Starting new Painting: Market Street

I started a new oil painting this week. It's my first painting in the new place in Bellevue. I've got a nice little set-up here in the guest bedroom/office/painting room. I'm painting next to a window, with Northern exposure, so the lighting is ideal.

This is a photo that I took on Market Street early last month when I was last in San Francisco. I really like the angles of the buildings, and the tracks and lines on the street. I also love the motion of the bus and the old-fashioned bus, and all of the lights.

As always, I had a 12x18" print-out made at Costco to hang near my easel to use as a guideline. Now that I'm looking at the original photo here on my computer screen, I can see that the print-out is much too dark, which means that my painting needs to be lightened up, too.


the original photo


the canvas is 36" x 24". here, I've toned it, and drew out the lines in white charcoal


early stages, week one


early stages, week one


early stages, week one. I can see that I need to lighten the sky, buildings, and street.