Starting a new painting- Dolores at 22nd Street

I had another oil painting session with Dean today and started a new painting. This is a San Francisco city scene of Dolores Street at 22nd Street. I walk past this intersection a few times a week while on my daily walk. The corner store is a building that I've always admired for its architecture, and I love Dolores Street with all of its Palm Trees. I also love paintings of San Francisco street scenes, and have been wanting to try one for a long time. It thought this intersection would make for a good painting.

It's funny - I told Dean today that I remember that on our first meeting together a few months ago, he told me about all of the different types of subjects that he teaches (portrait, still life, and landscape), and asked me which I would like to do. My reply was, "All of them".

As you've seen, I've now done a few still life paintings, and a figurative painting from a photo.

Time for something new! :)

Yes, I totally recognize how ambitious this painting is, and I'm trying hard not to get too intimidated by it. One step at a time!

Oh, and it's larger, too. This one is 36" x 24". I love painting large. Most of my earlier paintings are 36" x 48" or larger. Although I started to paint on smaller canvases when I started with Dean (and enjoyed it), I find that I keep wanting to go large again! :)

This is the very, very early, sketchy stages of my new painting. I'm just starting to outline it.


Session 1: the very early stages

On an interesting note, I was originally planning on using a cropped version of the photo below as my reference. When I showed the photo to Dean, he suggested that I modify the image, by taking out some of the middle area, and bringing the palm tree on the right closer. He thought it would make for a more interesting composition.

I hadn't thought of it before, but I rather like the idea of painting an idea, rather than painting directly from the photo. It allows more artistic freedom, and I think it will also look less stiff. It'll be interesting to see how it progresses and turns out.


The original photo of Dolores Street at 22nd Street