SUNRISE AT MISSION BAY II, SAN DIEGO, acrylic on canvas

Sunrise at Mission Bay II, San Diego, acrylic on canvas, 14x14 in.
This painting is recent, and part of my new series of San Diego scenes, acrylic on canvas.

This "painting San Diego" I'm doing lately,  reminds me of Gianfranco Baruchello, an Italian artist whose work was exhibited at the Biennale di Venezia this year. He is 89 years old, was a friend of Marcel Duchamp and Italo Calvino. These friendships introduced him to the notion that art is a form of faith in the ability to transmute everyday objects and activities into something greater. 

SUNRISE AT MISSION BAY, acrylic on canvas

Sunrise at Mission Bay, acrylic on canvas, 14x14 in.  I am working on a series of acrylic on canvas paintings of San Diego, in a fast, impressionism/realism/ style of my own development. This is one of them.

Plein Air painting did not begin with the Impressionists. Camille Corot (1796-1875) used to paint outdoors, in front of the subject, like his "Waterfall at Terni", from 1826. The invention of the oil tubes of paint, made it very practical to carry outdoors without having to mix the paint in your studio.  In 1897, Claude Monet said: "There is only one master here: Corot. We are nothing compared to him." Typical of Corot's Italian oil sketches are the small format and the use of paper as a surface.

Mission Bay Friend, watercolor

Mission Bay Friend, watercolor, plein air, 5x4". Available. Mission Bay is a place in San Diego, California, where locals and tourists alike walk, hike, run, or just sit and enjoy the view. Friendly visitors fly in and out, hoping for a scrap of food or a piece of bread.