Plein Air Tour - California (DRAFT)
Fellow art blogger Katherine Tyrell is planning a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area. She asked me to suggest painting spots between here and San Diego. As I started to write her an email, I realized, this would make a great blog post to share! So, here are my suggestions. Chime in with your own using the comments feature. I may also look at doing a mashup with Google maps or something to make it more interactive.
- From Oakland, cross the bay to the Peninsula side (San Mateo Bridge), and continue on 92 to “Half Moon Bay”.
- When you cross over the “Skyline” area, and wind your way down the hills, on the left (when it levels out), you’ll find a number of flower farms, and some spots to pull over (on the left).
- The city of Half Moon Bay is cute (The Garden Gallery on Main Street has some very nice work), but not much to paint. Continue south on Highway 1. If you head a little north of HMB, Miramar is worth painting at. Paintings: This painting (”Beach Town”) was done from Capistrano Road, the road the leads into Princeton Harbor.
- You’ll pass a number of beaches/state parks. My favorites just out of HMB (about 9-10 miles) are Pescadero and Bean Hollow.
- The Pescadero beaches have a wonderful marsh (east side of Highway 1). Paintings: Pescadero Crash, Pescadero #4, Pescadero State Beach, Rising Splash.
- Bean Hollow is a nice secluded beach. When you park, look on the north side as there’s a nice area of rocks/surf and colorful ice plant. Here’s a late-afternoon painting of Bean Hollow.
- Continue south, and the next treat spot is Pigeon Point Lighthouse. Take Pigeon Point road to paint the lighthouse from the south, but I much prefer the view from south of the structure. A new hundred yards after the lighthouse, look for a dirt road and parking lot. You can drive all the way down to the cliffs. The view from there is great in any direction.
- When you continue south, the next good spots are before/after Ana Neuvo State Reserve. Before the reserve, there’s a pullout/parking with a trail (about a 1/4 mile) that takes you to a great, unspoiled beach with Monterey Cypress.
- Just before Davenport, check out Davenport Landing Way. A great small cove, beach, bluffs, and facilities (bathrooms, parking). Very quiet.
- In the area around Davenport (a small coastal town just north of Santa Cruz), there are great pullouts for painting the bluffs. In the area below (see map), you can paint the bluffs from above, or you can hike down a narrow dirt trail and paint on the coast. This is a great spot. Paintings: Davenport Rocks & Surf, Davenport Bluffs, Davenport Rock,
- Continuing South, you’ll find Wilder Ranch State Park. It’s a working ranch, with equipment, farm animals, etc, and nice yellow and white victorian house.
- Just before you enter Santa Cruz proper, you’ll find a turn off (right) to Natural Bridges State Park. I haven’t done any work there, but it is scenic.
- Between Santa Cruz and Monterey, there are lots of farms, etc, but not a lot of coastal scenes that excite me to much.
- My next favorite spot heading south are the sand dunes on the northern end of Marina State Beach. This is really a great spot. Sand dunes, Monterey Cypress, trails, a small lagoon. It’s hard to find, so here’s another map. Paintings: Ice Plant,
- Heading south down the Monterey Peninsula, my next favorite spot is Asilomar, particularly in the late afternoon. I painted a number of works of the dunes and ice plant there last Fall. Paintings: Asilomar Dunes Glow, Asilomar #2, Asilomar Sea, Asilomar Dunes & Sea, Coast of Asilomar, Color In Fog.
- The famous “17 Mile Drive” is spectacular, but I actually haven’t done many paintings there. It’s usually either over-run with tourists, or just plain too windy!
- You can not leave the Carmel area without checking out the galleries! My favorites are:
- Just outside of Carmel, you must paint Point Lobos State Reserve. It’s absolutely spectacular. Paintings: Bluefish Cove, Cypress Cove.
- The next spots heading south on Highway 1 are in Garrapata State Park. You’ll find incredible bluffs there.
- Rocky Point Road (between Carmel and Big Sir) is really spectacular. It’s on the private property of the Rocky Point Restaurant, so ask permission to park there and paint. If you do so on a weekday when they need the parking less, they’ve very accomodating.
- The best spot heading south from Rocky Point is Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (this is south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, it’s easy to confuse the two). My favorite spot is at the park’s beginning, where you’ll see a sharp, “hair pin” turn. Pull off before the turn on the right. Incredible views of Redwoods and a small cove. You can paint from the road or hike down.
- San Simeon Beach State Park is nice. There’s a small pier, and you can paint from it looking towards the beach and hills.
- Heading further south, the next “big” town is Morro Bay. Be sure to visit Montana de Oro State Park.
- In Malibu, Adamson House State Park (on highway 1, just south of Pepperdine University) is a GREAT place to paint. The house itself is beuatiful (mediterean revival), and it surounded by hashes on one side (North), sandy beaches and a view of the Malibu peir on the south side.
Sorry, out of time. This is just a draft.
