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Tuesday, December 30, 2014

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
t
o 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.)