Big Sur Afternoon

The first time I'd heard of Big Sur was in an airplane conversation 4 years ago with someone I'm still Facebook friends with lol. He had recommended it as a beautiful place for camping and outdoorsy stuff, and it'd been on my list ever since. Just like with Joshua Tree and Big Bear, I was excited to finally see it in person. 

So on the way back from Oregon, I made a stop in Monterey to meet up with a friend. We saw a bunch of seals and grabbed lunch before driving off to see the Californian coast.

It was as pretty as I'd expected. I was too busy gawking at the coast (while also doing car karaoke to Muse) to take too many pics, but here's a couple I snapped that, of course, don't do the landscape justice.

Since we both still had to drive back to LA later, we had to limit ourselves time-wise. We drove down past the famous Bixby bridge, and stopped at McWay Falls, which disappointingly had a section of the "hike" closed off. It was still pretty to see, but rather than paint on the actual hike, we walked back to the overlook next to the road. I painted while my friend took photos. If you enjoyed the candids at Big Bear, get ready for some more!

So for this painting I actually struggled a LOT with the land. The sun was starting to set, and it was so difficult for me to get not just the right shape, but the right colors. Even the base colors were difficult, and the lighting? Omg. Despite having spent nearly the past week painting, this one was really kicking my ass. 

I pushed through though, and while I'm still not super happy with the land, I think I did enough to get the idea across, even if the idea is a bit muddy. The water, however, I'm really, really happy with. It looked a bit more turquoise than straight blue, so I added just a touch of green. I also added in some shadows around the base of the land where I imagine it continued underwater, and while at the time it looked a bit stark, looking at it now I can tell it makes a huge difference. I remember maybe a year or so ago I struggled a LOT with painting water and oceans, even without waves. Looking at this now, I'm pretty happy with how far I've come. Truly, the power of the sparkle! 

With the sun rapidly setting, temperature dropping, and hours left in the day dwindling, we drove back (but not before pulling over to fully watch the sun go down because I love a good sunset). It was dark, but not too late, by the time we arrived back at the mall we parked at. And then it was 5-6 more hours of driving!

So that wraps up my November adventures. Honestly, I did so much traveling and painting in one month than I'd done in several years. And that's a trend I plan on continuing into the new year. 

Have you been to Big Sur? Or maybe do you have a recommendation of a place you'd like me to visit and paint at in California? Either way, let me know in the comments below!

As always, thanks for reading!