In which, heat wave subsiding, the cove and the artist cool down. A bit of history…
My Setup with the Subject in the Background
As glorious as the sun has been, it has been hot, too hot for one so used to cold and damp. Now there was a rumor going around that this was all going away, that the dread “marine layer” would be coming back. That means fog, overcast skies, cool weather. I rushed down the hill on my bike to paint, once again, Lovers Point in Pacific Grove, while everything was still glowing in sun and happy with mothers and children. It was early morning…
The Easel with the Bike
That old cement pier is like an old Roman ruin. You can’t quite figure what every part is about. However, it’s pretty clear that the little building there once dispensed hot dogs and sodas to earlier generations. Now, sadly, its window is boarded up and only the ghosts of hot dogs live there. Setting up my easel on a terrace above the cove, and the convection oven of the day before, I set to work, again trying to work fairly fast.
This day was 10 degrees cooler than the previous day and, high on this terrace shielded from the reflection of the water by the stone wall, I was fairly comfortable. I worked my way through the complicated subject. The old pier was clearly built in stages by different people and nothing makes a lot of sense, but there it is, a lovely old relic of early Pacific Grove. As I painted, the empty early morning beach gradually filled up with mothers and children. There were a few fathers too, I noticed; young fathers spending time on this week day with their little children. I couldn’t help wonder about the good effects of a bad recession that brings young children together with fathers they would normally rarely see during the day…
Before the beach filled up, I painted this 14″x11″ called “The Old Refreshment Stand at Lovers Point”. View the Video.
“The Old Refreshment Stand at Lovers Point”
