A Little Time Alone Is Golden

I am a big dreamer. I always dream quite vivid and colorful dreams. I am told that such is rare since most people dream in black and white and few have vivid dreams. I am not supposed to remember my dreams except if I by accident wake up for something before I finished my REM (Rapid Eye Movement) dreaming period, which happens more often than I like.

Sometimes though the dream fragment I wake up for is beautiful and I stay awake and continue where I wish the dream to go–sort of day dream but at night. This painting came out of such a dreaming. My friend sent me a link to a video where they showed the horses and their treatment that the British Royalty uses. the video was awesome. You could see the horses run free, trot in the water with a rider, etc.

On this picture there is no rider…

An unbridled horse walking along the golden sunrise of the beach.

Here in my dream the horse was in the very shallow water taking a morning stroll on the golden sunrise, which still has a bit of grayness to it as I saw it on the video, which would be typical for England I suppose; definitely not for California.

But this stroll along the beach alone has more meaning to it than the beauty of the colors. It represents the importance of freedom, of rest, of relaxation, of reflecting on one’s own past, present and thinking about the future. It is a happy scene but I feel there is some caution in there somewhere. Enjoy the present!

This picture can be purchased in print by clicking on the link here and as digital download by clicking on the link here.

Enjoy!

The Other Side

Montery Bay, Carmel, and many areas around–like Pebble Beach–are well known. Most people visit Point Lobos National park but end up visiting only one side. That side is huge by any standards. The rocks in the water are mini mountains; the waves are giants, and the water is crashing so loud you can barely speak. Marine life is abound. But there is another side! It is totally calm; the water is covered by a foamy layer of algae floating. In fact, if you look close enough at the shoreline, it is really a line of caves! I have never seen anything like this before.

You can purchase a print of this photo by clicking here or a digital download and other items by clicking here.

The trip to the “other  side” is a hike of various roads turning left and right with no name so in following the map of the park it is still a great puzzle where you may end up. The hike is not a hard one in terms of steepness but the terrain is rough from the rocks and the many branches that have fallen and its unevenness. Not very easy to find your footing and the place is full of poison oak.. something to definitely avoid touching by accident as you try to grab anything in site for your balance.

So when we finally got a first look of the “other side” I felt a huge relief, thinking “well, we are already there”.. no.. another 15-20 minutes… but the view was definitely worth it.

The other side at Point Lobos National Park

The view here shows you the water and what appears to be a “rounded” shoreline.. those are all caves; hundreds of them. A most amazing sight! Since we went at the time of the year when the June Gloom was expected, that is what you see being lifted for about 15 minutes mid-day. The trees here are covered with lichen and everything is very soft and cushiony; probably years of accumulated lichen and pine tree leaves several feet high that create a carpet that one can barely stand on without falling over. A most amazing place. It also put nature in perspective for me. Nature is huge and we are so tiny yet we have such a huge impact on it. It is an eye opened to go there!

Hugging the Coastal Mountains

I used to live in Northern California while getting my master’s at Stanford University and also worked full time. I lived there for 5 years. The place was in San Mateo, which is about a one-hour or so drive from Half Moon Bay. I seldom had the time to drive there but I did drive part of the way quite often. The view is aw inspiring!

First you see these amazing waves of thick ocean layer curling around the mountains as if to dress it in a veil giving it a huge hug. Whatever your imagination may be, mine was of a big squeeze of love. There was also a lake as you passed and I remember driving there many times to look back east to see the pink and clue setting skies opposite of the sun settling on the west. In this painting you see me looking toward the west. You see the mountains where the ocean layer gets stuck, beyond which is Half Moon Bay and its gorgeous beach by the Pacific Ocean. But to me to most exciting part of heading toward half Moon Bay was to go when the mountain was hugged by a big layer of white fluff. So here is my memory of that white stuff painted on my iPad using the Inspire Pro app and a precision stylus.

Mountains by Half Moon Bay are hugged by white fluff of ocean layer in the Bay area.

To purchase the print in any size or type, please visit my artist website and to purchase a digital download, please visit my main website (both underlined here for your quick access).

Rain is so important and it so seldom falls in the right place! But when it does, it is GOLD!

I photographed–actually 3 years ago–a blade of grass that had some morning drops of rain on it. I took one of these drops and turned it into gold color, enlarged it, and placed another one like it on that grass piss there is a small one on it that is natural and some regular drops on top that I did not turn gold color–perhaps I should have! Perhaps I will too in another moment of time when I find where the original of this photo is from 3 years ago.

In Southern California rain seldom falls and when it does, since we are in a desert here basically, it just runs straight down into the ocean. After a big downpour, within 5 minutes it can look here like it never rained. So when I see the smallest sign of possible rain, don’t even think of trying to find me at home… I will be outdoors, smelling in the fresh scent of heavenly rain and turning every rock and leaf to find life awakening from the golden rain.

So here is a photo–I have a series of this–of my version of Golden Dew, which you can purchase in print if you click on the word GOLD in caps; it looks best on metal:

Rare rain in Southern California captured on a blade of grass in an artistic way.

iPad Sunset is Nicer than Real in Southern California

Have you seen Southern California skies? They are blue. Yep. Blue… Clouds? You mean the cute fluffs or the angry storm clouds? What’s that will a SoCal person tell you. We rarely have clouds here and that is the norm. Oh yeah, we do get ocean layer, which is like being inside a giant dark brownish smogish layer of fog but nice clouds? Perhaps 5-10 times a year and to catch those you need to be at the beach since we have so many mountains and hills in the way. I have many times missed such beautiful sunsets in SoCal–mind you in the San Diego area they are luckier than in the Los Angeles area; San Diego does get its fair share of beautiful clouds a lot more than we do in the Los Angeles area.

So what does an artist do when no clouds show up? She paints them. And what do green artists paint them on? Why iPad of course!

So here is my latest iPad painting of Capo Beach, which is near Aliso Viejo and is in southern Orange County. I was there a few months ago photographing a model and though there was no spectacular sunset, the beach is actually nice there.. so here it is, as I wish it looked like on that day! iPad painting by the way is done with a stylus for fine tip painting, it is harder to paint on iPad than on canvas or “real” medium because the screen is smaller so you see only parts rather than the whole in one piece while working. It also has to be then enlarged on the computer to make it into print size and resolution. I used the app InspirePro to point this.

All of my iPad paintings have been enlarged in size and resolution to print beautifully and of you click here you can purchase this painting as print or if you click here you can also purchase a digital download of the same. Here is the painting in small:

iPad painting of a beautiful sunset on Capo Beach, California

Water Drops of a Blind Photographer?!

Sometimes, we photographers are so blind! What is in front of us we don’t see… we only see what we want to see. Perhaps this is true for you as well. My eyes seem to be trained to have amazing peripheral vision and the slightest movement of a bird of fly will capture my attention but I can have a tiger about to jump at me sitting in front of me and I will probably bump into it and fall over it and it will (hopefully) walk away thinking I am already dead…

Take a look at this case and point: a photo with beautiful rain drops, which is unique since it never rains in California.. right? Right.. so it rained this morning.. just a bit… and I had to go and capture the rain drop… the fact that a whole world of interesting creatures is in front of me (probably for the same reason) is completely invisible to me.. I am hunting for rain drops… I am HUNTING for raindrops… and miss a much more exciting subject that is literally posing for me: a cricket… how often do you have the chance to capture a motionless cricket for 30 minutes? Never before and probably never again.  But.. I do have some nice raindrops!?!?

rain drops and an invisible cricket on a daisy after rain