Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Chinatown Alley



Here is the stuido version. 16x24 oil on wood.



























Here is a little alley painting (6x8 oil on linen) I did in LA's Chinatown. I like it enough that I did a larger version that I will post in when it dries. I really enjoyed painting this one. I was able to let quite a bit of the "wash in" show through and it has an abstract quality I'm striving for. Edward Sego is a big influence and I hope this one for the first time would give me the right to lick the bottom of his dung covered shoes.
What was cute was a group of old Chinese ladies were taking there daily walk about, but I guess they don't like to cross street as they kept going around in a circle, passing by me and J- Mac about every 10 minutes for two hours. Talk about creatures of habit.

There was a little man sewing in the alley, but the figure would have been too small to see. I did put him in the big version. The spots of color are hanging clothes.
__________________





Justin sweetness

43 Comments:

Blogger Don Shank said...

beautiful!

1:57 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Hey Don,


thanks--- My heart was in this one.

2:09 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Hey Steve,

Canvas feels sort of like raised dots to me, Linen is sort of a finer yet rougher (more natural)texture. Give it a try. Ray -Mar offers free samples. But I like source -tec as they apply their linen to wood.

2:13 PM  
Blogger Miles Thompson said...

WHOA WILLY!
dude the diffusion on that furthest yellow building is NIIICE!

this is a BIG ASS VICTORY MAN! nice one! christ man ...a total atmospheric success
licking shoes? you GO!

5:45 PM  
Blogger Clive said...

I didn't realize Edward Sego farmed. Couldn't you lick something higher up, like his brushes, William? In fact this is such a beaut maybe you've got him kinda licked anyway.

7:07 PM  
Blogger Shawn Dickinson said...

That's a nice one!

How do you copy these small paintings? are they scanned or do you take photos of them?

9:58 PM  
Blogger BoneDaddy said...

Nice colors! It seems like there's a huge earthy thing with these buildings, like they pretty much just sprung up out of the ground.

12:18 AM  
Blogger chia said...

damn that's a nice painting. I hope to one day earn the right to lick your shoes, but I would prefer it if you were walking through butterscotch.

4:02 AM  
Blogger tonypetersart said...

Nice little painting there, Bill. I especially like your color choices, the dark blue sky is perfect in hue, it really makes that yellow building pop. I feel the closterphobia of that little alley.

5:10 AM  
Blogger Jesse said...

Mmmmm, depthy

That is just the sort of alley I would like to hang around in.

10:31 AM  
Blogger glamaFez said...

Bill, I like "Chinatown Alley", and I agree about linen. The texture of cotton canvas seems too boring.

Have you ever painted on primed burlap? I think it would be good for students, because its texture requires you to paint aggressively. If you get too fussy, nothing happens!

10:38 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Glad you like Ming, now if I could only get you to return my e- mail...

10:45 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Clive,
I guess that was his other forte... once he was done painting in the pasture. It was" personal" assistant time.

10:48 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Shawn,
I directly scan the small one's and have the big one's shot by Artworks, then they scan a 4x5 negative for a digital file.

10:50 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

BG,
Nice observation.

I think that's what I liked about it, that hand made organic quality.

10:51 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Erich,

You and I need to walk though candyland together.

10:52 AM  
Blogger williams said...

William, Thanks for the comments. I checked out Vadims' site and he has some great work on there. I will inquire about his course.
I like your landscapes especially the painting of the trees and ocean under Night Colors you posted in march. I was going to drop you a line and see if it had been sold.
Cheers,
Mark

2:41 PM  
Blogger Jesse Oliver said...

Hey Bill

Cool painting. I also love the painting you did for the cover of the 1996 Ren & Stimpy CD "Radio Daze"

Jesse Oliver

3:59 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Hey Williams-I just got back form class . What's great is it’s a small group so he will spend lots of time with you. So in the end you get you money’s worth. I’ve actually switched form panting to drawing with him as I need to hit the fundamentals more.

12:46 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Thanks Jessie,

Those were the daze.

12:47 AM  
Blogger Bagel said...

very great. nice colors and atmosphere ,nice everything really.

1:19 PM  
Blogger Ger Apeldoorn said...

I am glad to see the painting is going so well. Where do I go to see prices?

2:48 PM  
Blogger Jesse Oliver said...

Hey Bill

How did it feel to do the storyboards for the Ren & Stimpy cartoon "Sven Hoek" with Jim Smith?

