Ranch Garden

The Saturday paint-out group usually visits E. Waldo Ward Ranch in Sierra Madre before the holidays.  There is a gift shop, handy for holiday gifts, which features all of the jams and marmalades that are produced at the Ranch.

On my previous visit in July we painted in the late afternoon to take advantage of some different lighting from our usual morning paint-outs, Ranch Afternoon.  I'm late in posting this gouache piece I painted in early December.  Someone works hard on the plants and casual gardens here and there around the property.  I always enjoy seeing what new garden areas have been developed.  A garden urn surrounded by blue gray succulents caught my eye this time.

5" x 7" Gouache

Twohey's

Twohey's, a landmark coffee shop in my neighborhood is closing January 31.  It's been a local favorite for 75 years.  "The Home of Little Stinko" opened in 1943 and featured car hop service.  It was a very special place to go when I was a little kid.  It's been remodeled several times over the years.  No more car service of course.  And now they will be reopening in another location...soon we hope.

Besides the onion rings and hot fudge sundaes, the distinctive neon sign of Little Stinko (with a clothespin on his nose) has contributed to its popularity.  On our recent Saturday paint-out at Twohey's I wanted to include the sign.  I sat by a traffic-signal box across the street where I had a nice view of Twohey's and the mountains.  

I'm surprised to note that this is my 500th blog post!

7" x 5" Watercolor

My painting friend Pete Morris waiting to cross the street.

A Busy Evening

I was excited to try painting at night again.  My first attempt was almost two years ago, Night Scene!  The paint-out group returned to the same street in Monrovia last night.  It happens that I was just there a few Saturdays ago and painted a small watercolor of my view across the street, Last 2017 Paint-Out.

My thought for the night painting was to paint it from the same spot as I had painted the morning piece a few weeks ago.  It would be a fun contrast of the same scene at a different time of day.  My daytime painting was a transparent watercolor but for the night scene I decided to use gouache, opaque watercolor.  This main Monrovia street has bright, globe type lamp posts which make a nice point of interest for a night scene.   The street was very busy with people going to the Friday night street fair and farmer's market.  This piece turned out to be a challenge,  as nighttime painting is, but I like how it turned out, and it was fun painting with friends as always.

7" x 5" Gouache

First 2018 Painting

My first plein air painting for 2018 turned out to be of the famous Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena.  It's a Southern California landmark, constructed in 1913.  It's also a favorite subject for painters.  I've painted the bridge once before, over two years ago, The Bridge.  Today the group met at La Casita Del Arroyo which is on a bluff on the east side of the Arroyo Seco.  I've painted the arroyo stone Casita several times before.  There are also nice views of the bridge so I decided to give it another try.  I liked the fall colors of some of the arroyo trees.  So many branches and leaves I could keep adding but time to stop I think.

8" x 10" Watercolor

La Casita del Arroyo

Last 2017 Paint-out

What a beautiful day for the final Saturday paint-out in 2107!  We met at Monrovia Library Park.  The library park takes up a whole city block in the center of Monrovia.  I was happy to see so many festive decorations, garlands and wreaths, for the holidays.  There are colorful street scenes around the library block, some beautiful trees, and even a view of the mountains.  I chose a view of a busy intersection that had some colors I always like to use.  While painting it was fun to see all of the classic cars cruising by and families out walking their dogs.  I'm looking forward to more plein air painting next year, and I wish all of you a wonderful 2018.

7" x 5" Watercolor

Bill working on his painting 

Deck The Walls!

I'm so excited and honored to be able to participate in the holiday show at the Laurie Hendricks Gallery in South Pasadena.  The gallery asked artists who had shown there during the past year to share some new works for the holiday season.  I chose two favorite plein air gouache pieces for the show.  What a happy end to the year!

Gold Lanterns and Arcadia Windmill 

Rialto Holidays

Our paint-out today was at the old 1925 Rialto Theater in South Pasadena.  The last time I painted there was about six months ago, Filming.  There was filming that day so I chose another view to paint.  The theater is still being restored and the outside still looks very bad but repairs have started on the interior.  For the holidays, "It's a Wonderful Life" is being shown there this weekend.  And I was happy to see the marquee decorated with garlands and red bows.  I've painted the building several times before, and there weren't many spots to paint from which were in the shade.  When I looked across the street I really liked my view of three artist friends and some tall palm trees in the distance.  I always enjoy including plein air painters in my pieces so it was perfect!

7" x 5" Watercolor

Brenda, Shinji, and Laural

South Pasadena High School marching band on their way to
 play at some local businesses for the holidays