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Snapshot Cafe (watercolor 14 x 23) $600
Despite the lack of canals and only a single bicycle, this is Amsterdam on a summer evening. But it could be anyone of a number of European street scenes.
The title is a bit of a pun. I painted the picture from a series of snapshots, and girls in the foreground are sharing a snapshot. I hope the atmospheric nature of the painting has little to do with snapshots.
Or purchase a fine art print.
Cowboy in Chinatown (watercolor and gouache 16 x 22) $600
There is still a Chinatown in Victoria, B.C., but it’s only a few blocks long now. The Fantan Cafe dominates the street. It’s still a fun and colorful place to visit. The entrance arch remains, and they still hang Chinese lanterns.
Or purchase a fine art print.
Evening at the Louvre (watercolor 14 x 22) $500
The glass pyramid as seen through one of the Louvre’s arches.
Or purchase a fine art print here.
City Portal (12 x 22 watercolor) $500
The Art Institute of Chicago again, this time from the inside. While my daughter gift shopped, I took a whole series of photographs of the two doors to Michigan Ave. The great doors with their iconic lamps and the people silhouetted in front fascinated me.
Or purchase a fine art print.
Just Before the Museum Opens (watercolor 17 x 22) $600
I love city light. The shafts of light created by openings in the tall buildings, the reflectivity of building and pavement, and the flat surfaces for shadows all lead to one thing—drama.
This particular drama is the long shadows and the warm glow of a Chicago winter morning. The crowd is up early and waiting for The Art Institute of Chicago to open up. The crowd and bus hide one lion, but the other can be seen peeking out from behind the traffic light.
Or purchase a fine art print here.
Italian Heat is not my first attempt at that painting. It is the second. I made several mistakes with the first painting, most of them having to to with composition. I left too many people from my reference photos in the image, and that took away from the real subject, the biking couple at the end of the street. Having reached the conclusion that the painting was a failure, I played around with photos the spoiled painting before sketching out the second version which ended up in the blog entry below.
That left me with a poor complicated painting with great color but no real focus. So I set the failed painting aside for a while. Then a few weeks later, I got out the mat corners (“L” shaped pieces of mat board used for visual cropping) and singled out the two bicyclists. The result is Florence Bikers.
Florence Bikers (9 x 16 watercolor) SOLD
Having rescued one painting I looked at the remainder and found Three Italians.
Three Italians, (9 x 21 watercolor) $125
Or purchase a fine art print.
Italian Heat (watercolor 15 x 22) Reserved for Western Federation of Watercolor Societies 2015 Annual Show
We visited Florence in the heat of summer. The shady narrow streets opening up into white hot plazas continues to fascinate me. Couples biking over the rough stone streets had their own heat.
This painting may be purchased through the 2015 Western Federation of Watercolor Societies Annual Show. Or purchase a fine art print.
Bike Tour (watercolor 18 x 12) $200
Rather more abstract than I usually go, but I like it. This is a Florence bicycle tour group as seen from the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy.
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Bike Lucca (watercolor 16 x 21) $700
This is Lucca. It could be just about any narrow lane in the old part of a Tuscan city, but this particular lane is in Lucca. The bicyclist is appropriate, because Lucca is a bicyclist’s city. The old city wall around town has been paved as a broad street for pedestrians and cyclists, and everyone, natives and tourists alike seem to spend much of their time biking the wall. Down in the city, bikes are as common as at Oxford.
Fine art prints can be purchased here.
Here is a view of Lucca from the city wall:
Two Towers (Digitally Altered Photo)
Prints of Two Towers can be purchased here.
Late Afternoon Florence (13 x 22 watercolor) $600
Florence is worth visiting just to walk the streets. The twisting turning little alleys are endlessly fascinating. The light pours through in dramatic shafts between the buildings spotlighting slivers of streets and buildings.
Or purchase a fine art print.
Monterosso Cafe (watercolor 16 x 22) $600
The Cinque Terre, or five lands do not have much in the way of tourist sites. They are the tourist site. The five coast hugging Italian villages feature brightly colored townhouses, residential streets made up of nothing more than a flight of stairs, beautiful coastal trails, and tight picturesque beaches. In July of last year they were also hot as blazes and ought to have been uncomfortable, but the narrow shady streets, and cool ocean made up for the heat. Oh, and there was gelato too, lots of handmade gelato.
We visited the four villages actually on the coast, and dipped our toes in the water at more the one beach. We also climbed innumerable stairs just for the fun of climbing and looking down. This painting is of Monterosso, the largest of the five, and the one with the widest flattest beaches. We stopped to sample the gelato at the cafe. We ate it while watching our girls play in the warm surf.
Or purchase a fine art print.
Pilgrims and the Gate (watercolor 15 x 20) SOLD
This is Canterbury. I began with reference photos showing Canterbury Cathedral’s spires rising above the gate, but in the end I cut back to the gate itself. The gate is now the only approach for tourists, and the streets leading up to it are charming. But despite the Tudor buildings, it is modern. There are Starbucks and Subways. These tourist use smart phones and get their cash for ATMs. Rather than providing a refuge and a place to sleep for pilgrims, the cathedral charges a fee to tour the cathedral and view the place where Thomas a Becket was murdered.
Like the Arch of Titus below, this painting is primarily poured rather than painted with a brush. The result is rich color with a graphic feel.
This painting has sold, but you may purchase an art print.
Inside Paris Time, (12 x 16 watercolor on paper) SOLD
We are just back from a fabulous trip to London, Rome, Florence and Paris. Our first museum visit in Paris was the d’Orsay, a fantastic art museum that picks up chronologically where the Louvre leaves off. Van Gogh Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Cezanne are all well represented. But this painting is not about the art in the d’Orsay, but rather about the museum building itself. The d’Orsay began it’s life as a train station. The gigantic clocks which once informed train passengers of the time remain in the building both inside and out. This clock is one of two facing the Seine River and the Tuileries Gardens. Outside the clock faces appear opaque. Inside it becomes obvious that the clock faces are actually windows Museum patrons are as drawn to the view through the clocks as they are to the artwork in the galleries.
To capture the feeling of the light through the clock, I primarily poured this painting, using removable masking and cups of paint instead of brushes. Only the final details and the view through the clock were added with a brush. I used New Gamgee, Hansa Yellow Light, Cobalt Blue, Thalo Blue, Rose Madder Quinacridone, and Windsor Red.
This painting has sold but you can still purchase an art quality print.
