Afternoon on the Embarcadero

It was a sunny day yesterday. I was too late to get parking at the studio and I felt like drawing so I jumped on the ferry which took me from Marin to the Ferry Building in San Francisco. I spent five hours walking along the Embarcadero looking at the piers that have been the inspiration for so many of my paintings.

"Pier with Green Doors" - Development of the Idea:

Step one: I selected three separately-developed panels from my studio and placed them together. The left panel has a texture treatment reminiscent of a decaying wall. This suggested an architectural subject matter. On the two right panels are fragments of French street posters.

Step two: I took photographs of one of of my favorite pier facades in San Francisco.

Step three: Ideas about the composition of the painting.... the left panel would suggest a large wall to the land-side of the green doors. The perspective would be looking up to the underside of the Bay Bridge.

Step four: The basic architectural layout was applied to the panels. At this point I realized I wasn't happy with the textured panel on the left side of the Green doors.

Pier with green Doors. 48" x 84". Photo courtesy of Trish Tunney.

Step five: I changed the position of the textured panel to the right side to suggest the ending of the pier with the bay beyond. The panels were fixed together and the painting was developed with oils.