Plein Air Painting in the Mountains

"Sailor's Warning on a Foggy Morning"
14" x 20" Watercolor
$175

My models

 Plein Air painting can mean sitting out in all kinds of weather. Today we went to Cummins Iris Garden in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was overcast at my house, predicted to be 75 degrees with sun later. I knew that the mountains would remain fogged in longer, so I was prepared. Some folks arrived and left when they realized we were not going to have Valley weather.

This garden is gorgeous, a loving project of Jim and Irene Cummins. We were there May 2013 on a hot day. You can see the post.  The setting is lovely, even on a foggy morning, so I found some Irises that I loved and painted them against the backdrop of the mountains. You can see that their name is "Sailor's Warning", I am guessing because they resemble a sunset often seen before a storm.

We gathered at one to have our picnic lunches and view the truly lovely paintings. We were entertained by wild turkeys who seem to think the garden is their home. The three males got all puffed up in fight mode, looking about three times their size with beautiful, blue, and white on their necks. They are much handsomer when they become protectors.

"Don't mess with us"

Some of the garden area

Some of the day's production

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