Highway 395 on the eastern side of California is an endless road of paint-able images. On one side you the steeper side of the Sierra Nevada range that peaks out at 15,000 + feet near Whitney with flat green and brown hills below.

Summer is short in these dry and tougher areas. In the past, some hardy folks have build houses in the Owen Valley Corridor that have been abandoned for years that make for great paintings. Here is a painting of an abandoned house near Mono Lake.

One of my favorite places in California is Yosemite National Park. Although the valley can often be busy with tourists, I still find it one the most beautiful and fun places to go, especially in the summer or late summer when the rivers run at level to enjoy safely.

I’ve hiked and climbed half dome at least 3 times and visited the valley maybe 25-50 times over many years. I have visited it in all seasons, winter, summer, fall and spring. I have led volunteer work trips, hiking trips, half dome climbing trips, camping trips, photography trip, biking trips, girl scout trips, family trips.

I hope to capture some of those images on canvas. I have also done a series of pen and ink and water colors of Yosemite as well and different posters.

Just north of Half Moon Bay is a busy community that has a local ocean harbor can Princeton. This is a view of the harbor and the jetty that goes a long way out into the ocean making for a self made bay area.

Today I visited the coast again looking for new views to paint. This view was this set of dramatic almost white vertical cliffs looking north on Hwy 1.

The fog was starting to hide the distant coast but a section of the coast was clear.

Every turn on this road is a classic northern California coast inland view of rolling hills, trees, farms, and vistas.

This painting was based on the just a regular turn in the road on Stage Road, North of San Gregoria about 1/2 mile before you intersect with Hwy 1.

A few years back I was attending a dinner social event on the cooler coast evening and we had a campfire with a full moon rising from the west in the early evening. This painting is based on that moment near San Gregorio on Hwy 1.

A few years back I traveled to the Cinque Terre coastal region of Italy. I went there in late September after the big crowds but water and weather was still warm. We stay in Monterossa for 5 days while we hike and explored the 5 (cinque) different coastal cities. These paintings are based on images I took while I as there.

Pescadero is a cute little town a few miles inland from the coast and offer 100+ year old barns and houses. The town is still very small and local and hasn’t changed or grown much in a very long time. I grabbed a shot of this older barn that was painted blue.

As I drive over the coast on Hwy 92, you pass over a small section of land that is between two large lakes that are serviced by Hetch Hecthy and SF water District. The water district has this huge swath of land and includes several lakes originally created to store water for SF water needs but now these lakes are typically not used for water supplies.

From the tree house studio, I have access to some town open space close by. This open space and horse pasture call Byrne Preserve changes rapidly from a golden brown in the fall to a green grass once the fall rains start to fall.

For the painting below, I was painting from a photo of the lush green grass the show of poppies that occur in April every year.