Sep 15 - Plein Air from the Rooftop Number One

In celebration of Restaurant Week, the Riverside Art Museum hosted a semi-formal "meet the chefs" evening, where for a flat fee, attendees could wander the museum and sample some gourmet courses. I arrived at the third story rooftop for an evening of painting, wine and music with about 400 attendees, and started on this 12 x 16 oil. Riverside has tree-lined streets with high/low palm trees along many boulevards--those fan palms are a trademark of the area.

Evening light, but very early--it was only about 5 pm when I started, and here we have daylight until 7:30 or so. So although this has the Color System working in it, the influencing colors are very minor. A whisper of orange in the palm fronds, and into the side of the building, then going quickly to yellow ochre as the distance increases. Shadows showing blue/blue-violet, and going darker to show the increased value contrast.

The building has some historical significance, as the current owners stopped by and saw it in process, saying that it has been in their family for generations. I painted the bell posts that are an integral part of the city of Riverside, and a stop light (on red!) to balance the lower portion of the composition.

This original, on-location oil is for sale for $300 through my Paypal.

Tomorrow, I share with you the much LATER painting, looking toward the sun, instead of sideways to it. Same rooftop, totally different end result.

So many nice comments coming in on the Flash Cards--they are in folks' hands now! Thank you all, so much!

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