Chino Hills and the San Gabriels

Chino Hills and San Gabriels

Bryant's Ranch

This scene was of interest to me because of the Eucalyptus trees.  I am intrigued by the trees that were planted along the edges of historic farm land to protect them from the wind.  I was going to originally going to paint the orange groves along the Santa Ana River.  The parking did not look good so I found this location and then decided to paint this scene. 

The combination of vertical and horizontal features were intersting.  The light was changing by the second.  The shadows of the trees against the ground were shifting, disappearing, and reappearing too quickly.

As I was painting I was approached by a art teacher on sabatical.  We talked a little bit and tried to set up a plein air painting meeting.

Brayant's Ranch

At  this point I decided I had to paint what I had thought I had seen earlier.  This was kind of an impression and memory painting.  If I had kept responding to the way the trees and shadows looked I would have ended up with too many contradictions.

Orchard Hills

On the way down to Laguna Beach I had been taking two different routes.  In both cases I had seen these groves of trees from the distance.  It was one of those moments that whenever I would pass by I would say to myself that I need to paint that landscape.  The problem was I wasn't sure how to get there.  Well I found it the other day.  It was a development called Orchard Hills.  Many of the orchards had been cut down in anticipation of housing developments that did not happen yet because of the economy.  I went up one road into an asphalt manufacturing facility.  All along it were avacado groves.

After driving around the area and exploring it for around a half an hour.  I decided on this view because of the clouds.  When I had set out in the afternoon my original intent was to paint the clouds. 

Lately, these clouds had been building up throughout the day.  As the later part of the afternoon passed these clouds would just blow away.  That is why I started with them first.  I wanted to capture their shape. 

Orchard Hills

Once I had gotten the clouds roughed in I elaborated on the shapes and the values of the hills.  I then went and established the shapes of the avacado trees.  As I was establishing these elements I continually related the values of the features to each other to insure balance.  I also worked on the outlines and shadows of the avacado trees by varying the blueness of them as they went back into the landscape to enhance the atmospheric perspective.

Because the foreground was so empty I moved the pepper tree into the picture.  It helped build more atmospheric perspective and it broke up the huge amount of empty space I had created into the foreground.  I moved it about 30 feet to the left and fifty feet more into the foreground .

Orchard Hills

From that point on it was just finishing adjustments.  This was a pretty quick painting once I got set up.  The painting was 24"X36" and painted on luan with a coat of pumice gel and acrylic paint.

Fog Burning Little Corona

 

 

Hills into Mountains

Rocky Shore at Little Corona

Shadows over Rockpile

Low Threshold for Inspiration

Inspiration seems like it is around every corner...all the time.  I am not bragging.  Maybe what qualifies for inspiration for me is a little different than what qualifies for others.  Almost anything can spark thoughts of trying different techniques, materials, subjects, points of view, color choices, series of paintings, and so on.
Regardless of what others call inspiration, I will define it here without really thinking about what it really is.  Inspiration:  An openess to different thoughts, ideas, and explorations that are acted on based on a need to create and created because of the power of the influence observed or contemplated by the creator.

Best of Plein Air

 

 

Best of Plein Air

Best of Plein Air

Best of Plein Air

 

Best of Plein Air

Rocks at Heisler

Rocks at Heisler

Rocks at Heisler

Road out of the Park

This is a pencil drawing that measures 12"X16".  It is drawn on museum board.  In this drawing for several of the detail areas I etched into the paper with a couple of sharp or round tools that enabled me to show the weeds on and around the road the way I wanted to.