Painting Newport Back Bay

Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve and Ecological Reserve represent approximately 1,000 acres of open space. Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve surrounds the Ecological Reserve. The park includes the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center. Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve totals approximately 140 acres. The Nature Preserve is made up of the bluffs surrounding the Bay. Here is a link with history of this Nature Preserve which I think you will find very interesting. Upper Newport Bay Intro

PAAR's locations chair found this wonderful place for us to paint and after meeting up with some other artists we have found out about more hidden treasures in the area that we will be returning to paint in the near future.

We left out around 8:30 from my house and met up with Lisa McDill at King of Frame. King of Frame is famous for their wonderful plein air frames. Pat Ford and I had each placed orders and thought we would stop by and pick them up on our way to Newport to paint. We each took some paintings to have Terri and Randy Higbee give us some help in framing. If you are in the need for frames this is the place to go. kingofframe.com - Custom and Ready Made Frames, Plein Air Frames They will make the frames up while you wait. Since we had each placed such a large order, Randy suggested that we go out and paint and stop back by after to pick up our orders and he would have some wine and cheese for us to celebrate the day! Now this is the way to treat your customers. Pat, Kathi Scarpace and myself went out for lunch at a fabulous deli recommended by Randy, then headed out to the site to meet up with Lisa for an afternoon of painting.

I chose the above view because I loved the way the light reflections from the sun hit the water. It was amazing how when the tide went out, how different the whole location changed. That's when I knew it was time to call it a day. I am very happy with this little 9 x 12 painting, oil on canvas board. I feel I really captured the mood and the rhythm of the scene. Your comments are always welcomed.

A bit of exciting news. My painting "Overlooking the Crowd" Weekly Paintings by Terry d. Chacon: September 2009 which I painted at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium has juried in to the SoCal Artists Asso. exhibit in Laguna Beach, CA. The reception is Dec. 5, 2009.

Until next time, ENJOY THE ART! Terry d. Chacon

Christmas Painting 2009

"Guess Who's Coming to Christmas Dinner"

24 x 20" oil on wrap around canvas (Terry d. Chacon)

Every year I paint a Christmas painting to add to my collection. You can view past paintings on my website under giclee prints/seasonal. This painting will also be available in giclee and notes. This year I used a photo submitted by Debbie Rogers from Texas. Thank you Debbie!

When I received the photo from Debbie, I took one look at it and my mind starting racing. I had been trying to come up with a theme for my yearly Christmas painting and knew this would be the one. After getting permission from Debbie I drew my ideas out on a sketch pad and then on the canvas

and proceeded after with a wash.

There were 5 puppies in the original photo, I took the puppy out in the middle of the back seat (a black and blue) to add the Christmas present. The Santa is Debbies husband who was helping to keep the puppies in the convertible so Debbie could take their photo. I loved the innocence of the puppies. Each puppy has a different look; curious, precious, mischievous, perfect for any Holiday painting. I have no idea how they managed to keep them in the car, but the photo was priceless and I knew it would make a very special Christmas painting.

After letting the wash dry I painted the complete painting using my palate knife. I love the effects of the palate knife. The palate knife is what I use to paint my plein air paintings and have done a couple studio pieces too. I am liking this effect more and more. Working with the palate knife leaves a lot of paint on the canvas, you can move it around with ease, like buttering toast. It was also a challenge working with all the whites in the photo. Each white has a different color mixed in so it separates them from each other. Actually was a challenge but a lot of fun and I really like the end result.

Looking forward to your comments.

Until next time enjoy the ART! Terry d. Chacon

Painting the Zanja #3

"Zanja at Grove" 9 x 12 on canvas panel

So sorry for the lapse in my weekly blog. 23 days ago I came down with a cold which escalated into a sinus infection. Boy has this taken a toll on me. I have been busy with some studio works and have managed to get a little something done each day.

