Garden at Cambria

I visited the town of Cambria last year and naturally took a lot of pictures for futre reference material. I think as much as Plein Air painters love to visit locations and immediately capture the scenes on canvas I love capturing images on film just as much. Sometimes snapping the shutter as fast as possible out the car window and sometimes framing a scene as you would to compose a painting. Both methods have resulted in some great paintings. As much as I know good planning pays off sometimes the best things in life are purely accidental as well as a gift. The trick is being able to remember to just see them when they present themselves.

This little garden in the backyard of one of the shops there had all the charm in the world and reminded me of my Grandma who loved to grow things in her backyard...and front yard as well. I've painted 2 paintings now as a result of my Grandma. This is the legacy you leave behind if you are a truly a good person in life, wonderful memories for those left behind. Some of those memories inspired me to paint this scene.

"Garden at Cambria"

12"x16" Oil on Ray Mar panel

The fence was painted in 2 parts. First, the fence posts were painted in a cooler shadowed blue darkening the mixture where the shadowed part would be and done without sketching it in.

After that the highlights were put in and then the foreground flowers were added.

That's what I love about painting. The fence really looks more than it is but it is really just some dark blue paint and then some added white trim on one side...a few strokes and you end up with what looks like a picket fence on a sunny day. Too cool!