August 7 - First Day up to Morro Bay

Follow the Journey   On Facebook (Art) Elin's Facebook ART Page which is all about art, or "Regular" Elin on FB Elin's Facebook Page which includes motorcycles, politics and other edgy topics. Elin's web page: See all her art! Elin's Daily Painting Blog: The Blog Twitter: @ependleton Blogging the Trip   I'm posting these blog entries after the end of the trip, because I just couldn't get it all to work as I was on the road.   I made notes and took images, and now am sharing them with you on this "official" blog. First Day - Morro Bay First day: 277 miles from Riverside to Morro Bay. No painting along the way because of traffic and Los Angeles congestion on the freeway. But once we dropped down to Oxnard and then headed up the 101 to Santa Barbara, the freeways opened up and the vistas along the ocean were grand. Jo and I rode our bikes into Morro Bay where we were able to find excellent, dog-friendly accommodations at the "Pleasant Hotel" just a block and a half from the bay. The image above shows my bike parked with the edge of Morro Rock visible on the left. The ocean is right THERE... as is the "Embarcadero" or dock area. Wow!   Our rooms weren't ready quite yet, so I took Jo on a tour of the area south of Morro Bay, including Los Osos, and we stopped where I'd painted almost 30 years ago with Joyce Pike. Joyce taught me so much about "painterly strokes" during that workshop, that it was an honor to sit there and paint another of the same vista.This is a tiny 5 x7 oil of Morro Rock from the State Park area, done in oils, with the fog coming in. Soft colors, distant fog.   Jo took a picture of me painting with Sparky finally getting a nap on his "doggie donut" aka security bed. We were both tired from the long, busy drive on freeways, so made a short night of it after a quick dinner down by the ocean. Morro Bay is very dog friendly! Thanks for reading, Elin ...and please forward this to your friends. Elin Pendleton, POB 5954, Riverside, CA 92517, www.elinart.com If you want to unsubscribe from my mailing list, please don't use the link below, but email me, and I'll be sure to remove you.

---

Unsubscribe please
Powered by YMLP

August 5 - The Road Trip Preparations

Follow the Journey   On Facebook (Art) Elin's Facebook ART Page which is all about art, or "Regular" Elin on FB Elin's Facebook Page which includes motorcycles, politics and other edgy topics. Elin's web page: See all her art! Elin's Daily Painting Blog: The Blog Twitter: @ependleton Blogging the Trip   I'm posting these blog entries after the end of the trip, because I just couldn't get it all to work as I was on the road.   I made notes and took images, and now am sharing them with you on this "official" blog. Before the Road Trip Began How would you feel if someone told you that you needed to sling a leg over this hunk of metal and then drive almost two thousand miles on it? And then you would stop and paint an oil painting every day?   Well, no one TOLD me to do this. But I did it and loved every minute of the journey.   You've heard me say that art is a journey, and the waypoints along the road are what matter, and not the destination. Well, it is true as evidenced by what I've become in the past few years and how I plan to live my life in the next bunch of years. This road trip is part of the new direction my life is taking.   First the ride: a 2007 Harley Davidson Softail Classic, about 1500 ccs of engine and 750 pounds, over 25,000 miles already on it. Packed with my oils and SPARKY the dog (see the black case just behind my seat? That's Kuryakyn dog luggage for motorcycles, and Sparky hops right in. It has mesh openings and comes with dishes and handles, just like a regular dog carrier, but posher.)   Then my oils. I bought the 5 x 7 thumb box from Guerilla Painters, and cut down the pill boxes of my Color System to hold five pigments (the image below is before I did that). I took white, burnt umber and thalo blue in tubes to fill out the missing compartments. I bought (It worked BEAUTIFULLY.) In the next nine days, I'd like to share with you the daily journey of this motorcycling road trip, with images taken and paintings painted along this journey   Thanks for reading, Elin ...and please forward this to your friends. Elin Pendleton, POB 5954, Riverside, CA 92517, www.elinart.com

---

Unsubscribe please
Powered by YMLP

Bodega Bay Area

The coast of California is beautifully colored when the sun shines on the water, sand and bluffs, and with my Color System, painting it is "easy-peasy". I parked the motorcycle at Schoolhouse Beach above Bodega Bay and painted this 7 x 5 oil while sitting on the edge overlooking the sea. The fog is still there, off in the distance, but the sun pokes through at this very special spot.

The northern coast of California is truly a very special area, and continues to call me for future trips to visit it. Many friends live up this way, and I will make time to spend with them when I return.

 Now it is a special day for me, my 65th birthday, and I'm spending it in Morro Bay, and in Ojai, where I went to high school. Please let me know if you're still interested in receiving these blog posts, as I continue on my artistic journey. Let me know what you'd like to know--about painting, trips, visits, the life of an artist... whatever! I love it all...

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Coast Highway of Northern California

Staying in wonderful Mendocino on the north-central coast of California is one of the greater pleasures of being an artist. A little bed and breakfast overlooking the water, and then a day of painting out on the Headlands.... can it get any finer? I imagine so, but for me, this return to painting with gusto and energy is just precisely what I need--and now I have--along the California coast.