Painting the Zanja as you may recall from a previous blog is a paint out event put on by the Redlands Art Association and the Redlands Conservancy Redlands Conservancy CITRUS HERITAGE COMMITTEE. This is my 3rd painting. I had hoped to paint more but with being sick that put quite a damper on my getting out and painting on location the past few weeks. Yesterday a group of us met at one location out near Mentone. After looking it over we all decided it was not a location that we were interested in painting. We moved onto another location to find that it really wasn't something any of us wanted to paint. Well third time is a charm. I suggested we go down by the University of Redlands. The Zanja runs south of the University and the tree lined streets in themselves are always a painting waiting to happen. I took off after we parked our cars and walked quite a ways. As I turned back to start walking towards my car I noticed this lovely scene. The way the light was hitting the large Eucalyptus, the old broken down bridge that goes over the Zanja and I loved the hole that gave way to the vista that included some beautiful palms with mountains in the distance.

After painting the area we all joined for a wonderful lunch at Macaroni Grill. What a way to spend the day!

Until next time, ENJOY THE ART! Terry d. Chacon

Giclee prints, notes and some of the paintings on my blog are available. Just contact me for prices and availability.

National Cemetery Paint Out 2009

"Foggy Morning" National Cemetery


Riverside National Cemetery
Riverside National Cemetery
Thirty Five PAAR artists have signed up to paint the Riverside National Cemetery during 3 weekends of Oct. 2009. Jim Ruester had a vision and contacted me last Spring. He said it is such a beautiful place and he wanted the artist to paint and exhibit their artwork at the cemetery. After many phone calls, a visit with a tour of the grounds, my locations chair Ada M. Passaro and I agreed this would be a fabulous opportunity for PAAR and an honor to be involved in the project. An exhibit of the paintings will be unveiled at the Riverside National Cemetery Administration Building on Veteran's Day Nov. 11. The show will be up until June 2, 2010.

Upon arrival at our first location in the cemetery was The Amphitheater on Oct. 10, 2009, the weather in the area had turned cold over night with fog. This is always a challenge living in Southern Ca. Inland Empire as most of our days are bright and sunny. So we were thrown a ringer and at first thought we would wait it out, but after looking at the beauty we decided to give it a try. "Foggy Morning" the first painting at the top of this blog is a small 6 x 8 painting in Plein Air. While painting this location the geese were in abundance. At one point as I was painting about 10 of them walked up very close behind me and started to squawk. I quickly ran around the front of my easel. My friend Pat Ford who was painting near to me, said bark back at them. She started squawking, they looked at her squaked back and then proceeded to walk away. I think most of the people who come out to this area bring them something to eat, and they were not happy that we did not do this.

"Front Entrance Waterfall Pond" National Cemetery

After the sun came out we moved to the entrance of the cemetery for another painting. We were especially drawn to this area because of the waterfall, but after arriving the beautiful play on lights and dark was very exciting. Linda Harmon later joined us at this fabulous spot. After completing our paintings we headed out for the day.
"Misty Morning" National Cemetery

On our second day of painting we decided to go back to the Amphitheater. This morning it was not only foggy but misty rain too. The weather was interesting as it was much lighter but still overcast and the sun would go in and out the better part of the morning. The reflections in the water changed constantly as well as the distant trees.



This is a photo taken by Pat Ford. The ducks and geese in the foreground were always the talk of the day. It was fun to watch how they intermingled with each other, the big white goose seemed to have control over all of them. I am the artist standing in the distance with the cowboy hat on. In shorts and freezing my butt off......Several artists were in this area that morning painting.

"Waterfall" 2nd day National Cemetery

I really wanted to go back to this same place and capture this scene again. I had studied the painting the day before and wanted to get more distance. In changing the size of the tree trunks, darkening the shadows in the water around the waterfall and throwing back the distant trees I think I accomplished a much better painting. I don't usually paint the same place twice, but I am glad I did paint this one twice. It really helped me correct some issues I have developed that I was not happy with.

Well there you have it, my first 2 days of the paint out. I won't be going back this next weekend because of a previous engagement with my husband, (2 nights in Palm Springs). YAY a weekend getaway! But I will be back on the last weekend to paint. There are so many beautiful spots to try and capture, I think it is just crazy trying to choose.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog as much as I enjoy sharing it with you. Please share with family and friends who you think will enjoy it as well.

