“Corral de Tierra”
by Murray Wagnon
16″ x 16″
Oil
The Corral de Tierra, literally the fence of earth, is a sandstone outcropping in a canyon between Salinas and Monterey, along Highway 68.
When John Steinbeck was young, he and his sister rode their horses to this spot, where he later set part of his story “the Pastures of Heaven”.
The [...]
“The Silo Barn, Hollister”
by Murray Wagnon
16″ x 16″
Oil
My eye was captured by this structure as I was driving up to paint at the “Pietra Santa Winery” in the hills south of Hollister. It went to the top of my mental list of “things I have to paint”.
I went back a few weeks later, and had [...]
“Bottom’s Up””
by Murray Wagnon
18” x 14″
Oil
This scene is reminiscent of my childhood living in San Luis Obispo. I was visiting my cousin and her husband at their house on Chorro Street during the San Luis Obispo Plein Air Event.
I lived in San Luis Obispo as a child, and again as a student at Cal Poly.
“A Cottage in Medan”
by Murray Wagnon
12” x 10″
Oil
This cottage is across the street from the Chateau in Medan, near the former home of Emile Zola.
“Monastery Beach in Fog”
by Murray Wagnon
9” x 12″
Oil
Another painting done on a “beautiful sunny day” in Carmel with my friend Sibyl Johnson.
“Monastery Beach in Fog”
by Murray Wagnon
12” x 9″
My friend Sibyl Johnson said it was a beautiful morning in Carmel, so I joined her to paint at Monastery Beach. It was a beautiful sunny day in Carmel, but there was an unrelenting pocket of fog a mile south at Monastery Beach. The sun kept teasing us [...]
“Heaven’s Gate, San Juan Bautista”
by Murray Wagnon
12” x 9″
Oil
This is the second time I’ve painted this gate. I did this one the day after I did “the Terra Cotta Arch” painting. It is the gate to the old Mission Cemetary, and is situated on the escarpment formed by the San Andreas Fault.
I love this view [...]
“Terra Cotta Arch, San Juan Bautista”
by Murray Wagnon
12″ x 9″
Oil
I met up with a friend from MBPAPA one day, and this was my first painting of the morning. It is the arched entry to the ‘arcade’ at the Mission in San Juan Bautista.
“The Gate, San Juan Bautista”
by Murray Wagnon
7″ x 5″
Oil
This is a little plein air painting of the gate to the graveyard at Mission San Juan Bautista, California”
“Paso Robles, 7 a.m.”
by Murray Wagnon
18″ x 14″
Oil
The sun was just beginning to hit the tops of the telephone poles when I found this dirt road off of Highway 46, north of Paso Robles, California.