Fall Finally Arrives

Wednesday was a spectacular day painting in Oak Park. The trees along 34th street are ablaze with fall color. Our urban landscape group set up in the morning at an intersection and worked away. It was also warm.

Church on Broadway

The Urban Landscape Painting Group headed out to Broadway in Oak Park last Wednesday.  It was a nice warm day with plenty of sunshine.  I set up my new umbrella that I just bought at Costco.  It allowed me to be out on the sidewalk to paint this scene.  I bungied it to a fence, otherwise, it would require a jackhammer to put it into the soil (made for beaches).
I always go on about Oak Park.  It is a changing scene with new housing units and shops opening.  Right next to us, they are completing a brewery with outside dining area.  The area has wonderful alleyways, old homes and plenty of homeless.  

Oak Park Theater

Painted on a beautiful day in Oak Park section of Sacramento, CA.  The Urban Landscape Plein Aire group is managed by Patris.  She finds the place and takes us out to paint.  Weather has been ideal for plein aire painting.  Of course, we do need rain in California but have to take advantage of these nice winter days. 

The large building is the Guild Theater which has been restored.  It has an intricately designed brick facade which I did not deal with in this watercolor sketch.  I am curious to see the inside and take in a performance.  I painted The scene from across the street on Broadway.  The entire couple of blocks are being developed with condominiums and apartments.  Oak Park will not be the same when it is all done.  What a great place to live with everything in walking distance. 

Landmark Theater

Plein air painting this week was on Broadway.  Looking across the main street is the Tower Theater.  It is a complex of businesses but the theater is still running and its tower is the highest on Broadway.  It gave rise to many 'Tower' stores along Broadway and side streets, eg Tower of Records, Tower of Books, etc. 
This was a wet into wet composition done rather quickly.  You can see some water stain at the top as the tape held water and it puddled out.  The tower is stark white and the vegetation is well overgrown around the front.  I tried mixing greens on the paper with some success.  It was a wonderful day that started cold and warmed.  We ate lunch right behind our painting location at Willie's.

Space for Rent

Can you imagine living behind a giant billboard?  The Urban Landscape Artists painted this morning in Oak Park.  This neighborhood was one of the finest in Sacramento but fell on hard times.  The homes are lovely and many have been repaired.  Most are two story houses.  Because of flooding, the living space was on the second level.  Business sites are many along Broadway, but there are plenty of vacancies and closed down buildings.  There has been a huge effort to resuscitate this section of Sacramento. 

I chose this corner for my painting because of the vacant billboard space for rent.  It is symptomatic of the area.  I like the cast shadow of the billboard on the side of the house.  The chain link fence is all too common along Broadway and may indicate removed structures.  I was particularly fascinated by the cast shadows from the morning sun.  I took a photo of the site for comparison. 

Oak Park Salon

Painted with the Urban Landscape Painters in Oak Park.  We meet on Wednesday and find an urban venue for painting.  A bright sun was shining from the left onto this building.  The tree cast strong cool shadows on the side and this caught my eye.  I quickly sketched the shadows which were changing.  Then set up my easel and started.  The structure was first done with raw sienna and while still wet, I did some direct watercolor glazing with manganese blue.  There is always risk in direct glazing since you have to wait for the final color to develop with drying.  The method does produce more vivid hues.

Lots of visitors; some offering advice like, 'be sure and get the trees behind'.  I love this urban scene for subject matter.  Oak Park was once a very elegant neighborhood and is currently undergoing major changes.  You still do not have to go far to find the old face of Oak Park.

Oak Park; a Renassaince

It was cloudy and misting heavily when I left Davis to paint in the Capitol Plein Air Festival. We went to the 'hood'. For 30 years I drove thru Oak Park on my way to work. It was full of drug dealers, crack houses and men gathered on the street looking for work. They were in old couches and chairs along the side walks. A friend owned a property and was afraid to collect overdue rent. Not any longer, the 'hood' has a new look with proud ownership and cared for homes. This painting is the Oak Park Preschool which is getting a face-lift. Workers were buzzing around, checking out my painting and letting me in on what was going to happen to the building. The sun eventually came out and there were some shadows to paint. It actually got quite hot as I finished up.