Virtual Paintout 9!

I'm not sure why I love plein air painting so much.  It felt like a perfect fit when I finally found out about a local paint-out group.  The Virtual Paintout, while not a "real-life" paint-out, is something I've really enjoyed participating in.  Bill Guffey created it several years ago.  He chooses the location for the month and artists find their view to paint using Google Street View.  It's all explained on his blog along with a list of previous locations which can be anywhere in the world where those Google cameras have been.  The drawings or paintings for the month are submitted to Bill and he generously posts them all on his blog and on Facebook.  

The location for April was Bulgaria.  I'm pretty sure I won't be seeing Bulgaria in person so it was fun as always to look around, virtually.  I started looking around the city of Varna and found some wonderful views I thought would be fun to paint.  Then as the end of the month approached I realized I had signed up for the two-day workshop given by Fealing Lin and hadn't done my Virtual Paintout piece.  I kind of ran out of time and could only finish one gouache piece.  But I like the way it turned out, so that's a plus!       

Industrial Decay

I know, it doesn't sound like a fabulous title for an art blog.  But one of the things I love about the Saturday paint-out group is the variety of painting locations and a recent one was definitely "industrial decay".  The group's organizer is a wonderful like-minded artist, Barbara Field.  Since I found out about the group last year we've been to quite a few unusual, maybe even offbeat places to paint.  A terrific thing!   

A few weeks ago we had Industrial Decay in Alhambra as the location.  This was something I thought would be interesting to paint.  Behind a very busy street lined with chain stores, is an old area of huge warehouses and structures used for metal working and fabricating.  The buildings and hangars are deserted now and beautifully rusty.  I had been taking photos through the chain link fences of the old, crumbling structures.  But the day we met to paint, there was a DEMO notice on the fence.  The fence had a new liner so it was hard to see the buildings and the demolition had already started.  We heard a new mall is going in the space.  We'll see.  

At one end of the block Alhambra Foundry is still in business and I found a view to paint there.  They've been fabricating steel and making manhole covers since 1923.  Another exciting location!

Mother's Day!

It's Mother's Day and Arlington Garden in Pasadena would be a lovely place to visit today.  But, we're having a heat wave in May so another day would be better to see the garden.  The last time I was at the garden was with one of the plein air paint-out groups and I'll share the two pieces I painted that day in April, as well as two fun photos.  The garden was so full of spring flowers last month that painters were there just about every day.  

I painted an 8x10" watercolor looking east across the garden.  I also brought along my gouache for a 5x7" piece.  On my previous paint-out there with my artist friend Barbara, we noticed many monarch butterflies.  I posted that painting last month in Saturday In The Park.  The monarchs are special since Barbara grows milkweed in her yard for the butterflies, and we wondered if the ones we saw might be from her garden which isn't too far away.  I saw so many monarchs flying by as I painted the pieces below that I had to include two in the gouache piece.  I hope they read as butterflies and not poppies!  

     

A wonderful water wand fountain, or garden sculpture.  I don't know if it's functional. 

This egret didn't seem to mind artists in her garden.  She was after the many lizards there.

Vineyards!

I recently finished a watercolor for the online workshop given by Vinita Pappas at Create 38.  It was painted after watching Vinita paint a demo of a vineyard in Oregon.  It was fun to try.  I haven't been to any paint-outs at vineyards but that would be a real treat.  I realized the piece is the third vineyard I've painted during workshops given by Vinita.  There are some vineyards in Southern California.  Maybe it's time to check them out for a possible future plein air paint-out!  Here are the three vineyard pieces~

Arlington Garden

Arlington Garden is a very special place, a new Pasadena landmark.  It's Pasadena's only dedicated public garden, not a park or playground.  Arlington Garden is unique, no other place like it in other San Gabriel Valley cities.  There are paths through various garden areas, tables and benches, and even a labyrinth.  There are surprises around every corner.  It's also a demonstration garden for water-wise plantings.

This small garden is a favorite of artists and photographers.  With the beautiful wild flowers blooming this spring, the plein air groups I'm in have met there several times.  There is always something for me to paint of course.  Finding some shade is a challenge.  I still need to find an umbrella.  I've blogged about previous visits and paintings in two posts Saturday Paint-Out and  Saturday In The Park.  This 8x10" watercolor went pretty well.  I'm also posting two gouache pieces, 5x7".  The garden is perfect for painting and relaxing!  

Workshop!

I recently enjoyed a challenging and fun two day workshop given by Fealing Lin.  The workshop was held at the National Watercolor Society's wonderful new headquarters in San Pedro, CA.  The focus of this workshop was Landscapes and Cityscapes.    

I've met so many watercolor artists who have been students of Fealing Lin that I really wanted to finally meet her.  Fealing Lin is well known for her portraits but I also love her landscapes and street scenes so I was looking forward to the class for months.  Fealing is such a lovely person and also an excellent, instructive teacher.  It's always so helpful to watch accomplished watercolor artists as they work.  Fealing painted a scene and then we tried a painting from the same reference.  It's fun to see how each of our pieces turned out so differently when we all used the same reference photo.  I finished two landscapes, a cityscape, and started a fourth piece from one of my own photos.  The workshop camaraderie among the artists is of course one of the best parts.  I just love workshops!          

The Renaissance Faire!

This is the 51st. year for the Renaissance Pleasure Faire!  It's been held every year since 1962 at a few different Southern California locations.  It's now held at the Santa Fe Dam which offers lake and mountain views.  The fair is a re-enactment of a marketplace in Elizabethan England (1580's).  Over a thousand actors and performers dress as authentically as possible for the period.  Visitors to the fair are encouraged to dress appropriately too, but that's optional.  

One of the plein air groups I go out with has some members with fair connections so we were allowed into the area to paint on a day the fair was closed.  The colorful booths and stages were there, and we had four costumed musicians posing and playing for us.   The weather was beautiful and the setting was really exciting to see.  I painted a watercolor, 8x10" and small gouache, 5x7".  There was a gorgeous Sun/Moon stage that I loved.  Maybe it will be there next year and I can think of how to simplify it for a painting.  Paintings can be donated for a May auction to benefit a scholarship fund.  I'll be donating my two paintings.  I hadn't been to the fair before so I really enjoyed the day in such colorful surroundings.

Maybe next year!