"Sea of Clouds" LaConner, plein air, landscape, oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Sea of Clouds"  8x10 oil on panel  $330

I called Mark Bistranin on my way to LaConner and told him I was headed up. "Great", Mark said, "Me and Sam are just headed out to paint. We'll meet you at the 76 station"  I thought I had been to most of Marks good spots but somehow missed this one. The day was beautiful and the clouds, like giant pillows floated along against an azure sky......Perfect!

Mark and Jazz

Sam chatting with the neighbor

 Tragically, the day I was headed home from this trip a mudslide occurred not far from this location in the town of Oso.  I am auctioning off a plein air painting done here on the same day , the proceeds of which will go to the slide victim relief.  You can bid on it HERE.  Thanks for your support of this cause.  Learn more about how you can help HERE

Also, I am showing a large body of my work at Alki Arts, The Harbor Steps Gallery in Seattle , WA..
If you are in the area check it out.

Click HERE to learn more.

          

"Spring Dike" LaConner, plein air, landscape painting by Robin Weiss

"Spring Dike"  6x8 oil on panel      SOLD

I recently took a trip to LaConner, WA. to view the early Daffodils and paint with my friend, Mark Bistranin.  The first day was sunny and beautiful and we both did three paintings!  Rain returned on the next day but I was still able to get a painting done and spend some time visiting.

The downside and tragic part of this trip I learned while driving home on Saturday.  A mudslide near Arlington in the town of Oso wiped out many homes and 90 people are dead and missing. The relief effort to find the missing and clear the debris is massive and those on the scene need our help. That is why I am donating the proceeds of the sale of this piece to the relief efforts.  You can bid on this painting at the dailypaintworks auction HERE.   Thank you for supporting this cause!

"The Bengoti" Seattle cityscape by Robin Weiss

"The Bengoti"          Sold

Another rain drenched scene of my favorite city.  I think this painting is about 12x14. I painted it a month ago and sent it off to the gallery forgetting , again , to post it to my blog.  If you stand in Pioneer Square and look north, this is the view you will see. Of course everything changes when the sun comes out ....sometime in June....

It seems I have a rotating show of my recent work traveling around . It will now all be in one place, my city scenes and my plein air landscapes.  For the next month my work will be at Alki Arts "The Harbor Steps Gallery"  while I am away at the Plein Air Convention in Monterey.

Speaking of plein air.  The Plein Air Magazine online newsletter "Outdoor Painter" did a nice little interview with me about the Mexico workshop . You can view it HERE

"Madrone Lane" Bainbridge Island, urban, plein air, oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Madrone Lane"  8x10 oil on panel    Sold

I realized that I had never posted this painting when it sold. This has happened before.  That brings me to the professional artists tip that you should always keep your images of paintings in organized folders. One for High Resolution and one for Web posting. This one was never resized and it took me some time to find. It was tucked away in my high res folder. Fortunately, because I keep pretty organized folders by date I was able to find it fairly fast but I hate wasting time digging for stuff when it should be right at my fingertips.  I've done that when looking for tools to do a project around the house. There have been times when, after looking for a tool for an hour I just gave up and refocused on another project.  Don't let that happen to your art images! They are too important to our business!  Plus,  you can then devote more time to watching talking dog videos on youtube...=]

"Palapa Palms" Mexico , coastal, landsacape painting by Robin Weiss

"Palapa Palms"  14x11 oil on canvas panel   $520

This is the last one of the Mexico paintings from our adventure to the Baja Sur. I saw these palms when the workshop was gathered at the church in Pescadero. I didn't have a chance to do more than a quick sketch and take some pictures at the time, so it was fun to finally get to the palms when I got back to the studio.

underpainting

I did my usual underpainting in a hotter red/orange color to give the painting the "heat" that we experienced in Mexico.









I am back to painting the cool northwest scenes that I am used to for now but the Plein Air Convention in Monterey is coming up in April and I am excited to be back in sunny California, especially the beautiful Monterey peninsula! Stay tuned for updates on how it all plays out.
  In the mean time if you are in the area I will be at the Bainbridge Baker Co, in Winslow, on Bainbridge Island, WA.  for the first Friday Art Walk this coming Friday from 6pm till 8pm.  Come down and see my recent plein air and studio work with over 30 paintings displayed.

Until next time , Adios Amigos!

