Making strides on the Dolores Street painting

I had my weekly painting session with Dean this afternoon. It's earlier in the week than usual, but with the holidays approaching, everyone's schedule is a little out of whack.

I was talking with my sister yesterday about this newest painting that I'm working on. She asked me how many more sessions did I think it would take me to complete it. I told her that I had no idea. Out of all of the paintings that I've done this year with Dean, this is the one that I've had the least of a handle on. This is not a bad thing at all - I feel like I'm really pushing myself, and learning a lot more from this painting than any other so far. I've truly never done another painting like this, although I've been wanting to for a long time. Each time I started each session with this painting, I've had to ask Dean, "So, where do you think I should start this time."

Today, I finally felt like I'm getting a better handle on this painting. I painted more than 3-1/2 hours today, and really felt like I made strides on it.

Dean had suggested that I come armed with a blown up print of the motorcyclist and the car. I printing these out on 4x6 paper today, so I could see more detail in the photograph. It helped tremendously. The first thing I worked on was the motorcycle rider, and he looks SO much better! The car parked at the corner is also much improved.

I also added more detail to the building, specifically around the front door. I redefined the lamp post and the electrical post, both of which need more work, but it was a good start.

I added in the crosswalk lines towards the end. Okay, that was especially challenging! It took me a long time to get the angle of the lines close to correct. It's a good starting point, and I'm actually pretty pleased with how they look.

I like that this painting has enough detail in it so that you can tell what's going on, but loose enough to feel painterly. I didn't want it to look like a photograph, and I think I am achieving a nice pseudo-abstract expressionist look. (or, maybe I just that's just me.)

The very last thing I did today was add some thickness and color in the painting of the street. The layer of paint that I had on the street was always meant to be temporary, just to get color filled in. Dean explained today that we would want to make it thicker to draw the eye to the foreground of the painting. Thicker paint draws the eye. I also added lots of colors in the street to give it more interest.

If I had to guess, I'd guess there's probably about two more sessions left in this painting before it's done. We're taking the week off next week for Christmas, but will continue again the following week.

I'm getting excited with the progress! :)




detail of motorcyclist and building


detail of car