Library Park

Wow, another park to paint in!  I'm seeing so many new parks since I joined the plein air groups.  There are usually a lot of choices of painting subjects within the parks and also in the surrounding areas.  

Last Thursday the group met at Library Park in Monrovia.  It's a lovely park at the public library.  The stand-out feature is the Moreton Bay Fig trees.  These are huge trees, and beautiful as well.  They are from the eastern coast of Australia and can get to be 200 feet high, 8 feet across.  If Monrovia's trees aren't quite that large yet, they are well on their way.  The special trees are in many parks and large gardens in California.  

The weather was cold and damp as I walked around deciding what to paint.  I felt I had to go with a view including one of the spectacular trees.  This is 8"x10".  Monrovia's downtown is very charming and even more so with the Christmas decorations.  I took some photos for a possible painting.  The sun finally came out at noon and we had a big group for the after-painting discussion.    

Hollenbeck Park

The Saturday plein air group recently met for painting at Hollenbeck Park in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles.  Rain was predicted but luckily it didn't start to sprinkle until we had finished painting.  The park has been there since 1892.  It's hilly and has a beautiful long lake.  Some old park features like bridges and a boat house are gone now.  There is only a small part of the old boat house remaining.  Unfortunately, in the 1950's a freeway was built through the lake.  But the lake still survives, home to lots of ducks and geese.  

Since the park is hilly, there are some nice views of downtown Los Angeles.  I couldn't resist choosing a downtown view to paint with the distant buildings and changing sky.  The boat house remnant is picturesque as well.  Maybe next  time!  After we painted we went to at a nearby, very popular cafe, El Tepeyac.  They've been famous for their Hollenbeck Burritos since 1955.  What a fun day!

  

Homework~

But it was watercolor homework so it was challenging while being fun to try as well!  Vinita Pappas has started a new online watercolor class.  Besides watercolor instruction she is also including other topics in her posts so it will be exciting.  One of the monthly topics is art marketing which I haven't yet tried and need to find out about.  This blog is a start in that direction.  

Vinita posts a monthly challenge, and also a demo video which we can attempt to follow as well.  The November painting challenge was titled "Through the Window".  Our piece could be literal or interpretive, hopefully revealing a little of the artist's personality.  I wanted to do a painting that showed some inside elements as well as an outside view.  Below is my piece, looking out one of our windows and across the street.  

Vinita's demo video was of her painting of the famous Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA.  I really had fun with this challenging piece.  The photo reference was of some backlit figures, fish cases and counters, signs, and lighting.  A complicated scene so I was nervous to try it since I hadn't painted any interior views like this before.  It went well and I like the result below.  I hope I can visit this market someday.

Virtual Paintout - New Brunswick!

With a holiday and weather that's been a little rainy for plein air painting, it's nice to have the Virtual Paintout for doing a few watercolors.  For November 2012 the location was New Brunswick, Canada.  Bill Guffey created the Virtual Paintout and hosts it on his blog and Facebook.  Participating artists use Google Street View to "walk" around Bill's assigned city or country to find their view to paint.  A virtual version of a real paintout.  We submit the URL of our view along with our paintings which Bill posts on his blog.  It's always fun to see what the artists have chosen to paint or draw. 

http://virtualpaintout.blogspot.com   

I didn't spend as long as I usually do looking around New Brunswick on Google.  I wasn't finding much that was exciting to paint.  I'm sure I just hadn't found the right locations yet!  A watercolor I saw recently had some puddles of water which were really beautiful so when I happened upon a view with puddles I chose it to try.  Next weekend the plein air group is painting at a power plant.  When I found some sort of factory with smoke stacks I wanted to practice a little for the real life plein air paintout coming up, weather permitting.  I like to try using gouache for these pieces.  Still practicing with it and I'm enjoying its opaque qualities.  These paintings are 5"x7".

5" x 7" Gouache

5" x 7" Watercolor

  

Southwest Museum

What a nice morning for painting with friends!  We met at the historic Southwest Museum.  The museum was founded by Charles Lummis whose fabulous stone house I painted last month, pictured in my post "Lummis House".  This was the first museum in Los Angeles.  It was constructed on a hillside next to the Arroyo Seco Valley from 1912-1914, and was established to study the native people of the Southwest and preserve artifacts.  The building is spectacular with its tower, and reflects several styles of architecture.  Today, most artifacts have been moved and the building is being renovated, hopefully to fully reopen in the future.  

The view of the museum tower from the parking area is the back on the north side.  Since it's on a hillside, other views are a little difficult.  I had in mind to paint the tower and hillside shadows in cooler colors.  With a view across the valley to the hills to the east, I would paint that warmer.  I'll post my watercolor, and photo of the tower from near my viewpoint looking east.  In September I took a photo of the museum from the opposite hillside looking west.  I'm also sharing one of the interesting plaques we saw, and a photo I ran across of an old streetcar heading north below the museum.  The streetcars are long gone. 

The Lake That Became a Park

A recent paint-out was at Lacy Park in San Marino, which started out as a lake.  It was a natural lake, fed by springs and streams flowing from the San Gabriel Mountains.  It was also a drainage area for the Old Mill which I've painted 3 times now.  But, oh my, by the early 20th century excessive water usage by the local settlers had turned the beautiful oasis into a dried up, stagnate, swampy mess.  As the community around the lake grew, in 1924 the city decided it would better serve the public as a park.  So, in the 1920's earth from the excavation of early buildings for Caltech was brought down (about 2 miles) to fill in the lake.  Rare plants were donated from the Huntington Gardens.  Looking on Google Maps it's interesting knowing the history of the park since it looks like a big lake in the center.

It started as a dreary day but the sun appeared in the late morning.  I like some sun for cast shadows and also to help my washes to dry.  There is a wonderful rose garden with arbors but without sun, it looked sad and shady.  There are fabulous palms but I had just painted some the day before.  I found an old 1920's-era building, the only structure around, and chose it to paint.  I really had fun with this piece and my viewpoint was next to the play equipment so it was enjoyable to hear the kids while painting.  I'll also post a view across a corner of the center lawn where the lake was which includes friends' easels.  In my last photo, the walking loops around the center lawn are lined with these El Camino Real bells.  The El Camino Real linked the 21 California Missions.

Thanksgiving 2012

Ah, my first Thanksgiving as a blogger!  It's Thanksgiving time here in the U.S.  The first Thanksgiving celebrated a big harvest, but now it's more of a time to reflect on what we're thankful for.  Through art blogging, I've made some new friends in other countries who I know will relate to this holiday for giving thanks.  Of course, it's also a time for families to get together for a special meal, traditionally turkey.

With my background in greeting card illustration, over the years I've collected some vintage cards which have neat images.  I just ran across this 1956 calendar page by Norcross (an old greeting card company) which shows Thanksgiving falling on November 22, just as it does this year.  I have to share it and wish you all Happy Thanksgiving.