The Planetarium

On a warm Saturday the plein air group met at Pasadena City College.  There are several areas of interest at the college that might make a good painting subject.  We all gathered at the Planetarium and found our views to paint there.  The college was founded in 1921, and I just read that the Observatory/Planetarium was dedicated in 1931 by Albert Einstein.  Wow!  Getting a full view of the building was hard because it's so close to a parking lot.  I was looking for shade too.  Several of us found a spot to paint from and had a challenge painting the ever-changing shadows on the curved, white building.  A fun morning as always! 

5 x 7" Gouache

Observatory View

On Friday one of the paint-out groups met at the L.A. River.  I've painted there twice before and posted two pieces in L.A. River.  My watercolor from another visit is waiting for me to finish.  Our location next to the river was "downstream" from where I painted before.  At first I didn't think the views were as plentiful as the other spot.  But then I noticed a stunning view of the Griffith Observatory, far away on a hill in Griffith Park.  The day had sun glancing through clouds and when I spotted the Observatory the light was shining brightly on it.  Wow, no reason to look any further for my subject.  

One if my very early plein air paint-outs (just last year!) was at the Griffith Observatory which I blogged about in Space!  What an exciting day that was.  Last Friday at the LA River it was just the opposite...very relaxing painting next to the river with friends.  Well, there IS a busy freeway just across the river.  I decided to do a small gouache piece thinking I'd like to use it for all the details in the scene like plants and trees by the river, structures on the hillsides, and the freeway.  I had fun painting this piece and I was happy to be able to include the Observatory. 

5 x 7" gouache

Gateway to our river painting location

 

Space!

On one of my early plein air paint-outs with the group we met at Griffith Observatory (opened in 1935) in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA.  We meet early in the day and the Observatory doesn't open until noon so I thought we would be about the only people there.  Wrong!  Besides lots of hikers, dog walkers, deliveries, and the school busses of kids, there were several television news crews doing live reports.  It turned out to be the height of the March solar storms.  Since they can disrupt technology on Earth, the news crews were there to report on possible power and GPS outages, and airline flight rerouting.

I stayed out of the reporters' way and set up where there was a nice view to try for my watercolor.  I'm posting my painting (9"x12" with a narrow border), and a photo of my view.  I also got a nice shot of a fellow painter just finishing up her oil of the hillside and rooftops.  And I'm thrilled about the last photo treat which you'll have to read about below!

I'm so happy Aaron Kiely gave me permission to post his photo here!  It is by far my favorite of the hundreds of shots I saw of the space shuttle Endeavour's final flight over Los Angeles landmarks on September 21, 2012.  What a gorgeous and dramatic photo of the planes!  The sharp Observatory in the foreground with the crowds, and hazy downtown Los Angeles in the distance...Love it.
Thank you Aaron!