Plein Air @ Natural Bridges State Beach Santa Cruz CA



I have been there a couple times before, but it was my first time painting at the location. 

A gray day, drove on the winding highway 17 for about an hour, met up with several other artists at the parking lot of Natural Bridge State Beach. We found our own spots and started painting. 

The spot I got was under eucalyptus tree branch, but at a higher level so I was able to see the Natural Bridge better.

I asked a lady who carried a bucket, thought she was a fisherman.  But she told me that she picked up garbage on the beach as volunteer before her work.  So I drew her into my painting.  Later I saw another lady doing the same thing.  How wonderful!


I removed my paints with honey medium already, as I'm not sure which paint attract honey bees. But I still got many bee visitors while I was painting. And a spider visitor too.

Unfortunately, one of the artist got stung by a "yellow jacket". Seemed she was OK, moved to a new spot and painted another painting.


I saw a eucalyptus leaf in an artist's top pocket, she told me that she used that trick to avoid insects. Great idea, I will keep it in my mind for the future when painting out.


I reworked on painting 3 times before I was satisfied with the contrast and tone.


Finished up around 1pm, it started ranging and half of the way back home. What an early rain! (August 21 2023)
San Francisco Bay Area CA San Francisco, CA, USA
Storytelling artist Xueling Zou who works in ♦️ watercolor & ♦️ oil mediums on ♦️ original art Plein Air paintings. Ship worldwide since 2010 @ https://about.me/xuelingzou@ about.me/xuelingzou or http://xueling-zou.pixels.com

Original Art Story

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