Santa Ana River 5 Vespertine painting

"Santa Ana River 5 (Vespertine)"
watercolor on paper, 2014
6" x 18" (15.24cm x 45.72cm)

This is my painting for the article "The River in Me" by Susan Straight for Orion magazine. See previous post.

The client wanted to see more color than my more urban versions of the river to communicate the lush verdant arroyo and river banks of the author's essay.
If you are not familiar with Southern California's landscape much of it is either desert or savanna, dry most of the year. But the river basins are teaming with green lush vegetation and wildlife year round.

I was happy I visited the site because I learned that at this time of day with the river sitting down in the arroyo the long streaking shadows are gone as the sun drops behind the hills but there was still plenty of light in the landscape.

We originally talked about showing some evidence of the manmade as you can see in the some of the sketches in my previous post but we arrived at this one (sketch 3) and I was happy with it.
When you are down in the arroyo, although there is some of the manmade, you do feel like you are away from the city and the final painting reflects that as well as that same feeling in much of the article.
What did remain was the distant dry desert mountains of Southern California in the background.297

Santa Ana River 5 Vespertine sketches

"Santa Ana River 5 (Vespertine)"
pencil on paper, 2014

This is a recent commission for Orion magazine. Today the thumbnail sketches, tomorrow the painting.
My art is featured in the current January/Feburary 2015 issue.

I was contacted by the magazine after they found my Santa Ana River series while researching an article for their magazine. The article titled "The River in Me" by Susan Straight is about the authors experiences with the northern section of the Santa Ana River here in Southern California.

After some emails back and forth I decided to visit the site in person. The northern section of the Santa Ana River is more rural or natural than my more industrial/city versions I had done previously and I needed to get a feel for it so I could be as true as possible to the site and especially the author's vision of it.

I did some value thumbnails and sent these six for approval.
We decided on number 3.

Vespertine refers to the hour before sunset, not quite dusk or twilight. Poetically it is the magic hour.
While visiting the site I made it a point to really pay attention to the quality and the amount of light and I was surprised how much light is still in the landscape that final hour, more than I expected, much more than dusk but still a different quality than earlier in the afternoon.

As part of my research I took photos of course and although I originally planned to do color sketches on site. Once there I changed my mind.

The alternative was to simply stop and pay attention, make mental notes or write down thoughts. I have found I will remember more when I make it a task in itself.
Photos are good for the technical information and on-site sketches are only good to a point when it is late and the light is changing by the minute. We can get caught up in making the sketches and miss a lot of change. I might get down a color sketch or two but I gained much more by simply observing then committing it and trusting it to my memory.295,296

Train Bridge Study

"Train Bridge Study"
watercolor on paper, 2013
4" x 6" (10.16cm x 15.24cm)
For sale at DAILY PAINTWORKS
Direct link to painting here

This is a small close-up study of a train bridge over the Los Angeles River. I love the submarine-like shape of its foundation.

I will at some point paint one or more larger versions of this bridge.
Doing studies helps familiarize myself with the complicated structure of this bridge which crosses the river at an angle instead of at 90 degrees. That means there are more angles to work out the perspective of, in fact hardly any 90 degree angles at all.258

Urban River 8

"LA River #2"
watercolor on paper, 2013
7" x 10" (17.78cm x 25.4cm)

This is from my Urban River Series which includes The Santa Ana River in Orange County California.

As in others from this series the concrete banks are visible at the upper left of this composition.

Here is a view of the concrete bank and Willow Street bridge, built in 1946.

I love the smooth forms of the banks and the way they intersect with the gentle arches of the bridge

This is the urban river, part nature, part man. In each of these I have divided up the composition to varying degrees, favoring either the natural or man made as I search for different ways to present what I am seeing, to have something to say.
That guides me in the artistic decisions and determines how I paint it.
In this one I liked the idea of a busy composition juxtaposed against a calm cool spring day. The lively  hustle and bustle of the city without really showing any of it.243

Urban River 7

"LA River #1"
watercolor on paper, 2013
7" x 10" (17.78cm x 25.4cm)
For Sale at DAILY PAINTWORKS, CLICK HERE
Direct link to this painting here.

This is another from my Urban River Series which includes The Santa Ana River in Orange County California.
As in others from this series the concrete banks are visible at the upper left of this composition.

Here is the Los Angeles River looking south towards downtown Long Beach from the Willow Street bridge on a bright spring day. The bridge in the middle ground is a pipeline bridge.