"On the Road to Cerritos" Mexico, desert, landscape painting by Robin Weiss

"On the Road to Cerritos"  10x10 oil on panel   Sold

To get from Jolyns house to the beach at Cerritos you drive these dirt roads through the desert. They call this cactus a Cordone. I desperately wanted to stop and paint these in the landscape but unfortunately was tied down to the workshop schedule. I did take a lot of pictures of them , stopping Jo many times to hop out and shoot photos. I loved the change of complimentary color from the yellow/green tops to the red/purple lower branches.

Cactus Bird

I also had fun taking pictures of all the birds I saw. Here are a few pictures of them.

















Cardinal

Frigate

"The Palms of Las Palmas" Mexico, coastal landscape painting by Robin Weiss

"The Palms of Las Palmas"   7x10 oil on panel  $300

After we returned from Mexico I did some paintings from the photos I took while the light and colors of the Baja were still fresh in my mind, There were so many scenes at Las Palmas I wanted to paint but only had time for one. This scene , looking back to the palms from the beach, was lighting up late in the afternoon when I captured it with my trusty pocket camera.

"Las Palmas Beach" Mexico, plein air coastal oil painting by Robin Weiss

Las Palmas Beach 12x9 oil on panel   Sold

Our last day in Mexico we were free to relax and paint on our own.  Jolyn took us to a favorite beach and painting spot called Las Palmas or Palm Beach. 


Jolyn and Rob painting at Las Palmas

We found a great spot to set up and enjoyed the afternoon working at our own pace. There were just a few other families on the beach, It felt like we had the whole place to ourselves...

Pelican Pete

Well,  except for our friend Pete who kept coming by to check on how the paintings were coming along.   Pete hung around all day. Guess he needed some company and we stayed long enough to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the Baja.  What a great way to spend our last day in Mexico!  Thank you Tom and Jolyn Moran for hosting this workshop and showing such wonderful hospitality!  To see Jolyns  plein air work click here






Sunset at Las Palmas

I have more paintings to post of Mexico from the photos I took so check back when you have the time......Adios Amigos!

"Cerritos Surf" Mexico, marinescape by Robin Weiss

"Cerritos Surf"   10x10 oil on panel   Sold

 The big draw of Pescadero for Americans and others is the great surfing beach at Cerritos just a few miles from where we were staying. People come from all over to enjoy the soft sand and nice break of the waves.


The palapa at Cerritos

The great thing for my purpose was the large palapa that would provide shade for the painters on the third day of the workshop in Mexico.
 The idea was to get there early enough on Sunday morning to beat all the beach goers that would be showing up to enjoy a day off.....and that we did!  My wife, Ann camped out at the surf club on a deck chair under an umbrella enjoying a good book while we painted the rocks and ocean surf.

This was my demo for the workshop of waves hitting the rocks. I was trying to portray the motion of the water and create design with the rocks. The painting above was done from pictures I took on location using my plein air study for local color.

Frieda working hard

Margi working on her seascape

The students enjoyed the shade and the beautiful day at the beach!  everyone did great even though painting surf can be very challenging ...even for the teacher!

As we were painting several boats raced in through the surf and hauled up on the beach to clean their catch. It was quite a show and a Mexican family who shared the palapa with us was happy to get what was left over after filleting the large fish.

Ann enjoying the view overlooking Cerritos Beach

"Calle Sin Nombre" Mexico, plein air landscape painting by Robin Weiss

"Calle Sin Nombre"   10x10 oil on panel     Sold




Juan Valdez

Calle sin nombre means "street with no name" and there are a lot of those in Mexico!  The sun bakes the red dirt roads and reflects into the very air bathing everything in warm light. I was glad I brought along my trusty, wide brimmed, painting sombrero!  That thing has kept me comfortable in many hot locations.

This view of Pescadero was painted from the top of Jolyns house where she had a traditional palapa built by local Mexicans. Not only does it make a great place to hang out and relax in the shade but it also helps to keep the house cool in the summer when temps can reach 120 degrees!





Painting under the Palapa

After the morning demo we all went up to the palapa to paint the view from a shady spot. I worked on this painting as I taught my process of tackling a landscape. The day before I drew a few thumbnail sketches which I looked at as I worked out the values using a red orange color for the underpainting. 

I also went around and offered suggestions and answered questions from the other artists. I wanted to make sure they didn't get discouraged. Painting landscapes on location is one of the hardest things an artist can do and even the best aren't always successful. When you give it your best shot and still have a stinker, best to chuck it into the nearest arroyo and try another view.

Me and Ann having our morning coffee






"View of Pescadero" Mexico, plein air, landscape painting by Robin Weiss

"View of Pescadero" 8x10 oil on panel   sold

The second day of the Mexico workshop we gathered at the church in Pescadero where there was a terraced out door plaza of sorts. Everyone set up their easels and got started with thumbnail sketches.

