Thursday, September 08, 2011

Linda Vista Painting

"Over Linda Vista"
18" X 24" Oil on Canvas
Growing up in Pasadena I had always heard of the famous Pasadena Art Center College of Design. If you've seen the movie "Rudy" it was sort of like that only I wasn't wanting to go to Notre Dame, I would have wanted to go to Art Center. I never had the money for that and was too busy working. That doesn't keep you from drawing and painting though so I kept up with that on my own and at classes at Pasadena City College. My Dad worked for Brookside Golf Course and Art Center was up in the hills just above Brookside and the Rose Bowl. One year a friend of mine took me there to look around since his son was soon to go there. It was pretty impressive to say the least. 
Recently I was dropping some work off at the Galerie Gabrie in Pasadena and decided to head up there to get a better view of the mountains. I brought my camera and decided to get a lot of reference photos of the San Gabriels mountains. I parked in the student parking lot and hiked down the hillside a bit snapping away. Awesome view across the San Gabriels looking east over Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre...then off into the distance over Monrovia and Duarte. 
There was a small road going down the hillside and I liked the view looking somewhat north/east above La Canada at the foothills of the San Gabriels...pretty awesome when you're that close. I painted this scene of that view. I like the mid ground hills jutting up in front of the San Gabriels in the distance. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, is just on the other side of those hills hugging the bottom of the mountains. Nice area.
A detail from the painting....
   

5 comments:

Unknown said...

This is one of your really special paintings. It's a subject that has really caught your imagination and it shows in the resulting image.

Ron Guthrie said...

Hi Mick,
Maybe it is because it's my hometown that I put so much time into this one.
This painting went really well and it's more personal than the work I do up here I think. Somewhere in my mind I've always wanted to paint the mountains and Pasadena, where I grew up, really well and so I think I throw more into these paintings of that area. Was a great place to grow up.
Thanks Mick.

Marian Fortunati said...

Oh, my, Ron.... THIS is a special painting!!!
WOW!!

Ron Guthrie said...

Hi Marian,
Thanks a lot! It was one of those paintings you think you've finished but keep an eye on it for a couple of days, about 5 for me, and then go back at it. The second "finish" was the one for me to call it quits. Thanks Marian.

Jessica said...

Hi thanks for postinng this