Eaton Canyon Morning
“Eaton Canyon Morning” 9 x 12 – oil on hardboard – SOLD
This morning was delightfully overcast and cool for an hour or so while I painted this in Eaton Canyon, in the northern part of Pasadena. The wash is bone dry and even the random grasses seemed to be struggling for whatever meager water they may find under the gravel and boulders.
I’m really looking forward to going back in the late afternoon to paint some of those shadows. I’ve painted the same area before in watercolor (below), but not in oil. Another day, another season, another medium – it’s a whole new experience. (And this time I didn’t see or hear anything scarier than a covey of quail!)
Painted this last September – “San Gabriel Sunset” – watercolor
Rosarium Sunset
“Rosarium Sunset” 8 x 10 oil on canvasboard
On the heels of yesterday’s plein air outing at the arroyo, we went to Descanso Gardens at sunset today for some more painting and photographing. Descanso is open Thursday nights for the months of July and August. I wait all year for this opportunity to see the beautiful gardens at “golden hour” – the loveliest time (other than dawn.)
This represents one of the paths lined with rose bushes. Roughing in the painting took about an hour, from 615 t0 715, and I added finishing touches (such as the sky) after I got home. At that time of day the light was changing so rapidly there was not much point in painting after an hour had elapsed. I finished it off at home, refinining edges, adjusting things. The above painting represents the colors as they really are under room light conditions. The photographs below are more bluish, representing shady daylight conditions.
I promised some people that the very next time I went out painting with my lightweight easel that I would take pictures of the shelf in closeup, so here they are. I made a cardboard mock-up to work out the dimensions, then gave it to my husband who cut it out of 1/4″ masonite. There are no supports underneath the shelf other than two little L brackets to reinforce the holes. It sits on the easel by a friction-fit.
Arroyo Dawn – Daily Painting
“Arroyo Dawn” – 8 x 10″ oil on canvasboard
SOLD to a collector from Pasadena
See more Pasadena paintings here
When my husband and I had our duck adventure a few days ago, we were so struck with the beauty of the upper pond under Pasadena’s majestic bridges that we decided we’d go back soon to see what the light was like in the morning. (Can you tell we are dyed-in-the-wool photographers and artists?) Knowing that the 4th of July wasn’t going to be a work day, we set our alarms for early and got up before the sun peeped over the San Gabriels (see yesterday’s post) so we could grab a cup of coffee and head down to the Arroyo Seco.
Now, even though I’ve been doing a lot of oil painting recently, most of it has been studio painting from my own photo references – I haven’t taken the time to schlep my gear out into the field. The main difference is that even though watercolor takes practically as much gear, you can just pop the finished painting into a bag and not worry about it. Oil takes a bit more planning. I’ve got to get one of those wet panel holders to carry them home. I attached this wet one to the side of the French easel but worried about it as I carried it back up the gully. I found this environment to be beautiful but very challenging as the light changed radically from moment to moment as it slipped into the deep ravine. I followed the advice of the best plein air painters I’ve been studying: block in your scene and then stick with it.
Here are a couple of pictures of my setup and a glimpse of the environment
And if you were wondering about the fate of the ducks, we saw that mom and her brood were up early, having breakfast as we arrived. The fifth duckling is on the other side of mom, obscured by her tail. They were grazing for bugs or whatever they eat at the edge of the steep spillway.
Easel setup
I’m out for the day watching some master painters at work at Pitzer college at Claremont. In addition to seeing them paint I’m also interested in observing their tools and methods. Speaking of plein air, here’s a photo of my current setup when I’m painting watercolor. The little shelf is cut from one piece of masonite and attaches to the legs just by pressure-fitting (no screws or clamps.) It also helps to add extra stability to this lightweight Daler-Rowney easel. In this case I was using my studio palette because I wanted to use big brushes. The mist bottle helps keep the paint damp, especially when there’s a warm breeze blowing. Value sketch is there for reference, because light (and shadow forms) change really quickly at the end of the day. My water bucket hangs conveniently nearby. I use the mat to help evaluate what I’m doing when a painting is in progress, as this one was.
If you’re in LA, I’m going to be taking part in a group exhibition on Sunday afternoon at the studio of Lori Koop in Sierra Madre, where the city is hosting an open studio day. Several of us will all be painting outside for the duration of the event. If you want the address to stop by, drop me a note – address is in the left sidebar in the About Me area.
Casita Del Arroyo
Casita Del Arroyo – 7.5 x 10 (cropped) in Raffine sketchbook
This weekend I’m working pretty intensely on a couple of paintings – still in the planning stages – so I’m posting this sketchbook page painted about ten days ago at the Casita Del Arroyo in Pasadena. You can just see the top of the chiminea behind the lush foliage – my point of view.
This is another page from my Raffine sketchbook, now down to its last pages. I’m going to have to make the decision whether to order another, bind my own or go with the Bateman smooth paper sketchbook which just doesn’t respond the way I like . It’s great for ink but too slick for the way I like to work. Falling back to the Superdeluxe Aquabee is another option, but not the best one. Maybe I’ll try making a hot press sketchbook as some of my other painting journaling friends Kate, Laura and Roz have done.
