Map Making - Pier Retrospective

First stage of the map in my studio. May 22nd 2013

In the last three years I have done many paintings and sketches of the piers along the San Francisco waterfront. As much time as I have spent wandering the Embarcadero, China Basin and Mission Rock I still have problems remembering the numbers of the piers and where certain photographs were taken.
 
So yesterday I started creating a map using Google satellite images. I'm not sure what's going to happen next but I know I want to incorporate sketches, images of paintings, and notes, perhaps with push pins and pieces of string to link them to the inspirational location on the map. Very analog!

My only concern is that at the current scale The Ramp is going to end up on the floor!

More Wheels

My painting "Mission Wheels" (see posting from April 17th) received a lot of attention at my Open Studios last month. One comment overheard many times was that, at three feet by six feet, it was too big for the average urban dweller. I had so much fun painting it that I saw this as a great excuse to paint some smaller versions.

Here they are, just finished:

Mission Wheels #2  36" x 36"

Mission Wheels #3  36" x 36"

 

Childhood Memories

Sixteen years ago I came to the States from the UK. My arrival in a new place, many miles from my family and everything I knew, stirred up memories of my early childhood.

I decided to try my hand at painting. I had always sketched, mostly for my work in architectural offices where drawings had to accurately convey a design proposal. As soon as I had learned to recognize one end of a paint tube from the other, I started to paint my memories on small wooden panels.

My family lived in a large tumble-down house in the countryside with another family. There wasn't much money but there were eight (yes eight!) other children to play with and three acres of overgrown land in which to conduct our adventures.

Looking back from this distance it is clear that these paintings were helping me to reaffirm my identity in a place where I had no connections, friends, or history. I discovered them in the back of a closet today while spring-cleaning.

Into the orchard. 12" x 12"

 Underground air-raid shelter. 12" x 12"

The "toyshed" (A Victorian wash-house). 12" x 12"

Uncle Doug's pig in the stables. 12' x 12"

The Hedge-sparrow's nest. 12" x 12"

Chasing a snake through the nettles. 12" x 12"

Spying on Mum in the kitchen. 12" x 12"

Wasp's nest in the wall by the tennis court. 12" x 12"

The dovecote that Dad built. 12" x 12"

 

Mission Wheels

Mission Wheels. 36" x 72". Oil and mixed media on wood panel.

I've just finished another painting in my "Urban Pattern" series.
Just in time for Open Studios this weekend. Come and visit!

April 19th-21st
Friday 6-9pm
Saturday/Sunday 12-6pm

1890 Bryant Street, Studio 204
San Francisco, CA 94110

New Work - Open Studios

Red Hook Pallets. 36" x 72". Oil and mixed media on wood panel

Open Studios

April 19th - 21st

Friday reception: 6.00 - 9.00pm
Saturday/Sunday: 12.00 - 6.00pm

1890 Bryant Street, Studio 204
San Francisco, CA 94110

Part of Spring Open Studios in the Mission.

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.