Jesse

4:28 PM  
Blogger Justin Clayton said...

Wow! This and the carport are awesome. The strong colors you've chosen work so well together. I will look and learn. Nice.

4:35 PM  
Blogger Miles Thompson said...

killer one again man ... i love it! you are obviously haveing more and more fun with your paint every day - congrats...awesome play on positive negative with the blue sky building and drainpipe...rock and roll like the Move!

7:45 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Hey Bajel,

Thanks so much, I like your work too. The b & W with color is a nice look.

8:04 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Ger,
My E-mail is under my profile please drop me a line on a piece you like and I'll quote a price for you. I'm still real world reasonable, but not dirt cheap (unless your a big time collector.)

8:26 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Jessie-- I loved working with Jim Smith despite the fact that he was silent as a junkyard coyote stealing a baby.

Complexly shy, Jim didn't talk much, although you could draw him out if you talked about Jack Kirby and girls with DD's. The highlight of my Cartooning life was when John walked in and took my crude drawings of Sven and Jim's solid drawings and re- designed the FUNNY Sven on the spot. Not a politically correct bull session let me tell you. That was one of the more sidesplitting, totally creatively joy filled hour ever. ;--) I have those drawings and would be happy to show them, but I think I need to start another blog because as much as I love reminiscing about my sordid cartooning past this blog is for walking my crude steps to becoming a fine artist.

9:25 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Justin-- My Boy! You made it over. NOw I'll have to link you. Your paintings are so lovely I think I'll post one on this entry. I was going to buy your latest, but someone beat me to the punch.

9:31 PM  
Blogger Marlo said...

delicious colors, my friend


apples usually give me gas but not yours!

2:24 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Hey Marlo -- My young friend Justin painted the Apple. He's on this tread, check his site for more fruity goodness.

2:02 PM  
Blogger Jesse Oliver said...

Hey Bill

You should post on this or any blog the story about John K. getting mad at the yellow B G paintings. Tell us the hole candy cain lane story.

jESSE

7:36 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Jessie,


That's not exactly what happened, but as I posted just above this comment I'd rather not live in Ren and Stimpy nostalgia world on this blog. Would you start a blog talking about what you did in 1990?

8:33 PM  
Blogger Jesse Oliver said...

Sorry Bill, I'm just a HUGH Ren & Stimpy FAN. But I hope you won't mind this question. Was there a difference between working at SPUMCO and Games Animation?

Jesse Oliver

P.S. Again I'm sorry about the Ren & Stimpy questions. I'm a cartoonist too and I think it's so cool that you can talk to John, Eddie and other SPUMCO people on the internet. I love your B G paintings on the show and I like the R & S cartoons that you directed. I'm 20 years old and I have been creating cartoon characters since 1994. As a child I was influenced by Ren & Stimpy, Beavis & Butthead, The Brothers GRUNT and the Classic Cartoons by Tex Avery, Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones. I turn 21 on July 7'th. I'm still drawing cartoons and hopeing to learn animation quicker and start making cartoon shorts. Thats what I want to do with my life, make funny, violent and gross-out cartoon shorts.

10:59 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

11:43 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

I appreciate that Jessie, but as I said this is not a blog about John K. and Ren and Stimpy. I both loved and hated working on the show, but with respect, am not interested in rehashing a lot old stories no matter how much it fascinates you. I admit I'm guilty for opening the door with my comments about Sven, but that apparently was a mistake since you can't seem to let it go at that. I may even remove the letters if thy generate a bunch of R and S talk. I've moved on and admittedly still to a little animation work. and who knows, I still may do a Cartoon one day soon, but again the focus of this blog is my painting.

11:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love them both. Don't even want to have to pick here. I would enjoy listening to your brain someday, decide what you choose to change and what remains. Your colors are gorgeous. Now there is a machine I could make some money with. Seeing your world through your eyes. For now I will let the painting explain it.

11:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Meant to say thanks for the Justin link.

11:36 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

My brain is open for you anytime.

Justin is quite a talent. Still a kid to.

12:51 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Stunning painting!!

11:22 AM  
Blogger william wray said...

Really which one? And what do you like about it?

8:43 PM  
Blogger Jesse said...

Just noticed you added the studio version. That translated into a bigger painting very well. It's quite lovely.

I find it very difficult to re-create something and maintain the same life as the original. Something always seems to get lost on the way.

10:00 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

Hey I just noticed you posted. Thanks, but I've decided I failed. I was fooling myself.

12:27 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home