Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Stream in the Arroyo


The inspiration for this painting came from Pasadena. I wanted to try painting a stream scene and there is a really nice stream running under the Colorado Street bridge and the 134 freeway bridge there. This is the water runnoff from the San Gabriel mountains that originally was the main water supply, along with 4 wells, to the Indiana Colony who settled Pasadena in the 1880's. Above you can see the old Colorado Bridge to the left and the 6 lane 134 on the right.

 Looking under the 134 you can see the foliage that grows along the stream. This stream at times can become a raging torrent due to winter rains in the San Gabriels. Devils gate dam and other water control areas along the arroyo have kept any major flooding from happining for years. I've wandered all over the arroyo over the years and taken plenty of reference photos. Down under this bridge is a great shaded spot that this painting came from.

 Stream in the Arroyo
22" x 28" Oil
Fun painting that came out nicely. I like the bright sun relfected off the sky on the waters surface and the dark shadows on the water cast by both the undersides of the bridge and trees. I also like the nice contrast between the young and old trees.
A couple of details pics from the painting....



8 comments:

Unknown said...

Absolutely love it. It's such a change from some of your other landscape work and exhibits another face to your skill set. This is san area of subject matter that you should continue to explore.

Ron Guthrie said...

Hi Mick,
Oh, I'll do more water scenes such as this. It was a lot of fun. Painting water is such a kick I really don't know why I don't do it more often. Thanks buddy!

Teresa said...

Wow, these are extraordinary! Your water/reflections are amazing! Beautiful work Ron!

Ron Guthrie said...

Thanks Teresa.....
Painting in the water was fun...it's challenging to do water so once it starts to actually look like water the painting becomes way more fun to work on. You just have to get past that part where it looks like just smeared paint on the canvas, haha. Thanks!

Marian Fortunati said...

Wow, Ron... So beautiful... and as was said before, different than your other work, except that it is so lifelike I had trouble telling it wasn't a photo.


WONDERFUL!!!

Ron Guthrie said...

Hi Marian,
I suppose if it looks like a photo that can't be too bad, hahaha. I'm glad you like it and I'm glad this one turned out as good as it did. It's a really neat area down there under that bridge. Thanks Marian!

James F. Smith said...

Yes I love your water paintings!! Your landscapes are great too but I do love the water!! The one you have of the Coast Guard over the top of the wave is my favorite!! Great Work Ron!!
Jim

Ron Guthrie said...

Thanks Jim for the good words. I've found painting water to be really lots of fun and am usually surprised at how well it looks in the end....always trying to get better at that too.