Coyote Point revisited

Time was ripe for another visit to Coyote Point, a nice little corner out in the bay in San Mateo that has a beautiful coastline and nice breeze. Plus it is very easy to find parking in the surrounding neighbourhoods and take a stroll along the bay trail to the park itself. Double plus it lies under SFO's approach path, so it never gets boring with planes coming and going all day long. 

Sunlight really brings out the shape of the roof, this one was done on the bay trail before entering the park proper. I was far away enough that nobody in the house got suspicious of me...maybe

The long grasses and marsh, with the San Mateo bridge and Foster City in the background. You know the grasses are long when I forgot to pick up my palette when I finished, and then spent 10 minutes looking for it in the grass when I came back looking for it...

Last year I challenged myself to paint the yacht to a less-than-satisfying result. This time I came back armed with opaque white ready to give another try. Okay I lied, I searched everywhere for my precious Titanium White gouache tube but couldn't find it, so I brought my next best hope, Naples Yellow instead. It is far from white, but enough to stand out against the darks (as seen in the first boat) Oh, the twisted shapes on the left was the shade casted by the tree out of the frame.

More water! This time onsite at Coyote Point, San Mateo

Wheeled my bike over to San Mateo over the weekend in search of some good water scenes. Water in SF is usually rough, so I decided to take my chances at a closer waterfront park that has an enclosed marina in San Mateo. The park turned out to be much better than I expected. Weather is much cooler than South Bay even at 2pm (and sunny!) and area has many nice facilities (trash cans, water fountain, and washrooms) And hills also make the scenery much more interesting. Basically I just lean my bike wherever I want to draw (on a tree, on the rocks, etc) and start working.

 Quiet marina (save for the occasional Pokemon catching families walking by)

 Rocks, hills, and wind-blown trees, oh and plus people fishing on the rocks

More wind-blown trees and rocks. (At this point I decided I was too hungry to draw more)