Artists Take a Stand by Painting the Laguna Canyon They Love : Protest: ‘Paint-in’ contests the Irvine Co.’s plan to build 3,000 residences--and a six-lane highway--in the canyon.

Starting at dawn and working until dusk, local artists will be setting up their easels along scenic Laguna Canyon Road today as part of a two-day protest against encroaching residential development.

“There are houses everywhere (else),” said Santa Ana artist Orell Christian Anderson. “There has to be some kind of sanctuary, where we can get back in touch with where we came from. There is a certain sense of piece of mind to have a place like this.”

Under the warm sun, between the green hills of Laguna Canyon, a handful of Orange County artists began the “paint-in” Friday to join with the Laguna Conservancy’s longstanding protest against the Irvine Co.’s plan to put more than 3,000 houses, apartments and condominiums--as well as a six-lane highway--in the canyon, said event organizer Kathy Blume.

Blume, who lives in Laguna Hills, gently brushed the landscape on her canvas as she said the art works created Friday and today will be sold and the proceeds will go to the Laguna Conservancy.

The artists are trying to appeal to the human, emotional side of the developers, Blume said, and make them more aware of the need to leave the canyon as it is. “The canyon is a breath of fresh air, when people get off the freeway.”

Even though the event was called a paint-in, it was not limited to painters.

Anderson, who came to Orange County to create a monument for the Crystal Cathedral, was creating a plaster sculpture Friday of what he jokingly called Arc Angel of the Freeway--a female form with rusted iron legs and long, withered tree branches for arms.

The sculpture would be much darker and worn-looking when finished, Anderson said, and have a gas mask for a face. The sculpture symbolizes the detrimental effects development would have on the canyon, he said, but the branches are also wings that represent the hope he has for the canyon.

He described Orange County as a “cultural desert” and said that Laguna Beach is one of the only places left for artists.

“I make a living out of this (painting landscapes of the canyon),” said Maria Bertran, a nine-year Laguna Beach resident. “If they take away the land, I will have to move. . . . The developers will ruin this and then move on to the next (site). The canyon is a buffer for Laguna . . . against the noise and pollution of Orange County. . . . By tradition, Laguna has been an artist’s community. They (the Irvine Co.) will kill the spirit of the town.”

April Hunt-Good never lost her smile as the canvas she was painting was blown onto the ground. She simply put it back on her easel and brushed the leaves off, remarking how, after all, she is an environmental artist.

“I’m from Boulder, Colo., and there the city bought all the land around just for the space. . . . I think that if enough people cared and noticed (the canyon),” she said, “they would stop the development.”

“Everyone in Laguna is frantic,” Bertran said. “It is destroying our peace of mind.” She said she does not believe in any new development in the area and moved into a 50-year-old house because it fits in with the environment.

“They used to build according to the contour of the hills,” she said. “Now they level the land for building.”