Big Sur and Rocky Point

This week I turned some of my reference photo's into sketches and little paintings. 

I visited the art museum in Monterey, it has 2 separate buildings. One in the city center with beautiful paintings of California. And also two great exhibitions. One from a textile artist called Malin Lager. She makes marvelous portraits and paintings with textile and thread. Very impressive!
And an exhibition of work from Jules Tavernier, he worked as an illustrator for a magazine, but also did some great paintings.

On Saturday I visited the Point Pinos Lighthouse. I looked at the inside of the lighthouse and talked to some of the volunteers on duty. I love how people can be passionate about sharing their stories and knowledge with others. Lovely people!

This sketch is from a buoy that is in the garden of the lighthouse.

And on Sunday I went on my painting trip. There were 2 meeting points and somehow I missed the other people attending. The first stop was at the Big Sur River Inn, a stop along the Pacific Highway 1. The road to Big Sur is beautiful with lots of ocean views and vista's. At the River inn there is a restaurant with a terrace and a lawn with a small river. People sit in the middle of the river in wooden chairs.... I did not see anyone painting and/or looking as a painter, so after one hour I headed to the next stop.

The next stop was at the Rocky Point restaurant. Beautiful setting, lots of subjects to paint. I did a few sketches and then went home, I had enough of the sun and the wind. I took some great photo's so maybe I will make some more paintings later. When my sister comes, we can do this trip again, AND go for lunch at the Rocky Point restaurant. It looked very nice!

The last few days I have been checking the arrival times of the flight from Amsterdam. The flight has been seriously delayed for the last days. Hopefully the flight that my sister takes on Wednesday will be on time! I will pick her up from the airport and we will spend 2 1/2 weeks together. It has been great spending time here in Pacific Grove, and the time spend on sketching and painting. I am already here for 2 weeks, time flies.... But it is also great to share the beautiful sights with someone and I am really looking forward to my sisters arrival.