Eaton Canyon

 Eaton Canyon Sunset

12"x36" Oil on Wood Panel

 

I painted this back in 2012. I felt it was done and set it aside to dry. After a while it had gotten covered up by a few other paintings that were drying but then never framed so there they sat blocking this painting from site.

I liked this scene and wanted a dramatic afternoon sun scene with lots of oranges and pinks but I wanted something else too. I wasn't trying to just capture the landscape or even the color...I wanted to capture the feel of the moment...the atmosphere of it all. Painting atmosphere is a whole other deal in painting. In the progression of things painters tend to paint the scene in front of them but in doing so seem to miss the effects of light and all the stuff floating around in the air that creates atmosphere. It took me a while to see that "stuff" and it took me even longer to learn to paint it well. It's all about painting the right values, not the color, but the light and darkess of the colors. To this day I still prefer to paint atmosphere because it is really a good challenge and to me makes for a better painting. 

I think gallery owners would say no, paint color and pizazz, it catches peoples eyes and gets their attention....it's easy to sell. Those paintings really do all of that and would make a subtle atmospheric painting pale in comparison. I just can't help painting them.   

The detail of the painting above shows my attempt to capture that late afternoon sunlight filtered by the air of the canyon. Getting the light and air in front of that distant mountain ridge and balancing that look against the lower hills in the center of the painting was critical. If that didn't look right to me then there was no sense in painting in the foreground at all. Slightly darkening the tree mass to the left was a way of getting better contrast to the middle area hills....it also balanced the darks of the trees to the left side of the painting. These overlapping planes give the painting depth and adjusting the values in each plane created the illusion of atmosphere. If I continue to work with atmosphere and get it right then I think I'll be turning out some monster paintings. So, you can paint a desert or you can paint a desert in sweltering heat and make your viewers feel the sweat rolling down their forehead and long for a glass of cool water. 

The Arroyo Seco, Pasadena

"San Gabriels Over the Arroyo"

18" X 24" Oil on canvas

      I think this is my 3rd attempt at painting the Colorado bridge spanning the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena. The first attempt was too close casuing me to get hung up in details so I just completely scrapped that one, haha. Somewhere around here is a nice landscape covering my feeble attempt. I like this view only because you can see more of the San Gabriel mountains in the background and the nice vegetation in the arroyo. The fact that it also causes the bridge to be in the distance is a not overlooked by me bonus.
      Many, many painters have painted in, near or above the arroyo over the years so I feel honored to be able to paint it along with them and with decent results. If you want a foliage workout the arroyo can give it to you. I took more time to work on these treees and plants wanting not only to get better at them but to experiment and also to just enjoy myself painting them....it's funny because at first there is so much canvas to cover and it can be almost overwhelming. Enjoyment wasn't even in the picture then but it soon became that. Everyone had gone to bed, it was quiet and so I just relaxed and took my time.
      When I look at this painting I think of  my Dad. He's gone now but I spent so much time as a kid being taken to these mountains to camp by my Dad...and besides, on the otherside of this bridge, about 1/4 mile, is the Rose Bowl. I played football in it in high school and also graduated there. Right next to it is Brookside Park golf course...my Dad was the golf starter there for years. My Dad also worked at another golf course, Carmilita, which is long gone but over it was built the Norton Simon museum. My Dad, Pasadena and I share a lot of things in common.  

Eaton Canyon Fall

"Eaton Canyon Fall"

20"x24" Oil on Canvas

Another scene from my hike through Eaton Canyon on Thanksgiving Day. This old sycamore was up in Coyote Canyon, a small canyon that drains into Eaton Canyon. Great hike that morning. Met some really nice people out for some exersize or just sight seeing and taking in some fresh morning air.

San Gabriel Mountains in 2 hours

"Down In The Canyon"

9"x12" Oil on Panel

I had wanted to do some painting before heading down to my parents house for Thanksgiving day so the night before at about 9pm I decided to paint this little Eaton canyon scene. I was trying to get as far as I could that night but in a couple of hours it was done. On Friday it was tacky enough to set into the frame just to see how it would look when it was framed up. I like it. This is a late afternoon scene where the light is still hitting the higher mountains in the background but the canyon bottom is in shadow. You can see some of the warm light still hitting the trees along the top of the walls and heading up to the foothills. This is another painting where I've gone in and just blocked in all of the colors first and then gone back over each area putting in the details....having fun with that method.

A detail of the painting......

"Mojave Evening"

12" X 24" Oil on Birch Panel

Another desert painting in late afternoon to evening light. I would thing the second one would have been easier, haha, but it wasn't. Seems like each painting presents it's own unique challenges. I'm always learning it seems with each painting. Makes you want to bang your head but it is actually a good thing.
Those foothills in the background are the beginning slopes of the San Gabriel mountain range looking south. On the otherside is the beautiful San Gabriel Valley. Back in th old West bandits like Vazquez use to hide out close to here and probably rode their horses into the foothills in this scene...ok, maybe they did.
....a detail of the painting,

    

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....

Eaton Canyon Painting

"Eaton Canyon Dusk"

38" X 48" Oil on Canvas

The painting above was painted back in January 2011. It is a large painting,  36"x48", and so it was leaning along the wall here drying...and staring at me. I finally had enough and threw it back up on my easel. It must be an artists curse that if you look at one of your paintings long enough you will undoubtedly see changes you want to make. Sometimes the changes make the painting better and sometimes you should have listened to your first instinct to call it quits. Paintings live and can taunt you, haha. I think the changes I have made on this one were for the better and I'm much happier now with this one...good thing too because it's large and is very hard to ignore here in the studio.
I've gone back in and lowered the contrast of colors in the distant mountains...being subtle speaks volumes. I've also varied the edges of the oak tree shapes, mainly the tops, in the midground. Oooh, much better! I adjusted the colors and detail of the midground bushes that run across the paintings center. I then came to the foreground and added work to the tree, worked more grasses in and worked more on the bush to the right. Some slight work on some rock shadows, the sandy riverbed sand...etc etc etc. Basically I touched up most of the painting and wondered why I had stopped before. Vision! Sometimes it tells you you're finished and sometimes, most of the time, it doesn't really mean it. I don't think there is a painting I have finished that when looking at it later I don't see something I'd change....it's that curse. Really an artist just improves with time and paintings and so it is only natural to see earlier work and want to make changes. Right now, I'm happy with the finish. I'm going to go broke buying a frame for this one, yikes!

Eaton Canyon At Dusk

"Eaton Canyon At Dusk"

36" X 48" Oil on Canvas
A large painting of Eaton Canyon just before sunset. This scene was down in the riverbed in Fall this last year. Being a riverbed in a canyon there were plenty of rocks to paint so I took the liberty of editing many of them out of the scene. This allowed me to add more of the sandy bottom of the streambed and keep things not so busy in the foreground area. Took a few days to paint this one due to the large size but it went pretty smooth. The mountain sides of the canyon are an area I'm still working out to get to the point of feeling comfortable painting them and really loving what I end up with there. I like the progress so far with that part of these canyon paintings because the San Gabriel mountains to me are very hard mountains to paint. Lots of rocks and scrub brush so it is sort of a nightmare to handle for a painter.