Steeples, Triangles and Diagonals

 

   
     Here are some sketches for a new painting I'm planning. These were all done on site, and include a variation on slightly different angles of some buildings downtown. Once again, this is a rooftop parking garage scene; usually where I park when I go to teach drawing at the College of Charleston. This angle caught my eye: the deep canyon of space rolling back and ending at the back of St. Matthew's church (for some reason depicting the back of a church, rather than the facade seemed like an interesting idea). The vanishing point falls to the left of center, along a deep space where the eye follows the sharp diagonals like a bowling ball towards the center pin. There is a repetition of triangular shapes and a diagonally receding series of church steeples. I'm looking forward to the raking light of Fall and recreating this scene in the studio. I've yet to determine the final size, but around 3' x 4' is what I'm imagining...

Front Yard (progression)

   Recently, I have started documenting some of the larger, more sustained paintings in the studio through photographs. Each photo usually represents a single painting session (sometimes I miss one...) When I photograph the painting, it allows me to see it in another way; in this case, condensed through the photographic 'eye' verses my own eyes. By shrinking it down (and sometimes flipping it around on the computer) I'm able to see the image in a fresh way. Of course, I do this in the studio too, sometimes looking at the painting in a mirror from across the room, or painting some passages with the actual painting upside down on the wall or easel. I guess I find it interesting to see how a painting 'gets built', and I hope you do too. Here's the latest one, "Front Yard":

 

Final state: 22.5" x 27"

Sketching on the road

     Since I've been traveling a lot this summer, I've had some big gaps in my studio time. A few larger paintings still need to be finished up, and some new painting ideas that need to be worked out. My family and I went on a long trip back to the northeast (Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Long Island), so what I usually do to keep my hand and eye moving is some sustained sketchbook drawing. I usually try to devote at least 30 minutes a day to these, sometimes longer. All are in pencil and the size is about 8" x 11". It's a nice way for me to document a trip and also keeps me engaged with the creation process.

King and Queen (in progress)

   

King and Queen (in progress); 22" x 25"

     So far this summer I've been working intermittently on 2 larger paintings, the 'Front Yard' from the previous post, and this one, King and Queen. I'm painting it downtown, from the roof top of a parking garage, which is literally on the corner of King Street and Queen Street. The view caught my attention because addition to the street names, the 2 churches in the distance look like the King and Queen from a chess set...a little visual pun that made me smirk.
     I was initially attracted to the brick, and how to paint that warm glow of the sun on the side of the building. With the format almost square (I can't stand working on a true 'square'), my vantage point is looking severely down towards the street. The building on the corner is slightly right of center and has become an exercise in 2 point perspective. The light for the painting has proved quite difficult, because the 2 planes of the building (the one in sun and the other in shadow) is only there for a small window during the morning. If I get there by 9am, I have until about 10-10:30 until that left side moves out of shadow. Sometimes things like this can keep me nimble with the painting, working under a time constraint or specific weather condition.

pencil, 18" x 21"

      I did a few preliminary drawings to figure out my vantage point, and took some photos to capture the light. I've gone back a several times to paint on site, but my schedule has been very erratic this summer because of travel and family obligations.

pencil, 11" x 9"

pencil, 6.5" x 9"

     I want to hold back a little with getting overly descriptive painting the architectural details. I obviously enjoy drawing and painting these motifs, but I want to try and evoke the forms and presence of what's there without 'overloading' it. The light and solidity of form is what I'm after here, as well as, creating a sense of space as you move towards the horizon. Most likely I will continue working on this into the fall...

Front Yard

   

in progress: 22.5" x 27"

     Put some time into this one today. Between ducking back into my studio from the rain and setting up again outside in the front yard, the greens took on an intense chroma from all the rain we've been having. Everything was damp and wet today, and it will probably be a completely different scene when I return outside. I had an initial underlayer which was done in the studio from the photo which inspired the painting. I needed to move things around a bit before getting everything back into alignment outside (this usually happens when I block things in from a photograph). The distortion is subtle, but bothersome none the less.
     The light has shifted significantly since March, when I planned this whole thing out. The setting sun was occurring right about in the middle of the canvas, but has now shifted over to behind our house on the right side. I think I'll just work through it; I either put the painting on hold until the right light situation occurs again, or I just move forward with the current season.
     This scene in our front yard has captivated me recently; it's what I look out at while parked in our driveway with the baby sleeping. This sometimes lasts a few hours, and depending on the time of day, the light can be stunning. I'm looking forward to carving out the space of the trees and branches amidst all these greens, and creating a stillness with the tire swing balancing between the tree trunk and the house.

Fort Moultrie

     Here's a few new paintings I'm working on. They depict Fort Moultrie, on the Southern tip of Sullivan's Island, which is about a 5 minute drive from my house. I remember walking on the beach around the Fort with my family on the night we moved here. I'm intrigued with painting brick, as there is so much of it here in Charleston, and the angles from around the fort are really interesting.

     With this first one, I went out with my easel and a few canvases, searching out a spot to paint. It was late in the day, so the sun was low and the light golden, further accentuating the warm glow of the brick. I found this spot with a small doorway in the distance, and through it a wonderful bright yellow peeking through. I wanted to get the whole expanse of the fort's bulk, so I put the 2 canvases I had together, to make one long one. Each canvas size is here is 9" x 12".
     Back in the studio, I secured the 2 smaller canvases together with wood on the back. After working on it awhile, the seam started to bother me; it wasn't relevant to the image and it became self conscious. I also wanted to include some more of the sky and trees on the right side. I decided to stretch a new canvas slightly larger, 12" x 24", which is one of my favorite rectangle sizes, the double square or Root 4.

     After enlarging the image in the studio, I returned to site. A few weeks had passed since I had started the original, and my painting time had shifted. Most of the time when I work en plein air, the painting shifts along with the season, so I have to sync up where the light is at the given time of day I'm working. I feel that this is a more accurate representation of painting from 'life' anyway; it's not trying to copy a static image of the world to the canvas, but rather getting in touch with the rhythms and fluidity of Nature.
Here it is so far:

 

     I have another one that I'm working on at the same time, slightly earlier in the day than the above painting. I've been working on both in conjunction, but this one is giving me a little more of a problem; I'm not sure it's going to make the cut. The section of the wall projecting towards me, is reading kinda funny, and I'm not sure if it's possible to work it out. Anyway, here it is so far:

   

     I've got a few more ideas for different paintings here, and I think that I will keep them all the same size, the double square. I'm fascinated by trying to paint all the different reds and browns in the brick, and how they contrast with the bright greens of the grass.  The sun is so high overhead and so bright, that when I bring the paintings inside to look at in the studio, it's almost a completely different painting. It will be a lot of going back and forth, tweaking the color and trying to figure out how to balance the tones. At least it's not too hot by the ocean...I'm getting a nice breeze while I paint.

Install at Jericho Advisors

     Here's some installation shots of my show, "Wood, Stone, Sky and Steel" at Jericho Advisors. It was nice to get there early and enjoy a drink with my wife and see all the work up. Shows are always good as a marking point, a time to see a large body of work together. Working away in the studio, I tend to cycle through paintings, and put them in my storage rack when they're done. I don't have a lot of wall space to hang them up, but occasionally I'll pull some out and revisit them. In this show, I included a few older paintings (2010ish) from Brooklyn, so it was interesting to see them in the context of the new work. The reception was great, along with a lot of positive feedback. More fuel as I get back to work on some new paintings...stay tuned for updates on those!

 

 

with my wonderfully supportive wife, Faith