Exposition Park

A recent plein air paint-out was at Exposition Park in Los Angeles.  I hadn't been there for many years and it was fun to see how the area has changed, while staying the same.  The painting group was meeting at the large rose garden but that's only one attraction in the park which is operated by the state, county, and city.  The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is there, the only stadium to host the Olympics twice, in 1932 and 1984.  It's now primarily home to the USC football team.  The distinctive Natural History Museum is there, opened in 1913.  And almost one year ago at the California Science Center the Space Shuttle Endeavour arrived where it is now on display just across the rose garden.  I did a blog post last year, Space!, which has my favorite photo of Endeavour.      

There are some lovely and huge old trees on the north side of the rose garden so I didn't have to worry too much about finding shade to paint from.  After walking around for awhile I settled on the view from the tree-lined walk which looked across the roses to the fountain and Science Center building.  The fountain.  I've avoided painting fountains which is a problem in transparent watercolor.  Since I had my gouache with me I decided to just paint the watercolor, not worry about the fountain, and I could put the white water in last with gouache, which is opaque.  I had fun with it and like the result!

   

Natural History Museum, old entrance.

My view in the opposite direction, the USC main campus.