"View from the Headlands" Original oil, 5x7 inches, $100 for this or any of the other paintings that I'm creating on this journey. Just email me....

The sun has been peeking out between the fog banks, and the drive down from Fortuna yesterday was spectacular.

With both hands on the handlebars, the Harley curved around jaw-dropping heights to the sea below. Mere photography cannot put the stomach-knotting reality of one's own impermanence on this earth as does being in the moment and living it with nothing but air and a tiny guard rail between you and eternity. Enclosed in a car would not give me this feeling of being totally ALIVE on this trip, as did that route.

---
The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Redwoods and More Painting

 While waiting in the parking lot of Hearst Castle, I had time to open the oils and paint this 5 x 7 of the view to the hills south. This image doesn't quite show the colors true to the painting (they are richer and more detailed), but I'm happy with the composition.

The little Guerilla painter thumb box (for 5 x 7 panels) works wonderfully well in "transport" mode, where space is at a premium, as on the motorcycle. I can carry all my plein air gear in a small pack that straps handily right on top of the requisite luggage for road trips. The contents include:
1. The Guerilla Painter box
2. Brushes
3. Tin for mineral spirits
4. Drink bottle full of mineral spirits
5. Paper towels
6. Cotton garden gloves that I use for painting (also keeps the sun at bay!)
7. Roll of wax paper and heavy-duty rubber bands (for packing the semi-wet paintings face-to-face with wax paper in between)
8. Small tin of Vaseline for cleaning brushes (no need for soap!)
9. Pill boxes with two days cut off--I have tubes of white, burnt umber and pthalo blue that are added as needed to the mixing palette, so I only have five pill boxes with cool and five pill boxes with warm colors.
Here's an image of the setup. It works really, REALLY well.

The trip has been over 1200 miles so far, and just AWESOME!!

Oh, here's a link to the video of the Avenue of the Giants from the motorcycle! Turn DOWN your sound, since the wind noise and Harley pipes are loud.
---
The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Morro Rock

We sure went through some gorgeous country today on the motorcycles! From the second day along the coast of California to this evening in
Mendocino, we've put over 1,000 miles on our bikes.

On the first evening of the road trip,  as the fog was coming back in, I sat on a log in almost the exact same place when I learned brushwork from Joyce Pike in her workshop. With a more mature mind,  I painted the same scene again, in oils and as a 5 x 7. Tonight I raise my glass to the memory of the fabulous woman who opened the door for me in expressive brushwork: Joyce Pike.

Tomorow the journey continues with more ocean paintings.

-----
The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

On the Road Again... with Paint Box

Seeing the world from the seat of a motorcycle is totally different than seeing it from a car seat. Today our two motorcycles traveled on one of the most memorable motorcycling roads in California--Highway 36--and it was QUITE the ride! Highway 36 is quite like a woman with mood swings--one moment you're on a beautifully maintained road with jaw-dropping vistas down to rivers and over to mountain ranges, and the next you're dropped into dark and swirling twisties without any road striping. Far better than any roller coaster, this road asks a lot of a motorcycle rider, and even more of the artist within me.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at the state park and  my artist side kicked in as I looked out over the Eel River and planned the layout of the levels of atmosphere from the rocky bars into the water to the distant blue-green redwoods. I sat on a small bridge with the sound of a happy family playing in the water behind me, and pulled this painting off my brushes.

The redwoods are awesome, and here are Joanna and my motorcycles parked at the base of some of the larger ones.

Tomorrow we head south, heading down the Avenue of the Giants and out to the northern coast with its ocean views, for our fourth overnight in Mendocino overlooking the Pacific.

Thank you for joining me on this journey of a lifetime!
---
The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Motorcycle Painting Trip!

The bike is packed. The motorcycle trip up through Northern California is planned. Painting all the way, taking Sparky the traveling dog with me (his "dog luggage' kennel is right behind my seat with lots of ventilation), and the road trip commences! For those of you not familiar with motorcycles, this is a Harley Davidson Softail, 2007 model.

 274 miles later, and I'm sitting on a log in Morro Bay, taking out the first of several canvases to do a vista that I did back in the 80's under the aspicious instruction of Joyce Pike. I'm using a 5x7 thumb box and oils for this getaway.

Join me for this journey of a lifetime up the coast highway 1!

----
The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Obviously someone hacked my blog and sent some spam out to all my friends and artist friends. I'm sorry that happened, and have taken the necessary precautions to keep that from happening again.

To everyone, I'm still here!

I've had some really massive life-changes in the 18 months or so, and have taken time to focus on things that supplanted the production of art and marketing of the paintings. I ask your patience for a little while longer, while I regain my footing.

I can assure you that my creative energies are still alive and well, and I'm seeing so much beauty in the world now that I really want to capture with paint and brush as I move forward in new ways.


 ----

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2011 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.