Sunday, April 27, 2014

















"Catalina Pacific Concrete - Ruins Study 14"
watercolor on paper, 2014
5¾"  x 7¾" (14.605cm x 19.685cm)
For sale at Daily Paintworks, CLICK HERE

Taking my cue from Study 13 I kept the sky nearly white except that here I used coastal fog just beginning to envelope the ruins, but while they are still in sunlight.

Because the primary shape and composition is essentially a rectangle within a rectangle I needed to add some element to make it interesting. Although the cast shadows do some of that work, the atmospheric condition adds more and also increases the depth.283

6 comments:

  1. You're a master at creating atmosphere and strong feeling in your work. I always get inspired by the way you portray architecture with such depth and mood.

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    1. Thank you Katherine,
      The challenge on one like this was to defeat its inherent flatness, the form being parallel to the picture plane.
      The fog to establish fore-mid-background and subtle color variation to give the structure some relief (see " relief " @ wikipedia) or sculptural quality beyond light and shadow.

      Keep painting (drawing)...

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  2. I love this one David! You've captured the fog so brilliantly - such a hard thing to do I'd imagine. This one really stands out in your series which is saying something as they are all excellent! I find I'm particularly drawn to the ones that appear ancient-ruin-ish and I also love the ochres and umbers!

    I hope you've had some rain since I last visited your blog? We've had a very healthy drop of rain today - very cosy weather it is too after all the heat.

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  3. Hi Wendy,
    Thanks, this is one I may turn into a larger oil painting for the reason you mention. But for now I have other projects and studies to do. The series is inspired by my love of ancient ruins art.
    Nope, no rain and we are past it for the season, extreme drought here. I almost feel guilty doing these watercolors because of it ; )

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  4. Sorry to hear about the lack of rain over there. Now I feel guilty for mentioning our largesse!!

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