Wednesday, May 15, 2013

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!

8x10" watercolor




8 comments:

  1. Who woulda thunk it? But you really got down the important stuff in any painting - the shapes of values and the colors, hard and soft edges, and a great composition. Alvaro Castagnet always paints the most unlikely of subjects. I love this idea, and I think you successfully executed this, Sherry.

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    1. Thanks Terry! I just love this stuff - alleys, utility poles, etc. I always appreciate your comments.

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  2. Hi Sherry, Terry has said just what I was thinking, well done creating this piece

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  3. Unusual subject but you have made it painterly

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    1. Thank you Polly! I seem to like these subjects for some reason. Flowers are good too tho!

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  4. Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment! So glad to have found a new watercolour artist. I like your style :) Following you too now!

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    1. Hi Catharina, thank you for visiting here too! I was very happy to find you!

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