Something Different

Our quarterly planning meeting at the Arboretum was a couple weeks ago.  With the meeting, we have only short time to paint.  On my previous visit I painted a quick Arboretum Fountain.  This time I had some flowers in mind.  A favorite artist painted a watercolor of some orange flowers with a dark green background and I wanted to try something like that.  I painted some front yard iris flowers last April with a dark background which I enjoyed doing.  I looked around for quite awhile for what I had in mind and finally found some interesting orange flowers in various stages of bloom.  I also liked the bands of light on dark, and dark on light that I saw in the setting.  Next visit I'll see if there is a name plate for these flowers!

5" x 7" Watercolor

7" x 5" Watercolor 

New Group!

Well...a new-to-me group.  The paint-out group is active on Facebook and I've admired the artists' posts for many months.  Their weekend paint-outs are usually on Saturdays but I try to never miss painting with my long time Saturday friends.  Last weekend the group had a paint-out scheduled for Sunday.  The location was one I've driven past and wondered if it would be a good spot for painting.  Elephant Hill!  It's in the Monterey Hills, El Sereno area of Los Angeles.  The over 100 acres remain open green space despite being sought by developers for decades.

The group was a very welcoming to me and several others joining in for the first time.  We had a great view overlooking the Elephant Hill area.  I loved our hilltop vista of the homes and many trails criss-crossing the hills.

5" x 7" Gouache

Virtual Paintout - South Florida!

I really enjoy participating in the monthly Virtual Paintout where artists choose their view to paint by using Google Street View.   I've joined the Virtual Paintout every month for over 5 years!  The project started many months before I joined in and I see some past locations I would love to investigate.  

The location for September 2017 was South Florida.  A very timely location considering the state's devastation following Hurricane Irma this month.  The Street View vehicle  images I found were from 2013 to 2016.  Sometimes these images change years several times within a few blocks.  I like having this extra painting challenge as well as sight-seeing during the month.

5" x 7" Watercolor

Miami

5" x 7" Watercolor

Key Biscayne

Water Tower

The Saturday paint-out group was back at the Pasadena Power Plant recently, a favorite location for me.  On my previous visit I painted State Street, a watercolor.  I didn't know what would appeal to try for a painting this time.  But a couple fellow painters were sitting in a tiny triangle of shade from a wall on the north side of State Street.  I like to paint with other painters and there was just enough room in the shade for me and my materials.   My view across the street was of the hillside we usually paint from so it was neat to try a new vantage point.  And the white water tower is such a wonderful feature.   Of course I originally made the sky behind the white tower too light.  Another, darker, blue wash really helped, and I always love utility poles.  Our bit of shade vanished pretty quickly so this piece went quickly as well.

8" x 10" Watercolor

Our bit of shade kept shrinking.

 

Arlington Jacaranda

I'm behind posting this watercolor!  One of the paint-out groups visited Arlington Garden in May.  Artists love Arlington Garden since it looks different in every season.  In April I painted this small watercolor, Arlington in April.  I don't recall seeing the large Jacaranda tree there with such gorgeous purple flowers in other years...there were more and brighter flowers on the huge tree.  Maybe all the rain we had was what the tree needed.  I looked around for views to paint but kept coming back to the purple flowers.  I seemed to have the perfect paint colors to capture the flower color.  I was lucky to be there that day since the flowers don't last long.  

8" x 10" Watercolor

Such a tiny hummingbird!

Pete Morris leading the discussion of the paintings.

Morning at the Lake

One of the paint-outs this week was at Peck Road Park.  My first visit was about four years ago, Peck Road Park, and I managed to paint two pieces...a watercolor and a gouache.  That was very ambitious when I was first trying out gouache.  I just try one painting at the locations now.  This park has a large lake and wonderful mountain views, not to mention many birds, fish, frogs, etc.  I wanted to paint near the other painters who were there so went with a view I could see from where they were which was close to the edge of the water.  I like to add some kind of structure to my paintings which I could do with some fencing on the hillside.  Unfortunately, there were tons of ants which I really don't like to deal with while painting.  At least they are small ants...

8" x 10" Watercolor

Last Saturday

We didn't have a paint-out on the schedule for this Saturday.  Just was well since the weather here is very hot and humid.   But, last week the group painted at Eddie Park in South Pasadena.  Incredibly, it's been almost five years since we painted there.  That visit was in the fall since I see my painting includes some fall color, Eddie Park.  We noticed that several of the trees have been replaced by smaller, new trees.  We've had some serious windstorms.

I chose a view of the 1934 house from a shaded picnic table.  A family was setting up for a birthday party at the tables so I tried a quick watercolor of the side of the old home.  It's in need of some repairs soon and doesn't seem to be in use until that happens.  Hoping for some cooler weather!

5" x 7" Watercolor