No Hands Bridge with snow 8x10

There was about six inches of snow in Auburn this morning. I had a feeling we might be having a snow day but I went up the hill anyhow. It's not often that you get to see the canyon with this much snow in it. I haven't painted a landscape in quite a while and I had a couple of miss starts that had to be wiped off. I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out though

No Hands Bridge #16 12x9

No Hands Bridge #15 8x10

I started this one yesterday afternoon. I went down to the confluence with Frank Ordaz and his friend Mick McGinty. Unfortunately I could only stay for about an hour and a half. It was perfect weather painting in the shade of the highway 49 bridge with a couple of great guys. I wish I could have stayed longer!
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under Sunrise 8x10

No Hands Bridge #14 12x9

It was a fantastic day at the river. Just cool enough to keep the crowds at bay.

rainbow Bridge #6 9x7

Rainbow Bridge #5 10x5

I'm preparing to do a larger painting of the Rainbow Bridge in the studio. These smaller sketches are in preparation for that. This one was done earlier in the day before the bridge was in the full sun. It was very nice out this morning. A few hours after painting this the clouds rolled in and it started to rain.
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Rainbow Bridge #4 12x9

This one was done a little closer to home. This bridge is about a mile from my house. Until recently, it was the main bridge over to Folsom.

No Hands Bridge #13 8x10

No Hands Bridge #12

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No Hands Bridge #11

I met my friend Frank down at the confluence today. Painting is usually a solitary activity for me so it's a rare treat when there's company. The light was good as was the conversation. Franks is a nice guy and a fine painter. His blog is well worth checking out.

No Hands Bridge #10 8x10

I was hiking around looking for another vantage point on this subject and I came up with this. At some point I want to get here in the morning so I can paint this under different lighting conditions.
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No Hands Bridge #9 10x8

It was a beautiful afternoon. I wanted to get down to the confluence about an hour earlier than I did. This time of year the sun disappears behind the canyon rim pretty quickly. I only had about 30 minutes before the bridge was completely in the shadows. I had to block every thing in lickety split and then make the final adjustments after I got home.
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No Hands Bridge #8 8x10

It was a beautiful day today so I headed down to the canyon after work. I ran into Frank Ordaz, a very fine painter from Auburn. I had corresponded over the net a bit with Frank a couple of weeks ago because we had run into each other on James Gurney's excellent blog. It is astonishing to me that we could come across each other on a painting blog that's written on the east coast (I think) and then actually be at the same place, doing the same thing a couple of weeks later. Anyhow, Frank is a fine painter with a lot of insight and his blog is well worth a visit.
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Fair Oaks bridge 10x8

I joined a plein air meet up group a few months back. Today was the second time that I've gone out with them. I ended up walking upstream a ways so I could get a good vantage point of the bridge. Susan, our meet up organizer, walked up to where I was for a bit of pleasant conversation and I chatted a bit with Terry Miura. It was a lot of fun.

Rainbow Bridge #3 8x6

I'm heading out on a camping trip right now so I won't be able to post for a few days. I'm bringing my paint box and I will back fill my blog when I get back. Stay Tuned!
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No Hands Bridge #7 8x10

It got up to 107 in Auburn today and the air was pretty unhealthy. The haze really amplified the atmospheric perspective and turned everything a bit brown. I actually like the muted tones of these paintings. I picked up a mask at the drug store. Hopefully it's keeping most of the bad stuff out of my lungs.
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Hazel Avenue Bridge 8x6

It was another smoky day. I wanted to paint something that went with the haze.

No Hands Bridge #6 12x9

12x9 is big for me. This one took a bit longer than I usually spend on a painting after work. When I got down to the river I realized that I had left all of my smaller panels in my trunk. I almost went back up to get one because I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to the time required for a bigger piece. ironically, I was too lazy to walk back to the car so I ended up spending more time on the painting. I'm glad I did.
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Rainbow Bridge #2 10x8

I stayed a little closer to home today and painted the rainbow bridge again. This one is from a slightly higher vantage point that shows more of the water than the last one. It was pretty windy out there this afternoon and some dust got blown into the wet paint. I guess that's all part of the plein aire experience.