It's 7:30 on Monday morning and I am already in San Francisco at the Academy of Art. I car pool in and arrive almost two hours before my class. Grad school has been very challenging.

After painting on my own and selling work for the past five years, I felt pretty confident in my abilities. Now that I am in grad school, I find that I have so much more to learn. I spent about ten hours yesterday doing homework. My house is a mess and the cupboard is bare because I have not scheduled time to go grocery shopping.

I am hoping that now with Artrails and the paint out being over, I can find a routine with my schedule so I will not feel like I am treading water but actually swimming.

Why grad school? I have been asked this by several of my painting buddies. Because I want to improve. I would like to earn my masters and have other teaching opportunities. A few years down the road I could be teaching overseas fulfilling my dream of both teaching and traveling.

It's Sunday. The last day of the "Paint Out". Today I got to sleep in and relax. We have until 4:00 before we can pick up our artwork and head home. I have about a five hour drive but can not wait to sleep in my own bed. This week has been very inspiring and I feel rejuvenated.

This week was an amazing one! I had a great time painting all the beautiful scenes around San Luis Obispo. I was hoping to do daily post of my progress but did not have Internet at my host home and had to make special trips to a coffee shop in a nearby town. I am very happy with the week and very tired. I did receive a great compliment from another fellow artist. He is one of my favorites and both he and his wife came over to tell me how much they admired one of my paintings. This artist is an amazing artist and I was honored to be given a compliment from him. I am posting the two paintings I sold on Friday.

Yesterday I found a fellow artist.  I had searched out good painting locations on day one and found a pier known as Old Port Inn.  A huge pier with several buildings and lots of seagulls.  I had decided to return early in the morning, for better light.  At these events, you spend a lot of time alone waking at sunrise and painting till dark. I arrived to find another artist had beat me. There was also a television news van.  I did not know that there had been a tsunami warning the night before.  The wave turned out to be one foot tall.  I had a great morning painting.

Its is day four of the San Luis Paint Out.  I just finished the sixth required painting this morning. Beautiful day! The fog left yesterday and there has been nothing but blue skies. Being in a plein air competition, you get to spend a lot of time by yourself.  You also see the landscape not as a landscape but as a composition full of light, shadow, warm and cool tones.  The other day, my art student was laughing at me.  I had been connecting her mood with her artwork.  It is easy to get so immersed in the artwork that the world beyond ceases to exist.

  

San Luis Obispo

Day One-

 I drove straight to San Luis on Sunday.  One tank of gas later, I arrived at the art center to get my canvasses stamped.  Then it was time to pull out the map once again and find my host family.  It turns out they live high on a hill in a beautiful castle.  Well maybe not a castle, but a beautiful home.  I was exhausted upon arrival.  I had a two page list to help me pack for this event.  There is no way I could remember all the parts that include, tools, painting gear, framing gear, food, clothes, maps, camera, computer, homework, etc.

Monday morning I awoke early to a very foggy day.  I decided to go to a spot I was familiar with from a previous trip.  I spent about four hours painting at the first location. Then I spent the rest of the day driving around scoping out new spots.  There is not Internet access at my host home so I found a coffee shop for this entry.  It is Tuesday and guess what? Its foggy again.  So I am off to paint another lavender and grey painting. Send some sunshine my way.

I have returned to grad school. This is my second week so the time I normally spend painting landscapes is now full of assignments. Though I am currently painting tedious exercises, I am happy. I know in a short time I will be doing much more complicated pieces and that the school is going to push my limits. I am taking two online classes and one in the city. Tomorrow will be my first class in SF and I will be catching the 5:30 bus to get there. Below is my assignment # 2 which required us to do a value study only using black and white. Of coarse a little color did sneak in. Above is an ocean studio I did last week.