I never posted the finished sketch of looking north from the Truman parking garage. Well, here it is on hot press.
After several attempts on different media that didn’t work for me I gessoed a big canvas and tried it on that. I didn’t like that one either but I kept trying to make it better. I scraped it, gouached it, used watercolor crayons, added clouds, used white watercolor ink, andded reliefs, and any number of other things. I’m not done yet. I have more ideas and I haven’t used pastels yet. You will know when I’m done when there’s a time on the clock.
The bad news is that the next painting I’m doing is off to a bad start as well and I’m determined not to give up on that one either. The good news is that I found a new interesting onion.
It’s interesting how the way the first two paintings are painted really conveys their different settings. All the cool blues and flat washes really give reinforce the urban setting of the top one. Then the muted yellows and browns of the second one give it a small town yesteryear feel. I think that’s why the third painting doesn’t work — the colors are too vibrant and jarring, too much contrast between the oranges and blues.
ReplyDeleteI really like those first two. The first feels like a cityscape abstraction, even though I can easily recognize the place. There's city bustle on the ground and movement upward with the tall buildings. Really lovely. And that second one also gives a sense of place and time. It feels like small town mid-America and just gives a peaceful easy sensation. Not sure what you have planned for the last one, but I'm eager to see it.
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought that those concentric circles were, well just odd. But then I thought about it again and found the oddness pleasing. Right on, but those trees are not with the program, too sloppy (I don't mean you painted sloppy) just that they are sloppy things and they are a sore thumb amid all that crispness. The second does not have the power to stir my soul, but I like the third a lot. And how about those blue trees? As Pat likes to say, Woo Woo!
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