buildings

The Annex Bar (11 x 14) $125

Between art fairs and getting prints ready for my first painting fair I haven’t had time to actually paint nearly as often as I’d like.  Today I decided to paint whether I had the time or not.

And I returned to a subject I had attempted to paint without success about six or seven months again, the Annex Building in  downtown Portland.  Like many downtown Portland buildings it’s wedge shaped to take advantage of the oddly shaped blocks created where diagonals run through the city grid.  I photographed the Annex in the late afternoon when sun lit up all of the brick-a-brack.

My first attempts at painting the building ended in frustration because I included much too much detail.  This time I simplified both the brick-a-brack and the colors.  I also eliminated an upper story with a flat wall used as a a bill board facing out over the bar.  This is one case where KISS (“keep it simple stupid”) worked.

Besides eliminating detail, I also simplified the colors and reduced my palette to phthalo blue, burnt sienna, and yellow ocher.  At the very end I dropped cobalt blue into the sky.

It sure felt good to paint again, and better yet to paint something I’d failed to paint before.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.