Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Chavez Ravine


This is my newest painting "Chavez Ravine", 18 x 18 inches, oil on canvas. The location is close to Dodger Stadium, that's downtown LA in the background. I painted on location here with my pal William Wray a couple of years ago, I used my plein-air study as color reference for this more finished studio piece. I was going for a more impressionistic palette with subtle color and a hazy atmospheric feel. As I worked, it helped me to keep in mind... warm foreground receding to a cooler background.

Recently I acquired a couple of drawings by Sam Hyde Harris. I was inspired by some paintings he did back in the 1930's and 40's, some of which were done around Chavez Ravine. One such piece is reproduced in a book I have, called "Plein-Air Painters of California, the Southland" by Ruth Westphal.

13 comments:

Kim VanDerHoek said...

Hi Tony,

Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment!

I love this new painting of yours! It has all the things I like in a painting, strong composition, atmosphere and just enough detail to hold my interest without getting too fussy. Beautiful!

tonypetersart said...

Hi Vanderhoekart,

Much appreciated! I sometimes do tend to get too fussy on a painting, so I try to work with larger brushes. Less is more... it's all about simplicity, right?

David Lobenberg said...

Very nice with the subtle color palette and the foreground patch work of houses on hillside and the hazy LA skyline poking out from behind.

Ambera said...

Love this one. It definitely has that summer haze, I really enjoy the way you do your houses.

alex schaefer said...

nice painting. So LA! I love the hilly neighborhoods like Echo Park and Mt. Washington! I've been painting like crazy, and I think I'm going crazy! AHAHAHAH!! I like it. Life is good and my painting keeps me thrilled about painting!

Donald Wienand said...

oh so nice colors :)

tonypetersart said...

Hi David,

Thanks!

tonypetersart said...

Ambera,

Glad you like it, I've painted alot of various architecture throughout my career. The challenge for me is to blend it with anything like all those trees on the hillside. I enjoyed doing the geometeric and organic contrasts in this piece.

tonypetersart said...

Alex,

I appreciate your high key energy, keep up the good work... just don't go and cut your ear off :-)

tonypetersart said...

Thanks Donald!

Ed Terpening said...

The subtle color, temperature and value variations are wonderful in this one. Bravo!

tonypetersart said...

Thanks Ed!

Anonymous said...

That's sounds really good...



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