El Matador

It's been too long since I've been out landscape painting and after a month of trying to coordinate with friends, I succeeded in luring my friend Nick Schumaker (http://nicholasschumaker.blogspot.com) out to El Matador. I have to admit that the weather only seemed ideal. Bright and beautiful, but windy and sandy. You can see the grains of sand that got into the paint when you click on it. I had to empty sand out of my wallet later too. I ended up having to work really quickly as my paint was drying on my brush and my palette kept drying out as well. To top it off, there must have been a record number of model shoots and selfi shoots that day passing through with camera crews and onlookers. There was even a guy with a metal detector. It's not just in the movies folks. But as you can see, the magic lives on. I'm pretty happy with this painting and after having been to El Matador so many times, what were the odds of finding a new and unique place to paint? Here's a recap of some of the El Matador paintings I've done over the years:

May 6, 2012

The most beautiful day I've ever had at El Matador. Perfect, perfect weather.

Jan 29, 2012 El Matador: The Return

El Matador is a place of mystery and wonder. Why is every painting there good? Inquiring minds want to know.

062611_El Matador

Not my best day ever. Usually it's impossible to have a bad day at El Matador, but the Posse came during high tide, and it was pretty much impossible to paint from the beach, so we all worked from the switchback trail and I took up post by the parking lot. Not the coolest coposition or colors, but it was a beautiful day.

09_19_10 at El Matador

Here's a photo of the real thing, taken by another artist enjoying the location. Thanks Maya!

El Matador, I have returned.

And I brought my oils.

This was my first outing with the landscape painting group, "The Sunday Painting Posse."

Landscape Painting_El Matador

El Matador - a cold day in an otherwise hot summer. Our first foray into color. Fortunately, it was overcast, desaturating an already limited palette landscape. Unfortunately, I felt like I didn't need sunscreen then and so I was totally burnt on one side of my body (I was up against the beach cliff ). Is it better to be evenly burnt or one-sided burnt?