The Pasadena Water and Power plant was our plein air painting location on a recent Saturday. Reading the century-long history of Pasadena's water and power is interesting but turbines and generators just aren't my area and I wish I knew what all is going on there. It's definitely an exciting and terrific-looking industrial location to an artist's eye. I was really looking forward to the morning of painting there, and the dreary day cleared up a little to add some shadows.
It's quite a large property with many wonderful structures and views to paint, including a beautiful 1938 street corner fountain. Conveniently there is a short cul-de-sac offering perfect places to sit and paint the variety of buildings and smoke stacks. I'm sure the security cameras were watching every brush stroke.
The power station building in the view I chose had some steam coming out so that was exciting, but I ended up not adding that since my sky dried lighter than I'd hoped. I also wanted to include the water tower. The photo below of the tall structures with the pipes, tanks, and ladders was just to the left of my view. In the light, it had some neat pastel colors and shadows but I didn't think I could do justice to all that was happening in those buildings. The Gold Line light rail goes past where we were painting so I had to take a photo, below.
I'm also adding a shot of the deco-style tiled fountain. When we visited Disney's California Adventure park at Disneyland about a week later, we noticed that the new fountain at the new Carthay Circle looks like a sister to the Pasadena fountain and I've added its photo. There are several "vintage" elements at the new park that seem to have originated in the Pasadena area.
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| Fair Oaks and Glenarm in Pasadena, CA |
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| Disney's California Adventure Park |
You are certainly getting a great eye for picking out interesting scenes to paint Sherry, I would never have thought of stopping somewhere like this but I really like seeing these industrial structures in your painting which makes them seem much more interesting than the photos live the red here and there
ReplyDeleteThanks Lorraine! It was a fun location and we drive by so often it was neat to be painting it for once.
DeleteI agree with Lorraine. It just goes to show you that you don't have to travel to some exotic place to paint - there are subjects and beauty all around us. I love how watery your water tower is.
ReplyDeleteThanks Terry! It was an exciting and different location!
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