Christmas Berries

 Generously, every December our Saturday paint-out group organizer hosts a holiday get together.  I always look forward to it.  It's also a card exchange for anyone wanting to participate.  This year I had fun making my card of greenery and berries using colored pencils and watercolor.  I also added some glitter/glue dots on the berries which really made it sparkle.  

Last fall when we were not meeting together to paint, I painted some red Nandina berries in watercolor.  Nandina is also known as Heavenly Bamboo.  There is a tall plant next to our driveway that gets beautiful red berries in the fall.  I usually can't resist painting or drawing them.  Next to the green, background, bamboo leaves the red berries really stand out.

Approx. 5" x 7" Pencils and Watercolor

7" x 5" Watercolor

The Watering Trough

 Our South Pasadena watering trough is officially Cultural Heritage Monument No. 7.  Designed by Norman Marsh,  and presented to the city in 1907, it's titled "The Watering Trough and Wayside Station".  It was a rest stop for people and horses as they traveled between Los Angeles and Pasadena. 

I've painted many times in this location, once the center of South Pasadena, but I hadn't painted the horse trough before.  Two paint-out friends were painting in this area so it was time to try it.  It was nice day and the lighting on the stones caught my eye.

5" x 7" Gouache

   

Halloween House

I've painted at this South Pasadena intersection many times in my years of plein air paint-outs.  This building, The Century House (1888), is also known as Halloween House.  Two of the "Halloween" horror movies were shot there.  Appropriate for this Halloween weekend.  In 2012 I posted my first plein air watercolor of the local landmark, Century House.

5" x 7" Watercolor

                               

The Fountain and the Bridge

Two recent plein air pieces in gouache, both historical landmarks.  I've tried a few previous paintings at the Pasadena City Hall but never the Baroque style fountain in the beautiful courtyard.  It's over 22 feet tall with a 25 foot diameter basin.  I had to paint fast since my parking meter was running.  I would like to try it again sometime. 

Just last week we painted at the Oaklawn bridge in South Pasadena.  One of my previous watercolor pieces painted there, Greene Brothers' Only Bridge.  There was a lot of activity while we painted since it's time to get started on the South Pasadena float for the Rose Parade on New Year's Day.   It's fun to watch the Gold Line trains passing under the bridge as we paint.

                                                                                     

5" x 7" Gouache

Pasadena City Hall

7" x 5" Gouache

                                                        

South Pasadena Rose Parade float underway

Succulents!

 Succulents have been an interest of mine for many years.  It seems that they are more popular than ever now because of their relatively easy care and drought tolerance.  Of course they are also beautiful and have an amazing variety of shapes.  

I have two gouache pieces to post.  When we started painting together again I tried the wonderful fountain of succulents at Arlington Garden.  During our painting at home time I did a gouache piece of one of my aloe plants.  The challenge was a "close-up".  The aloes display some wonderful shapes and shadows for that theme.

7" x 5" Gouache

Succulent fountain past the Wishing Trees

7" x 5" Gouache

Sketch at the Library

 Our South Pasadena Public Library held a fun event recently.  On Saturday South Pasadena Beautiful held a Plant Swap there which was wonderful since we've missed garden tours for two years.  In conjunction, there was a Toy Swap and a Dollar Book Sale hosted by Friends of the Library.  There was a lot of activity!  I took some photos first to see what I might like to paint.  I noticed that the never-ending line of people waiting to enter the Book Sale made nice silhouettes.  I didn't take my paints that day so I did a sketch with pens I remembered to bring.  Beyond the line of people I could see the coffee house across the street.  I painted that view in Corner Coffee in 2017.  Great to be out with people again.

News ~ Google's email subscription service for blogs like mine will be ending.  My blog will continue but I'm not sure how much longer the email subscriptions will.  I hope I can find an alternative service.   

5" x 7" Pens

Front Yard Fountain

 This watercolor was my version of our Saturday group leader's prompt to paint "motion".   I had cars in mind for my painting.  So I drove to a nearby freeway overpass to get a nice photo of moving cars.  But I was surprised to see this great bubbling fountain in a front yard where I parked.  My thought for "motion" changed from the "macro" cars to the "micro" water in the fountain.  I also got some landscaping ideas looking at this front yard.

5" x 7" Watercolor

A Sunset!

 In November 2020 we had some beautiful and unusual sunset views from South Pasadena.  Prompted by the sunsets, our Saturday Painting group leader suggested painting skies and/or clouds.  Fortunately, I had a couple sunset photos taken from our front yard.  Of course the sunset was in the west but the colors reflected on the clouds in the sky to the east.  The sunset colors seemed to be everywhere.  The tall palm trees lining our street made for an interesting view to paint, looking east.  I'm not a fan of painting sunsets but this one was really fun.

5" x 7" Watercolor

Plum Blossoms

 It's still winter time but the flowering plum trees start to bloom from lifeless looking branches.  I was surprised and amazed to see so many white blossoms in a local parking lot recently.  Such a beautiful sign of spring.  It's not a surprise that the plum flowers are a symbol for Chinese New Year.  Appearing between the winter and spring seasons, of course they symbolize hope and courage.  My watercolor of the blossoms and buds was also perfect for our Saturday painting group prompt to paint something expressing "new and/or hopeful".  A start for being hopeful this year . 

5" x 7" Watercolor

                

Snow!

Well, not actual snow.  Another recent Saturday group painting "challenge" was to do some holiday art of decorations in our neighborhood.  I easily found a home on the next street with some beautiful added "snow", a big decorated tree, and twinkly Christmas lights.  Perfect!  It was fun to try this at home in watercolor. 

5" x 7" Watercolor

Pre-Summer Post-Summer

 It's Halloween, October 31 today.  I haven't met with any fellow painters for our usual paint-outs since February.  So I've painted some watercolors and gouache pieces from my photos taken close to home.  We're still having warm days but it's feeling like fall.  Last December I took a photo of some colorful liquidambar trees just south of my house.  I used it for a recent "autumn feeling" gouache piece.  This painting reminded me of the beginning of summer when I took a photo of a home decorated for July 4th in the block north for a holiday watercolor.  These paintings were for the weekly prompts our wonderful and generous leader/organizer gives the Saturday group.  Inspiring, and they keep us painting and connected.

7"x5" Gouache

5"x7" Watercolor

June Jacarandas

We are lucky in Southern California to have Jacaranda trees blooming in May and June.  Their beautiful purple-violet flowers are stunning when they cover the trees.  There are several nearby streets planted with the trees for blocks.  The flowers fall leaving a purple carpet on the streets.  They are very fragrant as well.  But parking under a tree results in many stubbornly sticky flowers on the car.  Still, painters look forward to Jacaranda season and plan paint-outs to see them.  This was my watercolor from 2019 Spring Flowers! painted on location.  This year's watercolor was painted from a photo I took at Marengo Elementary in South Pasadena.

Watercolor 5" x 7"

Safer At Home Art

May 2020,  The weekly plein air paint-outs I love are on hold now of course.  We're painting at home or maybe from our cars.  There are some wonderful online opportunities to be creative that I've really appreciated having for inspiration.  I've done a few watercolors from my backyard, and some front yard flowers as well.  It's been nice to have the aloes and irises blooming.  I've really missed seeing my paint-out friends and the annual wild flowers blooming this spring.  Hopefully more paint-outs will be happening.

7" x 5" Watercolor

4" x 6" Postcard

4" x 6" Postcard