Riverside National Cemetery
Riverside National Cemetery
Thirty Five PAAR artists have signed up to paint the Riverside National Cemetery during 3 weekends of Oct. 2009. Jim Ruester had a vision and contacted me last Spring. He said it is such a beautiful place and he wanted the artist to paint and exhibit their artwork at the cemetery. After many phone calls, a visit with a tour of the grounds, my locations chair Ada M. Passaro and I agreed this would be a fabulous opportunity for PAAR and an honor to be involved in the project. An exhibit of the paintings will be unveiled at the Riverside National Cemetery Administration Building on Veteran's Day Nov. 11. The show will be up until June 2, 2010.
Upon arrival at our first location in the cemetery was The Amphitheater on Oct. 10, 2009, the weather in the area had turned cold over night with fog. This is always a challenge living in Southern Ca. Inland Empire as most of our days are bright and sunny. So we were thrown a ringer and at first thought we would wait it out, but after looking at the beauty we decided to give it a try. "Foggy Morning" the first painting at the top of this blog is a small 6 x 8 painting in Plein Air. While painting this location the geese were in abundance. At one point as I was painting about 10 of them walked up very close behind me and started to squawk. I quickly ran around the front of my easel. My friend Pat Ford who was painting near to me, said bark back at them. She started squawking, they looked at her squaked back and then proceeded to walk away. I think most of the people who come out to this area bring them something to eat, and they were not happy that we did not do this.
"Front Entrance Waterfall Pond" National Cemetery
After the sun came out we moved to the entrance of the cemetery for another painting. We were especially drawn to this area because of the waterfall, but after arriving the beautiful play on lights and dark was very exciting. Linda Harmon later joined us at this fabulous spot. After completing our paintings we headed out for the day.
"Misty Morning" National Cemetery
On our second day of painting we decided to go back to the Amphitheater. This morning it was not only foggy but misty rain too. The weather was interesting as it was much lighter but still overcast and the sun would go in and out the better part of the morning. The reflections in the water changed constantly as well as the distant trees.
This is a photo taken by Pat Ford. The ducks and geese in the foreground were always the talk of the day. It was fun to watch how they intermingled with each other, the big white goose seemed to have control over all of them. I am the artist standing in the distance with the cowboy hat on. In shorts and freezing my butt off......Several artists were in this area that morning painting.
"Waterfall" 2nd day National Cemetery
I really wanted to go back to this same place and capture this scene again. I had studied the painting the day before and wanted to get more distance. In changing the size of the tree trunks, darkening the shadows in the water around the waterfall and throwing back the distant trees I think I accomplished a much better painting. I don't usually paint the same place twice, but I am glad I did paint this one twice. It really helped me correct some issues I have developed that I was not happy with.
Well there you have it, my first 2 days of the paint out. I won't be going back this next weekend because of a previous engagement with my husband, (2 nights in Palm Springs). YAY a weekend getaway! But I will be back on the last weekend to paint. There are so many beautiful spots to try and capture, I think it is just crazy trying to choose.
I hope you have enjoyed this blog as much as I enjoy sharing it with you. Please share with family and friends who you think will enjoy it as well.
Until next time, ENJOY THE ART! Terry d. Chacon
Very interesting blog today. I like your paintings. Looks like the challenges of the weather and lighting were captured well.
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