Gem Way Light, 24 x 36, oil on canvas

Last week I focused on this set of row houses in Garfield. The first two visits were only to observe and make colors studies, 6 x 6 and another 9 x 12. It was interesting to watch the shadow creep down the side as the sun moved higher in the sky. Those small paintings were done as some rambunctious students waited for their school bus. It was noisy and tough to concentrate, but the light was perfect. I started this larger one, above, in my studio and returned to Gem Way to finish it on a quiet Saturday morning - no kids.

I've been living in the city for about 30 years, and painting it for about 25. It just keeps getting more interesting to me. I'm attempting to show a human presence without painting figures. There is much to be learned by seeing and experiencing the neighborhoods. So much of it calls out to be painted.

September Evening Light, 30 x 50, oil on canvas

Have you ever been on a road trip and the light is so incredible you have to stop, get out and just soak it in? Two weeks ago I had to stop four times. What should have been a 90 minute drive turned into 3 hours! The light continued to get better and better. I would do a small 5 x 7 inch study, drive another 30 miles, look in my rear view mirror and say wow, that's another painting. It was just too good to pass up. The above painting was done from a photo that was taken before I did the studies. I loved the way the warm evening light bathed the trees and corn fields. My photo doesn't look anything like this. I rearranged the masses to show more sky and also balance the light families.

N Atlantic Morning, 5 x 7 study on panel and 16 x 20 oil on linen

I've been doing a series of tiny paintings, mostly in the 5 x 7 inch range for an exhibition that opens next month. It has been a great learning experience. Some days, like yesterday, I'll get to four different locations. That small size forces me to react quickly to the light and mood of a place. Tuesday I did a small study in Garfield (above, top). I then returned to my studio to start the 16 x 20 on linen. Wednesday morning the light was great again so I worked on location from 7:30 - 10. Today, Thursday, I spent a couple hours on it again trying to get the perspective correct. While working on the large one I noticed the tiny red brick building in the background. It added a nice touch of color to the painting. I'm often asked how long it takes to do a painting. I hate the question because the actual painting time is often not very long. I think I may have 6-8 total hours on the 16 x 20, but that doesn't include three trips to the site, buying art supplies, or the 30 years it took me to get to this point. So I usually say the painting took 30 years.

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.

Harbour Town Light House, 36 x 48, oil on canvas

Cathy and I were in Hilton Head last week so that I could do this painting for a friend. She actually took the photo that I worked from because the weather did not cooperate. I wasn't sure about doing a large painting of the light house because that's so ordinary and everyone else has already done it. Then it occurred to me that Edward Hopper did light houses and did them his way. So I tried a risky composition – centering the light house. The boats and trees were used in the foreground as an entry point and to offset the bullseye effect of the light house. These elements lead the viewer to the far left background. The hazy sunshine that saturated the scene required a lot of gray. You notice it in the water and sky. My palette knife was used to paint the entire sky. It created nice, soft edges to the cloud formations.