New Starts

These are the latest under-paintings.

This is another view of a water tower that I had previously painted. I like the quirky composition and the long shadows. The focus is the water tower and the hydrant plays a supporting role. I find the shadow of the church steeple in the foreground to be kind of ominous and interesting.
This is a relatively simple scene compared to others that I have done, but the perspective was a challenge.
In fact, since I first posted this, I have retouched the windows on the building to make the perspective more correct. Repetitive windows on a facade are easy for me to draw as flat elevations with the T square, but in perspective it takes some finesse. I have drawn perspectives so many times that you might think that I can get the thing down the first try. Sometimes that is the case, but usually I need to go back and correct things.

The Burnside Bridge in Portland is not as dramatic as some of the others, but in this end of the day scene it is lovely. It is tempting to make the under-painting look like it is complete as is and I may do a series of under-paintings as the final work. The yellow water really gives this away as just the understudy. The sky and water will be a luminous yellow-red (peach?) with violets and blues in the bridge and background land. Many points of light will add sparkle to the painting and I will add them at the very end. I want this to have a more impressionistic feel but we will see.