The Cottages at Crystal Cove

A beautiful morning in Newport Beach this morning, a group of painters met at the Cottages in Crystal Cove for a session of plein air painting. This group of cottages stood out to me and the colorful reflection of them in the pool of back flow from the ocean, particularly the bright greenish/blue cottage. To organize the information in front of me, I tried to recall the "theory of angles" regarding values of planes in a landscape set out by a legend of plein air painting, John Carlson. Also, remembering what he said about "TMI", when he said, "There probably never was a picture that was poor because it lacked in detail or subject matter, rather the opposite. Bad paintings are usually so overloaded with useless detail that the essentials are obliterated." I took photo reference too, and am looking forward to a larger study in the studio!