Garbage Cans, 24 x 30, oil on heavy linen

It is always fun to check out what people put out for trash, especially on bulk pickup day. I've done my share of dumpster diving. This alley is at the end of Smallman Street. I did another painting here in the middle of winter so this warmer version was a nice contrast.

Street Shadows, 6" x 6", oil on panel

The morning light has been great this week. This study, done just two hours ago, is an example of it. My morning commute takes me through some interesting neighborhood streets. It is easy to stop and explore the possibilities. Here I was trying to show what it feels like to look up the street. Because of the shifting light my time was very limited.  That is why I worked on a small Masonite panel. Not a lot of detail but that's OK. The study captured what I intended–the essence of a Pittsburgh morning.

Braddock Houses, For Sale, 16 x 20, oil on linen

Braddock, Pennsylvania is full of despair. You can feel it when you drive around. Lately the community has been dealt another blow because the hospital there just closed. Unemployment is 15.8% compared to the national average of 9.7%.This was once a thriving mill town but now you see boarded-up storefronts and lots of houses are for sale–cheap. Lawns of these houses are overgrown with huge weeds and many are unoccupied. The dark sky tells this sad story while the crisp light gives hope that things can only get better.

Painting the "City Views"

Last week Cohen & Grigsby, P.C., a downtown Pittsburgh law firm, invited a group of the Associated Artists to paint from their deck. Their new offices are on the fifth floor of the CNG Tower. They were great - providing free parking, free lunches, and get this, free canvases! There were about 12 of us that worked throughout the week as attorneys, paralegals and secretaries looked on. To my knowledge this just isn't done. Most outdoor painters are used to being asked to leave rather than being invited for an entire week. The best part was watching each other paint and sharing the camaraderie with other artists. Above is pictured Kevin Kutz, Nancy Deckant, and Kitty Spangler. The painting is one of six I did there. An exhibition, City Views,  is planned for early October in the firm's lobby.

Roosevelt House, 20 x 45, oil on canvas

This is a painting I did in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh last summer. The woman reading shows the scale of these houses. She did not know I painted her in until later. Her husband commissioned the painting because they just love the kid-friendly street. I did it on location over a few days. And yes there were a lot of curious children.

On another note, Pittsburgh Winter, a large oil painting won the Clara A. Wittmer Award at the 100th Annual Associated Artists Exhibition held at the Carnegie Museum of Art. The AAP Annual is the longest running annual exhibition held in a major museum in the United States.
I'll be talking about the painting this Sunday from 2:30-3:30 at the museum. It was featured in the paper last week. Read about it here. in The Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, oil on panel, 9" x 12"

Edward Hopper was once quoted as saying, "If I could say it with words there would be no reason to paint it." Well, that's true, but it is still nice to share the process and what inspires us as artists. Here is the latest effort on my easel and why...

Sometimes I just have to see something from a certain place at exactly the right time to know it is worthy of a large painting. The idea of doing a large painting of Immaculate Heart of Mary church on nearby Polish Hill has been in gestation for several years. A few weeks ago I saw the church from the strip district at about 5:30 pm on my way to downtown. The warm, sweet light bathed the entire winter scene. The planes that faced the light created angles that point upward towards the domes and heaven above. (Hey, it is a spiritual painting :) The church towers over the neighboring houses in a really dramatic way–especially from the strip. I could see it as a completed painting in my mind's eye. First, I took a picture. Then I returned the next day to the exact location, again at the same time of day, and did the small oil study, 9" x 12" above. The source photo, which can be seen taped to the canvas, was used to make the grid. This is where it is now, a 47" x 70 ", oil on linen, somewhat blocked in with oil washes. I'm just trying to get the light and shadow shapes placed correctly.
I'll post again when more progress is made.

Here is the wikipedia link to the church:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Heart_of_Mary_in_Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Winter, oil on linen, 48 x 68

This is a painting I did this past December when we were all excited about snow. And there have been years when the snow came and went. That is why I was determined to do a large painting that depicted how Pittsburgh feels with snow. Little did anyone know that we were going to be buried in this stuff until April! With over 70 inches of snow so far this year I think it is time for spring.

I first painted a small 8 x 10 inch of this alley and then took a terrible photo. Both were used as source material. This particular area of Lawrenceville is tightly packed with buildings. By pushing the dark masses close to the top the viewer is forced to stay down near the alley. I think of it as an urban canyon painting. The light patches are used as elements that break up the space and also create the illusion of depth. The colors become less intense and the value of colors become closer as you move further back into the painting. It is a combination of linear and atmospheric perspective that takes the viewer up this snowy path.

Arrangement of Light, study, 12 x 16, oil on panel,

These houses, which are only a few blocks from my studio, were painted last week. I painted them about two years ago for my daughter. That version was larger, 30 x 40 inches. I find it useful to revisit my favorite places. First of all I know where to park. That may sound stupid but when all these skinny streets are packed with snow, the last thing you want to do is move someone's "Pittsburgh chair". So yes parking is an issue, but so is knowing which direction the sun is moving. You only have so much time before the entire light and shadow distribution changes. It is a race against time. There is also comfort painting the same scene because you learned something that can be applied again, hopefully to your advantage. The paintings never look alike. I think of them as journal entries. They record that particular day. One painter friend refers to his daily paintings as tracks in the snow. That makes sense. We learn from our own work – one painting at a time.