Michael Newberry, 101 Ocean Avenue, 2009, pastel on
black paper,
19 x 26 inches.
| Everyday to and from the
Newberry Gallery, I pass this
stunning modernist apartment building. It is on a bluff in Santa
Monica overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Looking at its
entrance at the northern end of Ocean Avenue, it appears to be a
one-story building, but it cascades 10 or so stories down along
the cliff face.
I drew this everyday for a week at the same time, 1:30 to 2:30 pm, and each day I took it into the studio to review and edit. I discuss solving one of its problems in this tutorial, Pastel Lift Off. The slight rise of the building from the street, invites me to imagine going up the ramp and stand in the glass enclosed lobby, and view in awe the vast pacific ocean right there, down below, spreading out towards Hawaii beyond the horizon. It crosses my mind that the welcoming feeling of this building and site might match the feeling the early settlers viewing the Pacific for the first time after their brutal crossing of Death Valley and the Sierras. This pastel is part of the group show, Landscape with a Modern Edge at the Newberry Gallery, October 17 - November 21, 2009.
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