42.  Original Plein Air Watercolor Painting, “Plein Air, 4:30-5:45pm, Wave Study at Gualala Point, 9.7.24”, watercolor and white gouache, 18 x 24”, 2024

Location: Gualala, CA

Event: Plein Air Gualala

Event Awards: 3rd Place Overall

This painting was the first work made during Plein Air Gualala, plein air event #3 in Art Tour 2024. I was just beginning the first leg of the fall segment of the Tour, spending two weeks in Gualala, CA, about 115 miles north of San Francisco, along Highway 1 on the coast. While not meaning to, many of the pieces, including the first one, are of waves. I have long admired the beach and surf paintings of Spanish 19th-20th century artist Joaquin Sorolla, and this was my chance to explore the optics of light in waves and water in paint. I used some white gouache in this piece, but it was the only time I did so for all of my time painting waves in California.