Cheap Jack
Painter friend Tony Peters wanted to photograph some old neon signs so I took to him out to San Gabriel. While he photographed the closed San Gabriel bowl sign I walked down a back alley and found these cheap old apartments. I usually avoid the repeated rhythm of same sized shapes, but decided to embrace and explore the effect in this panting. I think if the landlord had painted them all the same color I might not have noticed them as a panting subject. Oil on Wood 36x24
posted by william wray at 10:42 AM
25 Comments:
I love this one. Great job. The sky is one of your best with this technique. well done!
Maybe I'm crazy but this is my favorite painting you've done so far. I really think it's wonderful.
I'd agree with AW - this is a great painting. Far from being bothered by repitition, I think it really strenthens the design, and you vary it just enough to be interesting. 36x24... that's huge for plein air work
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Hey AW
I was told it was too sloppy. but I'm with you. ;-) I like that the gesso shows thru.
Thanks Jeff,
Actually all my larger works are done in the studio from photo's or studies. Thanks for the affirmation.
Forgot to mention the other thing I like is that the quality of the edges seem very clean and crisp.
There are some harder edges, but part of that is the subject and the size. Admittedly, I was going for something a little more graphic.
Thor, do you ever wite comments longer than your name> ;-)
Great job in keeping tight color blends! I also like how te clouds look smeared. I can't imagine accurate portrayal of clouds is always easy.
Hey BG,
They can be done, but when you put a lot of work into them they always look fussy and mannered to me. I just did one recently, I might post for a laugh.
By the way, why the title "Cheap Jack"? Just curious.
Yeah...I like this...keep on man...great development.
=s=
Absolutely beautiful! This one is more free (I guess that's why people told you it was 'sloppy'). Those quick, random strokes are lovely.
Hey BG,
The title is derived from my friend Ray Zone's offhand comment about the subject being "Cheapjack apartments" Meaning crappy, thrown up fast and cheap. Ray is the King of 3-D and good with titles.
Hey Mitch,
That’s a controversial sky. I just had another art pal object to it. Who would have guessed it would create a debate?
Hey Shane,
I like your work thanks for stopping by.
Hey, I didn't know you were doing the blog thing! I just added you to my links. Keep it up with the painting!
Coop! Master of giant tits and flaming exhaust on a he- man scale, thanks for stopping by. Next Time I'm linking ,I'll get you down.
Thanks!
You should do a step-by-step painting thing on here. I'd love to see that!
Beautiful William, how long does it take you to paint this? I love the rough feel to it.
This one is great also, Master William!
Hey Coop,
I might do that, the only problem I have with it is sometimes it breaks my flow to stop and take a picture as I cover a lot of ground fast. See my process answer to Stef below.
Hey Stef,
This one only took one long, day. That is my general "working time" on the panting application itself. If I'm lucky, I take a perfect reference photo and can work directly from it. The next best scenario is the have a good photo, but I'm not satisfied with the color or scale or proportions of the reference, so I use distorting tools in photo shop to make more contrasts in shape and experiment with and adjust the colors if necessary. The worst case ( other might say best case;-) ) I have to do a combination of drawings and photos to work everything out.
The panting time itself is focused and intense, I will take a meal breaks if necessary, but like to just work long stretches. Very big on the largest shapes, refining smaller as I go. It's bad because I don't drink enough water I'm so intent and get irritated I have to go pee, even though my bathroom is 10 feet from where I paint. That's the basic process if it's totally flowing. If I'm not focused I stop and pause for long stretches look and second guess, go on the internet or go work out and come back. If I don't finish in the first one or two days, I often abandon the panting. It has to carry me through to the end in one crazy session usually.
Hey Andrea! thanks! Keep doing your own inspiring work.
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