Pre-Dawn Hours in an Angry Small Town.
1995, Acrylic on Canvas, 24 x 48
Going through a lockbox today I found this decent quality print of an old painting that I had pretty much forgotten about. I do remember that the subject matter and the particular view had me spellbound, and determined to do this scene, but something wasn't clicking and I set it aside for what was probably a couple years as I worked on other paintings. It happens. This "angry small town", whether it really is that, is Perris, California, in Riverside County. The scene, to me, captured in sketches and photos taken over different periods of time and hours of the day, encompasses that feeling you get when you pass though any number of small towns that have seen better days with the hopes of recapturing them. In the case of this town, this street was doing fine, the last I saw. Many aren't as fortunate.
I was doubly pleased in looking at the photographic print of the painting, it was taken by a professional photographer, with rich darks in it. I used to try to photograph something like this and it would end up a mess. That was with film, with the wrong lighting and set-up. Digital photography has proven to be a godsend. I can't even begin to count the thousands of dollars I spent in film and prints when I had the gallery.
This painting also is a good example of the somewhat looser brush strokes and heavy emphasis on mood and mystery I want to dive back into. "Straight lines" should ever only be suggested in a painting. Details are best when they are simplified and the paint strokes don't have to be perfect and clean. It's a thing that draws a viewer into the world you are depicting.
There are, though, a few things I would have done differently. But overall, when I saw it for the first time in years today, it was a good feeling.
Going through a lockbox today I found this decent quality print of an old painting that I had pretty much forgotten about. I do remember that the subject matter and the particular view had me spellbound, and determined to do this scene, but something wasn't clicking and I set it aside for what was probably a couple years as I worked on other paintings. It happens. This "angry small town", whether it really is that, is Perris, California, in Riverside County. The scene, to me, captured in sketches and photos taken over different periods of time and hours of the day, encompasses that feeling you get when you pass though any number of small towns that have seen better days with the hopes of recapturing them. In the case of this town, this street was doing fine, the last I saw. Many aren't as fortunate.
I was doubly pleased in looking at the photographic print of the painting, it was taken by a professional photographer, with rich darks in it. I used to try to photograph something like this and it would end up a mess. That was with film, with the wrong lighting and set-up. Digital photography has proven to be a godsend. I can't even begin to count the thousands of dollars I spent in film and prints when I had the gallery.
This painting also is a good example of the somewhat looser brush strokes and heavy emphasis on mood and mystery I want to dive back into. "Straight lines" should ever only be suggested in a painting. Details are best when they are simplified and the paint strokes don't have to be perfect and clean. It's a thing that draws a viewer into the world you are depicting.
There are, though, a few things I would have done differently. But overall, when I saw it for the first time in years today, it was a good feeling.
2 comments:
Nice--very atmospheric and moody. Keep posting your old stuff!
Its amazing to see you taking what you thought you had lost back. Keep fighting through, you are massively talented.
Incredible how it is that passion lays dormant. I hope now more than ever it consumes you entirely.
All the best,
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