Plein Air

I've been loving my recent plein air paint-outs so much that I started thinking about it a little.  My first experience with painting on location was way back in art school...a lot of years ago.  I had a watercolor landscape painting class on Fridays.  We met at various locations around the Los Angeles area from the mountains, to downtown, to the ocean.  I enjoyed painting outdoors a lot.  Over the years I tried to find out about local paint-outs but was unsuccessful until I took a workshop from Brenda Swenson.  She mentioned the group that I'm now joining on Thursdays.  What a revelation it was to me!  I was so excited to go painting with the group.  It turns out they've been meeting since 1991.  I'm a little late but enthusiastic! 

In March I met the group for my first plein air painting experience since the art school class many years ago.  The location was a private home overlooking the arroyo in Pasadena.  Oh My.  It was a beautiful day and view.  "The View" is of two well-known Pasadena landmarks, the Colorado Street Bridge and the Vista Del Arroyo Hotel, photo below.  Being my first paint-out experience in a long time I was overwhelmed with the view and didn't know how I would paint it.  So, I chose a view of of the neighbor's house which had some gorgeous shadows and trees.  Here is my painting, my view, The View, and some of the group I was so excited to finally find out about.

Below is the view I'll try next time!

This group gets many artists attending, painting in both watercolor and oil.

Just a few of the pieces from the day.