I liked this view for the bottleneck the river takes just after passing under the Willow Street bridge.
During the winter months when there is a lot of rain most of the (green) riverbed is under water including the large trees.242

Urban River 6

"LA River #4"
oil on panel, 2013
2" x 2⅜" (5.08cm x 6.01cm)

I know I know... it's really blue...
probably should have thrown some other colors in it!

This is another tiny painting, fun and quick to do. I like to do these when I am in the middle more demanding works. Works that require lots of time and lots of sessions layering, drying, layering, drying. It gets long and drawn out so I find myself wanting some 'finished' satisfaction. That is the case right now. I'm working on several paintings in oil and watercolor, two of them commissions.

This is a pipeline bridge and there are several along the southern end of the LA River in Long Beach California where much of the harbor industry is located.
I love these huge sheets of concrete. All they do is carry the pipes across the river, but are very simple and dramatic.220

Urban River 5

 "LA River #3"
oil on panel, 2013
2" x 2⅜" (5.08cm x 6.01cm)
private collection

Here's another for my Urban River series, although on a small scale at only 2" x 2⅜". Not really sellable but I do have my reasons for painting these mini's.
This is the LA River in Long Beach California looking north at the Willow Street Bridge. Viewed laying down on the sloping concrete bank makes for a strong angular composition and a nice sweeping line from corner to corner. With landscapes typically being in a horizontal format I am always looking for verticals, and especially angles to either counter or compliment the side to side landscape.

I used a similar compositional device in this locomotive painting, making the subject, here the bridge and the BNSF engine in the other, smaller within the design yet still the primary subject.

The sloping wall takes up more than half of the picture frame but due to its architecture the bridge gets the attention. This also lends a good variation to the blue sky shapes in the arches so each is different and is not so repetitive.210

Urban River 4

"Santa Ana River #4"
watercolor on paper, 2012
8" x 11" (20.32cm x 27.94cm)

Number 4 in this series. This view looking north shows more of the power corridor that runs along the river and the straight vertical concrete walls instead of the sloping walls of previous versions.

This is the time of day, late afternoon, when the light is blue looking east and that certain pale green and yellow looking west, just before the golds, oranges, reds, pinks and purples take over at sunset.
Much more peaceful and introspective than the fiery finish of sunset I think.168

#3 here
#2 here
#1 here

Click on image for larger view

Urban River 3

"Santa Ana River #3 Footbridge"
watercolor on paper, 2012
7" x 10" (17.78cm x 25.4cm)
For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE


Here is the third painting of this river. The other two, here and here.

Each explores the man/nature theme.
This one showing the man made structures of pedestrian bridge in the middle ground, two traffic bridges and the power poles and towers in the distant background. So more of this composition is of the man made vaguely looming over nature.

I experimented by placing the more saturated color across the middle with the top and bottom nearly monochromatic and more loosely painted.
This one was done on hot pressed paper which takes the watercolor differently. Besides being untextured (like cold pressed) watercolor washes heavy with pigment tend to go down slightly softer around the edges, as though the surface has the slightest bleed. It also seems to dry to a more velvety finish. I like the difference but it will take some time to get used to it.166

Click on image for larger view

Urban River 2

"Santa Ana River #2"
watercolor on paper, 2012
8" x 11" (20.32cm x 27.94cm)
For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE

Looking forward to a new year as I have set many goals for 2012. Of course that now means signing the date '12. Darn, the two ones of '11 were so much easier. Oh well.

Here is my first finished piece of 2012, literally done on January 1st. This is the second of this urban river.
Much like the first, done in oil, it's the juxtaposition of the natural and man-made world that I find fascinating to study.
The lazy meandering river takes its time moving through the frame from right to left. The razor sharp line of the highlighted bike path slicing across the picture, the verticals of power poles and towers and the flat plane of the river bank contrast nicely with the organic flow of water and vegetation. 164

Click to see "Santa Ana River #1"
Click on image for larger view

Urban River 1

"Santa Ana River #1"
oil on cradled panel, 2011
12" x 24" (30.48cm x 60.96cm)
For Sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE


Urban nature is a sort of oxymoron. It took years to come to terms with seeing our rivers encased in concrete banks as part of the natural world. I could never quite call them rivers.

But this is how we modify nature as it passes through our cities before being returned back to nature and into the ocean. There is a push and pull of man/nature going on. Concrete and manicured rock banks, then natural silt islands and vegetation growing in the middle. Nature briefly contained and on display. Ebb and flow.

I do see the beauty in both, the smooth hard man made surfaces and the delicate organic forms of nature. They simultaneously compliment and contrast each other.140

Click on image for larger view