Different plein angles

Dick Heimbold and Bruce Trentham spend many a day chasing the light.

The duo are plein-air artists who paint landscapes outdoors — Heimbold with oil and Trentham in pastels.

What makes the practice a challenge is capturing the light and shadow quickly before it changes, Heimbold said. The artist has to stay ahead of the sun’s movement.

Their landscapes, 20 each, are sharing space on the walls of Whites Art Framing & Restoration in Montrose until the end of the month.

“In their own style, they are wonderful,” said gallery owner Miguel Perez, who leans toward both artists’ seascapes. “I’m very lucky to have them here.”

They chose to paint the foothills of Deukmejian Wilderness Park in La Crescenta on Monday.

“It’s very enjoyable to be out in nature, out of the studio,” said Heimbold, who also paints seascapes, night scenes, portraits, figures and still life.

Heimbold, a Glendale resident, had toned the bottom half of his canvas with light red and was ready to fill in the detail of the stems of the wild, orange-red flora.

“The warm color on the bottom adds interest, instead of a white canvas, which is a distraction,” he said.

Heimbold prefers oil, he said, because it has a tremendous range of value — light and dark, and intensity of color and texture.

“Texture adds another aspect of perception or excitement to the pictures,” he said.

Aside from the inspiration of the beauty of nature, painting outdoors is conducive to meeting people, he said.

“Hikers go by and come back an hour later to see how I’m progressing,” he said.

While painting the Walt Disney Concert Hall, tourists took pictures of him working. Artists walking by asked him what materials he uses.

Heimbold is showing several seascapes in the show at Whites. He’s also showing a painting he did at the Americana at Brand last month. It’s a night scene with people in front of the fountain.

“The colors of the fountain are luminous — yellow and white,” he said. “The buildings in the background are done in a variety of colors.”

About 30 feet away Monday, Trentham was filling in the shadows of his picture. It was his second try at painting the hills surrounding the park, he said.

“On a different day, you see if you can come up with something different,” the Burbank resident said. “The atmospheric conditions change. Today, there is a mist in the air. Other days, it’s sunny.”

While painting, he said he notices how the light changes when it hits various objects closer to or farther from himself, he said. He calls this atmospheric perspective.

The thing he likes best about painting outdoors is how dynamic the changing of the light is, he said.

“It sets up a positive tension and forces me to see and distill things quickly and execute the image,” Trentham said. “It’s completely different in the studio, where you are suffering every stroke.”

An artist has the luxury of time in the studio, he said, which can be a detriment.

“With plein air, you have to work quickly, intuitively,” he said.

During the winter months, it’s a whole new perspective outdoors, as artists are dealing with the weather, mostly inclement, Trentham said.

“It’s kind of surprising because there might be a storm running through where an artist has set up an easel, and the rain starts and then suddenly stops, and the sun shines through,” he said. “I like surprises.”

Trentham, who is also showing landscapes at Whites, has one piece called “Los Angeles River,” which is on the show’s promotional postcard.

“The location I painted is at Hyperion and Glendale Boulevard with the parallel bridges,” he said. “I liked the shadow patterns in contrast with the man-made structures and the banks of the river.”

Plein air artists often work together or in a group, Heimbold said.

Painting with a buddy allows an artist to get a quick critique, Trentham said. Sometimes, it’s a case of not being able to see the forest for the trees, he said.

“You may neglect a glaring error and someone else will catch it,” Trentham said. “Dick has given me good suggestions to solve problems.”

Heimbold has painted the park several times, and he never gets bored.

“It’s fun to revisit where you’ve been and give it another shot,” Heimbold said. “[Paul] Cezanne painted Mt. Ste. Victoire in France a couple hundred times.”