Deep in the Whittier Hills

Deep in the Whittier Hills

<last week: Archive 12 The Lost Canyon Project Revisited 

 

I had a good conversation with Pete Hampton’s brother Richard this last week. It’s interesting how a small change in focus can result in a large change in perspective. 

Richard brought to my attention that there are two not-completely distinct  types of work that Pete produced. I say, “not-completely distinct” because, of course,  not every picture falls neatly into one type or the other. 

On the one hand, Pete painted many dramatic landscapes and sunsets, and finely detailed scenes from rural La Habra and Whittier.

And there are also the hundreds of pieces that are quickly done, some as sketches, or first drafts for later works. Many are “plein aire’’ sketches done in the hills of Whittier and La Habra. 

Still others may have been painted simply because Pete decided that he need another frame in the slide-show sequence for the Lost Canyon Trip show. He often was not too picky about what he painted on. 

Many of these are done on odd scraps of cardboard. But they served their purpose.  As Richard pointed out, most people who want or need a picture go out and take a snap shot. Peter would sit down and make a painting in about as much time.

I knew how quickly Pete could work. I saw Pete do it many times. But it wasn’t until Richard brought it to my attention that I realized that most of the paintings that I’ve photographed in archive 12, “Pictures to the Lost Canyon” fit this description.   Like a story told in a few well-chosen words, they speak to an immediate moment  and hold on to it in a wash of color, and few brushstrokes.  

 
 There are some finer works in this collection as well.  

At this point I have maybe half of this collection photographed, and about half of those photographs processed. We shall see what the remainder of this archive holds. There is much more to come. 

NEXT: Nightmares in the Whittier Hills>