Loading Bays at 1890 - Painting Development

As many of you will be aware, I have my art studio at 1890 Bryant Street in San Francisco - the old Best Foods mayonnaise factory. The building has been a work in progress since I moved in in 2007 with a new floor of studios being built on the roof. The downside of all this has been noise and other inconveniences. The upside, as far as I am concerned, is that I get to wander around the working areas, looking at piles of building materials, holes in walls, and new elevator shafts. 

Earlier this year I started to work on some paintings of my favorite spaces in the building. I have just finished a diptych of the loading bays beneath my studio. Below are the stages the piece went through:

Architectural plan: Diagonal loading bays in a rectangular building.

Too much to get into one drawing without losing the drama...

...so I decided to do two different drawings from the same view point.
The painting would now be a diptych.

Old posters were applied to two wood panels
to create under paintings for the diptych.

I copied the perspective lines onto the panels.

The composition was built with acrylic paint.

The paintings were finished with oil paint. At this point I felt that the diptych was too
 "busy" with all the perspective lines, but I wanted the panels to stay close to each other.

By adding a Red panel to the side of the larger piece, suggesting the columns on
 the outside of the building, I provided breathing space between the two panels.
Total painting dimensions: 48" x 72".

Finished! (I think.)

Fall Open Studios

Open Studios

November 1st & 2nd 11.00 - 6.00 pm

Preview and Pumpkin Carving: 

Friday October 31st. 6.00 - 9.00 pm

1890 BRYANT ST. @ MARIPOSA # 204

SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110

It's that time again. The leaves are turning, the clocks are about to go back, and there are people on the streets in funny costumes - it's time for my Open Studio!

Come and enjoy the delights on offer by the artists of 1890 Bryant Street. And don't forget to visit me in studio # 204. This year I have many small affordable pieces and will even be selling sketches straight out of my Morocco Travels 2014 sketchbook.






And for that extra creative experience put on your Halloween costume and join me for some pumpkin carving at the Friday night preview.

Pier 26 (South side)

Pier 26 (South Side) is one of my paintings which will be on view at this weekend's Art Silicon Valley art fair. See them at booth # SV26.

Here are some of the stages the panels went through before the painting was finished:

Pier 26 (South) 48" x 84" Oil and mixed media on wood panels.

One Week in my Art World....

Sunday: Opening Reception - "Revealing the Landscape". Saint Mary's College Art Museum.

Monday: In my studio. Working on a layout for a future painting (diptych) of the loading bays at 1890 Bryant.


Tuesday: Heard from my local art dealer that she will be showing my work at the Art Silicon Valley art fair in October. I now have to create a large pier piece for the show. 


Wednesday: Took a bike ride. Not art I know, but re-charging my creative batteries.

Pier 28 Reflections. 12" x 60". Oil and mixed media on wood panel.

Thursday: Finished my painting for the City Streets show at Studio Gallery which opens on September 4th.

Friday: Received my Art For Aids auction catalog in the mail. I knew my piece was in the Live Auction section but look ...it's on the front cover too!

Saturday: Spent most of the day soaking and separating large posters in a pool I created in my garage (there is no floor drain in my studio). The posters were "acquired" this summer by my friend Diane on her travels through Europe.

Sunday: First day of a two-day trace-monotype class. I drew from a sketch I did in 2012 of boat-building in Essaouira, Morocco.

Revealing the Landscape

Saint Mary's College Museum of Art will be presenting their show 

Revealing the Landscape ,

featuring twenty seven local artists, in their lovely gallery on campus in Moraga, CA. 

I am very excited to have four paintings in the show and am impressed by the curator's interpretation of the word "landscape" to include the urban scenes for which I am known.

Opening Reception:

Sunday August 10th

2.00 - 4.30

July Reflections

Pier Reflections with Lilac. 12" x 60". 

Pier 1 Reflections. 12" x 60".

My studio work for the month of July has been all about reflections of pier structures - I have completed six paintings of different sizes and formats. 

Reflections - Fort Mason # 2
36" x 30"

All of the paintings began with a collage of street posters. In the past, when I have painted over the collage, I have left only small glimpses of color and text showing to enliven the painting and offer unexpected discoveries to the persistent  viewer. With some of these new paintings I have allowed larger areas of poster to remain uncovered as the water effect breaks up. I'm enjoying the play between the two layers of imagery which pulls the viewing focus back and forth and reminds the viewer that it is, after all, just paper and paint.

Reflections with Raft. 48" x 36".

Reflections with Barrels. 30" x 24".

Reflections - Under the Pier. 40" x 18"

 

 

Morocco Travel Journal 2014

The story of my recent trip to Morocco, told in sketches:

Two days in Marrakech:

Entrance to Maison Tiskiwin

Arch detail in Bahia Palace

Then my travel companions and I set off on a three-day driving adventure to Guelmim before joining a drawing group in Essaouira. 

Day One - Marrakech to Taroudant over the High Atlas:

Driving over the Atlas mountains - an enterprising cafe
owner has positioned an old van to hang over the cliff.
 Naturally travelers stop to take pictures and have
refreshments in the cafe.  

The Hotel Palais Salam in Taroudant is set into the walls
 of the Kasbah.

Day two - Taroudant to Guelmim:

Breakfast by the turtle pool at the Palais Salam.

Evening meal at Maison Nomades in Oasis Tighmert,
 just outside Guelmim.

Day three - Guelmim to Essaouira:

Early morning visit to the camel and livestock market in
Guelmim which is close to the border of the disputed
territory of Western Sahara. There were traders from
several countries and tribes.

Traders wearing Jallabas

Lunch at Chez Josephine, just North of Agadir.

After our arrival in Essaouira on the Atlantic coast we had six whole days to draw and have fun:

The Port of Essaouira - from the sea wall.

The old jewish district in the North West corner of the medina.

Fishing boats

Fishing boat

Fishing boat

Paint and steel on the side of a boat

Hand painted - small fishing boat

Courtyard in the medina

View from Cafe Glacier towards the mosque.
(This was done on a pre-prepared page with Moroccan
 newspaper and sprayed henna design.) 

Camel waiting to give a ride to a tourist like me.

Drawn from the back of my moving camel:
team leader Diane on her trusty steed. 

The back of my (moving) camel's head.

Boz riding ahead (done from my moving camel).

Boat being painted

Early morning on the harbor: a fishing boat arrives with
 a catch of sardines. The crew stand in a semi-circle to
pull and stack the nets.
No photos allowed - my sketchbook is the only option!

Another view of the fishing net action: the nets are being
carefully pulled over the winch and stacked.

A new fishing trawler being built. The wooden ribs on
 the underside are still visible.

Looking down from the raised sea wall: fishermen hook
the bait for the next voyage.

Moroccan tea. The strange padded figure is in fact a
heat-mitten for the hot handle of the tea pot. Drawn on
paper used for wrapping large cones of solid sugar.

Young men at Cafe Glacier 

A camel sticker, purchased from a stationery store in
the medina, applied to a piece of vintage wallpaper
pre-pasted into my sketchbook.

The Portuguese architectural style of the port.

Then back to Marrakech for two days:

Dar Mouassine - the cool dipping pool.

Dar Mouassine - terrace detail

Dar Mouassine - shadows through the window grille

Final night in Morocco - dinner on the terrace at Dar Mouassine.