Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Industrial Pasadena


Here’s a plein air study of an industrial landscape from Pasadena. I have no idea what all those tanks and tubes are for, but I enjoyed trying to convey the variety of forms and colors.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Jeanette,

Just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy your posts. You should start a blog of your own.

James Gurney said...

Thanks, John, but lest you think I did the oil painting of industrial blight, it's by my ever-lovin' husband Jim! I'm strictly watercolor, and lean more towards gardens and domestic architecture. He's been doing portraits of Berber tribesmen in the Atlas Mountains, last time he called.

René PleinAir said...

Wow, those two figures blew me away!

Stunning and inspirational Gurney!

Anonymous said...

My friend Sam likes to photograph scenes like this for his collection of "urban/industrial blight" images. My chemical engineer inner soul drives me to tell you that the tall skinny ones are distillation columns and the shorter wider ones are storage tanks. Most likely the two add up to an oil refinery. I do like your rendering - it's more colorful than most refineries I've seen. But I still prefer nature scenes!

Andrew said...

I dunno what's up with the shorter silo in the front (is that a shadow, or a different plating on it? I'm still not sure...) but I do love the colors at work...remind me of aged copper.

Corporate Logic said...

The black/white paint scheme on the tank in the foreground has an interesting purpose.

As the sun shines on the tank, the difference in temperature between the black and white sections causes the distillate inside to circulate.

This prevents settling and other problems associated with large volumes of liquid sitting for long periods.

Great painting! I wonder if this was on Fair Oaks?

James Gurney said...

Corporate, thanks for the explanation of the two-tone paint on the storage tank. Jim did this painting down on Fair Oaks, near where the Pasadena Freeway began, about 25 years ago.

Anonymous said...

Hey I remember seeing that while I was down in Pasadena for school over the summer! coooool!

Dag said...

Looks like a picture!!
thanks Jeanette to put articles on the blog while James isn't here!!

Stefan said...

Wow, I love this blog, and I just wanted to thank both Jim and Jeanette for helping it run. I really like this picture, something I wouldn't look at twice is really shown as interesting. A case for close observation!