturesque array of oaks and bay trees coming down to the shoreline.  I’ve used several photos I took here as examples in my workshop “Bringing Life to Your Photographs” to demonstrate reflections and the shifting values of objects in water. Typically, dark colors are lighter in their reflections, and lighter colors reflect darker.

 

Lake Hennessy

 

Back in the car, we started to climb slowly into the surrounding hills. So far, I was thoroughly underwhelmed and disappointed. There were very few wildflowers anywhere: the occasional California Poppy, maybe a bit of purple vetch here and there. But I was promised a profusion of color!

 

After what seemed like an hour of driving windy roads (only 11 miles as the crow flies!) from the reservoir, we drove up and over a rise and descended into the Pope Valley I’d been hearing about for years. Hmmmm. Some nice drifts of poppies. And here and there, some generous washes of blue lupine, maybe even some scatters of tiny white flowers. Now, this is looking promising! 

 

From here on out, the display was simply jaw-dropping and not another complaint was heard from me. We drove maybe five miles back into the valley, at times taking side roads to explore. In every direction were delirious mixtures of greens, blues, oranges, purples, yellows and whites. What was most exciting to me was that every field and roadside had different combinations of colors and shapes.

 

After reaching the end of the valley, we turned back. At one place, we got out and easily slipped under a fence to wander along a delightful creek that was rimmed with lively yellow flowers.  Another pasture hike showed us an array of delicate blue, star-shaped blooms and such a mass of tiny lavender blossoms that it looked like a cloud of pale purple hovering over the field. I do my best when walking through flowers not to trample the delicate plants. Here it was a challenge.

 

Oak Creek Spring, pastel, 9 x 12"

 

Back at the most spectacular array, we set up our easels along the road and got to work composing and then creating paintings. Luckily we work at about the same speed so we usually finish up about the same time. Mary most often uses oils and a palette knife. I work in pastels when on location, reserving my oil paints for the studio.

 

Pope Valley Bloom, pastel, 9 x 12"

 

It was just mid-afternoon when we packed up from the first painting, too soon to head home. So we took another small road and upon coming around a bend were rewarded with a delightful pond adorned with floppy pink-flowered shrubs below soft blue hills in the distance, all backlit with soft sunlight. Upon investigation nearby, we found deserted old buildings, stone walls, and an arch proudly announcing “Aetna Springs,” an old spa from the 1870s.

 

Old Aetna Springs

 

The pond became the focus of both our final paintings of the day. When I’ve put in a few hours on one pastel, I often jump right into my second and get the basics down without fussing over details. No warm-up necessary.

 

 

Aetna Springs, pastel, 14 x 20" (studio painting)

 

The drive home was a much quieter, more satisfied journey. The anticipatory excitement of discovery was behind us, and we’d put in three or four hours of contented painting.

 

At the time I was unaware of how fruitful the trip would end up being. I soon sold the first plein-air wildflower painting, have since done a larger version of the pond and pink shrubs scene, and for shows have completed three more pastels from photos taken of the wildflower fields. Each time I go back over the collection of images, I find more scenes that I want to capture on paper or canvas.

 

 

 

Bluebonnets, pastel, 8 x 12"