Frida, Jolyn, Tori and Cynthia

The lesson for the second day was to begin by composing small value sketches from different perspectives. This is a skill that is often very useful in the field but often neglected by artists a little too eager to start painting before they have a good "road map" to guide them.






visitors

It wasn't long before we had many interested spectators.  We realized that it being Saturday, all the children in the village come to the church for catechism class.  At one point there were five or six kids around each easel watching with wide eyes and cute faces.






Enjoying the Day Painting

It was another warm, sunny day in Mexico and everyone was happy with the work they did. It took me all day to finish my painting because I was busy trying to suggest ideas to help each artist and attempting to communicate with the children. Jolyn catered a great lunch of local BBQ chicken and then we both stayed late to work on our paintings after everyone left...What a great day!





Tori works on her painting

Tori's painting


 

Marsha Dahlquist's painting

"Coffee Pot Demo" still life demo painting in Pescadero by Robin Weiss

"Coffee Pot Demo" 10x10 oil on panel   Sold

The workshop in Pescadero, Mexico was a great success excepting a few glitches, like hitting a cow on the highway coming back from La Paz at night! Thanks to Jolyns quick reflexes we didn't hit it head on and only sustained damage to the car and not ourselves!




Baha Moon

The drive from the airport in Cabo San lucas to Pescadero offered spectacular views of the desert with the moon coming up and started to get me excited about painting this beautiful region

Sunset in La Paz

The second day we drove to different, possible painting locations and made a plan for the three day workshop. After that we drove to La Paz to try and purchase some supplies that didn't make it through by mail...Tip; if you are planning a workshop in Mexico don't mail anything ahead! plan on paying for the extra baggage. You will be money ahead!  Another Tip; If you are driving along Mexican highways at night, Stay Alert!  Cows often trot across the highways and even seek them out for the warmth generated by the pavement.

Still life demo at Jolyn and Toms Casa

Tom and Jolyn Moran offered their lovely home as' home base' for the workshop and we met there for the first days opening talk , color class and painting demo. the weather turned out beautiful and the student/artists who attended were a delight! 



Stayed tuned for more adventures in Mexico!

"Yellow Truck" old truck oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Yellow Truck" 8x8 oil on panel   $330

This restored truck is seen a lot parked around Bainbridge Island.  I have my rendition of it displayed in a solo show at The Tree House Café in hopes the owner will notice and buy the painting....you never know...

The show will be up through January.  Stop by, shoot a game of pool, have a pizza and check it out!  

"Pt. White Estuary" Bainbridge Island, plein air landscape painting by Robin Weiss

"Pt. White Estuary"  7x11 oil on panel    Sold

I found myself at Lynwood Center on Bainbridge Island last week. I drove over to put a red dot on a painting that sold at my solo show at the Tree House Café....which by the way, will be up for the rest of January! hint -hint...

Darrell painting at Pt. White

The day was so sunny and beautiful I decided to paint down on the beach..It was such a beautiful day I called my painting buddy Darrell Anderson to see if he was able to come down and share it with me...Just so happens Darrell was anxious for an excuse to abandon his plans to clean the studio to get outside and paint.  We both had a great day on the beach!  If you would like to read Darrells blog post and see his outstanding painting go HERE.




   

getting started

I was also test driving my new home-made pochade box...Everything is working just the way I hoped it would!   Now I'm all ready for more adventures in plein air this summer....=]

"North Head Lighthouse from Benson Beach" Landscape painting by Robin Weiss

"North Head Lighthouse from Benson Beach"  32x48 oil on canvas   Sold

It has been a long delay before posting this work....but worth it!  "North Head Light"  is a studio painting done from a plein air study and photos taken on location at Cape disappointment, on the Long Beach Peninsula, Wa. state.




Peoples Choice Award!

 The painting was selected by juror, Eric Jacobson as part of the Plein Air Washington Artists, Washington State Parks Exhibition at The American Art Co. gallery in Tacoma Wa. It received an honorable mention from the juror and then I was surprised to learn at the end of January that it also received the Peoples Choice Award!  This was especially gratifying for me since it came from many of my peers in the art community.  This show was the culmination of many fun paint outs with the PAWA gang this summer and included many fine studio paintings accompanied by their plein air studies from many members.
You can see the post of my plein air adventure at Cape Dissapointment when I worked on the studies HERE

Check out some of the other paintings and winners from the show HERE

Check out some fun interviews with some of the artists involved in the show  HERE