Until next time, ENJOY THE ART! Terry d. Chacon

Painting Torrey Pines

This past Wed., my plein air artist friends Pat Ford and Rita Pacheco who recently moved to Carlsbad traveled to Torrey Pines. Torrey pines is known for its beautiful paths for hiking, walking, running, biking, the beautiful beaches and the Torrey Pine. I guess if you are a golfer you recognize the name from the beautiful Torrey Pine Golf Course with its beautiful ocean views from several holes. The Torrey pine grows only in this area just inside the San Diego city limits and up around Santa Barbara. Please follow this link for more information about this 8 mile little wonder on the west coast. Torrey Pines State Reserve

Upon our arrival to Torrey Pines we paid the $10.00 fee and traveled up the road through the pine trees to the Torrey Pines Lodge. From there the paths to the beach are in several locations. It is about .8 of a mile down to the point where we hiked down to paint our first painting. My painting that I did was not very good so when I got home I scraped all the paint off and will use the canvas for another painting at another time. Sometime you capture the scene and sometimes you don't. It is always such a learning experience.

After painting the bluffs and ocean we hiked back up to paint near the parking lot where we had parked the cars. When we arrived earlier in the day we had met another plein air artist from San Diego painting in this area and did not want to intrude on her space. By this time she was gone and the pathways were just beautiful with the light and shadows. I chose this pathway as it overlooked the ocean and I liked the line of Torrey Pines on the left and when the late afternoon sun hit the foliage on the right they just sparkled with color. In the far distance is La Jolla across the ocean from this point. I was happy with this painting and even more happy when I saw it when I got home.

Another wonderful day painting on location. Until next time, ENJOY THE ART!
Terry d. Chacon

Your comments are always welcomed. If you enjoy reading my blog, please share with family and friends.

Don't forget the month of Oct. I am having a sale on my website. For details please email me. shacone@aol.com

Painting the Zanja (2nd day)

"Painting the Zanja" Following Citrus Ave to the East of Redlands is a little road named "Walnut". Walnut sits out among the beautiful rows and rows of orange trees that have not been uprooted as yet and hopefully will remain untouched.

This is the 2nd time I have painted this wonderful little spot in the past 2 years and I was very excited to go back. Today I chose the wooden bridge which had the most contrast in color leading out to the beautiful vista of the San Bernardino Mountains. This part of the Zanja which means ditch or trench has some water flowing through. The owner of the property says it is actually run off from the orange groves that surround the property. Also in talking with one of the owners that live on this magnificent property we learned there was a sighting of a bob cat just a couple days prior to us being there. In saying that we all made sure not to venture too far out and stay relatively close to one another for the painting session. Although he reassured us that we were safe, we just didn't want to be sorry.
Until next time, ENJOY THE ART. Terry d. Chacon

Giclee prints and notes are available from this original plein air painting. shacone@aol.com

New York City Union Square

While in New York City to see the ArtLive 2009 Exhibit at Gallery 225, I wanted to go by Central Park to try and get some photos for a painting. I wanted to paint a street scene and I wanted the Empire State Building to be part of the scene. We had thought about trying Central Park, but because of the UN meetings with President Obama on that very day, there was no way we would get even close to that area.
On our way to the Gallery we passed another famous park (Union Square) Union Square (New York City) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and low and behold, there peaking through the trees was the Empire State Building. It was amazing how the trees made a V shape just for the Empire State Building to peak it's way through. What a perfect place to take my photos. If I had me painting gear I would have loved to have done a plein air painting, but that was not the case. After finding a place to park (one that was no easy task in NYC), we walked up to the park. Fran and Honi took off in one direction and Abbe and I took off another. I walked across the street so I could get the best view of the park with the ESB in the background. I was excited to find in one of my photos a bright yellow cab in the scene. Well that could not have been better. Everyone talks about the yellow cabs in New York City, and this one was going across the cross walk while the pedestrians had the right of way. So typical of the yellow cabs. But you have to admit it adds a certain amount of color to the scene. The backdrop of the trees that were in full color, the people, the vendors, oh and I loved the white large bulb park lights that lined the park.
Anyway as you can see I was excited to paint this photograph, I added the afghan hound in the foreground and the little dog in the crosswalk, well because I can and it would not be a painting of my creation without a dog. "Leaving Union Square" available in giclee prints and notes.

Until Next Time, ENJOY THE ART!

Terry d. Chacon