Painting Month: Day 3 Recap

For day 3 of my painting month, I planned to paint at Sycamore Grove Park and Lake Del Valle, both in Livermore, CA.

Sycamore Grove Park

Sycamore Grove Park is an incredible park. It was my first time going and I’ll definitely be going back.

I arrived around 8:30am and moved quickly so I could take advantage of the morning light. The following view caught my eye and I decided this is what I would paint:

Grassy field with bare oak trees, transmission towers, and layered green hills lit by low morning sun.

I was particularly drawn to the shadows on that far set of hills. After sketching out the composition in my sketchbook, I redrew it on the canvas:

Pochade box panel with a loose burnt-sienna line drawing blocking in hills, trees, and foreground shapes, set in sunlit grass.

I was right on the walking path so I enjoyed talking to many different passers-by about their love of the park, what they thought about my painting, and various small talk. I ended the day with the painting mostly finished, but I want to add some final details at home.

Pochade box on a tripod in a grassy clearing, painting blocked in with dark greens over a red-orange foreground band; brushes, water bottle, and gear scattered in fallen leaves nearby.

Same panel further along: dark green tree masses over rolling hills above a red-orange foreground stripe, palette loaded with mixed greens and earth tones.

Nearly finished panel on the easel, layered hills and dark oak silhouettes above a warm red-and-gold path, painted against the matching park scene behind it.

I’m excited to share that one of the local residents liked my painting so much they offered to buy it. This painting will be living right at home in Livermore!

(The Road To) Lake Del Valle

As I was in the final stretch before getting to Lake Del Valle, I came upon this view and I couldn’t help but pull over. I felt like I could paint in any direction and have a beautiful scene to paint. These pictures don’t even do the scene justice:

Panoramic roadside view toward Lake Del Valle, red car parked on the shoulder facing a valley of smooth grass hills under open sky.

Panoramic hillside view of dense bare oak woodland rising into smooth grassy peaks, seen from the same roadside pullout.

Using my trusty viewfinder, I settled on the following composition:

Hand holding a rectangular viewfinder against the hillside, framing a gap between ridgelines and a stretch of road below; a red car parked in the corner of the shot.

I ended up painting a small 6x8 study and while it’s pretty rough, I like how it turned out.

Small study panel held up against the matching hillside, dark ridgelines and a golden switchback road rendered in loose, thick strokes.