Dusk,
Los Angeles Basin
Robert Winter, 2006 

Acrylic on Canvas
30" x 40"

Giclee Print:   $750
On Sheet Canvas, Unframed

Framed Original:  Not currently for sale

 

Artist's Notes

I first thought about capturing this scene in the mid-1980s, when I had recently moved to Southern California and was living in the southern San Gabriel Valley.  There was a freeway overpass near me where you could see tropical palm trees in the foreground and snow-capped mountains in the background--a juxtaposition I had never encountered anywhere.  Combined with the whoosh of cars going by on a freeway, I considered it pure Southern California.

Unlike a lot of my paintings, this one wasn't preceded by any photographs.  That was partly because I  wasn't a good enough photographer to capture the scene effectively in the reduced light of dusk, and partly because the elements always composed better in my imagination and memory than they ever did through a camera's viewfinder.

I finally decided to just paint the scene out of my imagination, so that I could have the arc of the freeway draw your eye to the snow-capped mountains, position the palm trees for maximum contrast to the snow, etc.  I was also able to weave in some distinctive elements from other areas, like the drama of the San Fernando Valley opening up before you as you crest the Sepulveda Pass, and the sparkling grids of street lights you see from Mulholland,  the Hollywood Hills, and other high-ground locations.

I find an almost palpable West Coast type of energy  in this scene--relaxed but dynamic, exciting, and sensual.

© COPYRIGHT 2006 ROBERT WINTER.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.