What I like in a watercolor sketchbook:
The ability to move paint around on the paper and get the reflected colors of ground, sky and such. This means the paper can’t be TOO absorbent or the paint just soaks right in from the first stroke. This Raffine allows some movement of paint, which is good – but it’s not as bright white as I like.
Maybe I’ll gesso some index stock and see what that looks like – after I get these paintings, done, that is. I am SO easily distracted when I have a deadline, y’know?
This morning we went out to our town’s annual Memorial Day French Toast Breakfast, which was delightful. We met some other people, enjoyed some chatting, and I drew people for about a half hour after that. (I might post the quick sketches if I get a chance.) Then we took a diversionary trip to a few garage sales where I found some lovely props for some still life paintings and we met more charming people.
If I get a break later tonight I’m going to do a little gardening – it feels like summer’s here already and I don’t have all my flowers planted yet.
Huntington Lilypond
Lily Pond Sketch – a small portion of a water lily pond at Huntington Gardens – painted on location last Tuesday in my Raffine Sketchbook.
Most of the lilies were white but there was one plant that sported a magenta/alizarin colored bloom. I saw this exercise as a way to just capture some loose colorful patterns – not to be too literal about veins and waterdroplets and such.
Huntington Gardens Jacaranda
Huntington Jacarandas – 9 x 12 – Raffine sketchbook
The Best Laid Plans of Artists oft go awry (to paraphrase Bobby Burns.) Wendee and I arrived at the Huntington today and before leaving we both checked the website and discovered that the only way one is permitted to paint in the gardens is if you have previously registered with the Art Guild. So instead of doing a large size plein air painting as I had hoped, I used smaller brushes and painted this in my Raffine sketchbook in my lap. It’s still good 110 lb. paper but not quite the same feeling (to me) as a nice sheet of Arches. If you are in Southern California and are a Bank of America customer, many museums are open for free this month – you can get a complete list on their website. But there’s only a week left, so get busy!
This sketchbook painting represents a pathway near the Australian section of the gardens. The day was overcast and slightly cool so you’ll notice the lack of a brilliant blue sky. The periwinkle blue of the summer blooming jacarandas brightened an otherwise subdued green landscape. We have a jacaranda on our property as well but it hasn’t decided to bloom yet, but I’m looking forward to it.
Flintridge Eucs – Daily Painting
“Flintridge Eucalyptus” 11″ x 15″ watercolor on Arches paper
SOLD
This morning’s plein air outing took us to the beautiful home of one of the members of our group. There were literally so many views to paint that I had a hard time choosing one, but I finally settled on this perspective on their neighbor’s villa, with our friend’s stately eucalyptuses in the foreground. If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know how I simply cannot resist these beauties.
I thought you might find it interesting to see how this painting began. If I had faced the subject straight on, the sun would have shined directly over my shoulder onto the paper, which would have made values extremely difficult to judge. I prefer to paint with shade on my paper, but when that’s not possible, I will move my easel so there is less sun falling on the paper, and I’ll tilt it vertically as well. This also makes it possible for my preliminary washes to run and blend.
At the end of the morning, the painting was almost finished (see below) but the villa in the background and some of the lawn still had white showing. Rather than making a permanent decision about these whites that I might regret, I took it home to think about it for awhile. Using a piece of acetate film, I tested a few different colors in overlay, then finally added warm tones to the whites as you see above in the final painting. Overall, I’m happy with how this turned out – I’m tempted to paint it in oils also.
The biggest temptation here was to RESIST painting every leaf, bush, twig and detail, especially in the background. The idea is to give an impression of the scene – to capture the feeling without explaining every part. Wise teachers like Edgar Whitney, Frank Webb and others say that by not putting in too much detail (just enough) it invites the viewer to participate in the painting. I agree!
Fulmer Lake in Idyllwild
“Fulmer Lake” – 15″ x 11″ – watercolor on paper
I don’t have the opportunity to paint water too often, so this weekend was a special treat as we went, among other places, to Fulmer Lake in Idyllwild, California as some members of our watercolor class convened for a weekend plein air paintout.
It was a weekend of intense learning, practicing and friendship, and I loved every minute of it. This painting, which was done relatively quickly as the sun was setting behind the trees of Lake Fulmer, was both fun and challenging. Parts of it were painted wet into wet, while others were glazed wet over dry.
One of the biggest challenges was the constant breeze off the lake, which dried the paper very quickly. There was little time to dawdle or deliberate.
To answer a question that someone asked recently “calligraphic brushstrokes” are the final marks put on a paper that suggest branches, trees, weeds, iron railings, crevices in rocks, phone lines … just about anything that is a darker linear accent. They may be curving, staccato, dot-like, straight – any shape that serves the purpose. In this ainting, the branches in the yellow tree are calligraphic in nature.
The limited palette of warm and cool colors were chosen to convey calmness and serenity, with a late afternoon glow.
Arroyo Rose – Daily Painting
“Arroyo Rose” – 9 x 12 Raffine paper – plein aire
After I painted the Casita garden and the sun became too strong to continue … I moved to a shadier area and saw this rose coming over a wall. Some of the petals were backlit, which posed an interesting challenge. This practice watercolor sketch gave me some experience painting a flower while the light was changing quickly. New gamboge was my primary yellow .. with various greens, blues and mauve colors mingled in the background.
