MUS - Day 1 - 3

This is where the piece goes from ROUGH SKETCH to actually becoming an ORIGINAL PAINTING:

I sized it to be  -  80" x 42"

MUS Campus - sketch

So over the course of 3 days I re-scaled the image to fit the 80" x 42" and began sketching it in using vine charcoal....

Project: MUS

My Newest Project and Challenge is to capture the  
MUS Campus 
on Canvas......


Here are a few of the Reference Pics that I am using in the piece.

Hyde Library

Courtyard

Chapel

Campus Center - Rear View

MUS Admin.

Stadium

The Campus is so massive and spread out, to capture it all - or atleast most of it - I decided to do a Contemporary - Folk Art - Landscape Rendition.


After a few very rough sketches, this is what I came up with.....

MUS

New 16" x 20" Originals - Memphis & New Orleans

These are 4 New 16" x 20" Originals of Memphis Scenes: 
(Acrylic on Canvas)


Currently at:


Midtown Framer & Art
1523 Union Ave.
901-726-0050

'Beale Street #8'

'Orpheum Theatre #3'

'Earnestine & Hazel's  #7'

'Rendezvous Alley  # 8'

These 2 for New Orleans will be delivered to BEE Galleries in the French Quarter next month:

'Cafe du Monde  #3'

'SuperDome #2'

And this one I'm keeping on hand to go into an Xmas exhibit I'm piecing together:

'Main Street Trolley & Orpheum Theatre'

Nicole & Rob Levine Wedding

Last month during Labor Day Weekend, I had the distinct honor of capturing Nicole & Rob Levine's Wedding on Canvas at MingleWood Hall in Midtown:

The entire painting was done during the day and as the reception (with a few touch ups and varnishing a couple of days after). 

The Wedding took place on the left side of me & the curtain, so as the  ceremony went on I began roughing out the wedding Staging and combining it with the Reception and Stage area before the guest arrived.

Right before the Reception began I changed clothes (shorts and polo shirt do not go over well at a Wedding).  

I began filling in details and the people that were involved in the wedding. 

BEST WISHES FOR THE FUTURE NICOLE & ROB!!!!!!

THANKS AGAIN FOR LETTING ME BE A PART OF IT!

'80 MONROE' - updated

This is where I left it before I began working on the 'AutoZone Park' Painting:

So as I took a loooong, hard look at it as I worked on the other piece, I wanted to figure out a direction for it.  It DEFINITELY needs to be more vibrant, so I did some tweeking just to get a feel.  Somehow, I always wind up playing with shadows and windows.....

Although, it is now starting to have an appearance of dimension to it, I want it to really POP!  so, I think I will try a couple of different techniques and see what happens....

AutoZone - Finished!!

'AutoZone Park'

'AutoZone Park' - Part 2

Now the FUN stuff..... COLORING!!

The client wanted the piece toned down a bit, so I went with a more traditional palette... 

Next, I start adding more detail and enhancing the colors to see what will work.

'AutoZone Park'

Not to switch gears from the '80 MONROE' painting, but there is also a new piece for a client that would like a painting of  'AUTOZONE PARK' for their suite at Redbirds Stadium.

Below is the approved 'rough sketch' of how it will be laid out and a sense of colorings that I plan on using.  

So I get started laying it out on canvas with vine charcoal..... 
(Size:  80" x 48")

From this point, I like the layout so I outline everything in black.......

After I cleaned the lines up a bit, now it is time to start blocking in some of the primary colors to see how it flows.


More to come.....

Blocking in Colors

After a layoff on this piece while I took care of other more pressing ones......  I finally started to block in some colors to see how it would layout.

Along with adding shadows to give it more depth, I wanted to give the piece more bulk so I darkened the lines on the buildings and windows.

Now I need the sky  entered so I can make sure that  )#1 The color yellow will work & )#2 That some of the directions of the shadows are good.

" 80 MONROE "

The NEWEST Project/Painting is now on deck..... or on the Easel as they say!


It all started one day late last year when I was downtown in a boardroom on the 5th floor signing prints and happened to look out the window and couldn't help but notice the Fantastic architecture and crazy angles that you get once you are looking DOWN instead of UP at these buildings.  

The challenge is 'how' to take all that you can see and create a painting that can stand on it's own.  

So with some help from a friend (Thanks Michelle!) I used some photos as reference material and started sketching.....


This is the photo I chose to work from:  

'80 Monore'

So I took this and after a few rough sketches came up with this image:

Then I took this image and transfered it to a 40" x 30" sized canvas:

So this is the starting point.....

'Orpheum Theatre' - Night scene

OK... so it was a couple of days to get this one up.

Again, I start with the basic outline... 

Then start adding color... & in this case, Black.

Then add some liquid paint.

'The Orpheum Theatre #1'

Back to the Blog after a bit away............


Now I am working on 2   'Orpheum Theatre' pieces based on my black and white one - only this customer wanted it in color and sized:  16" x 20", So why not do 2 at the same time?  

This one is the DAY scene.

Both paintings will start with this basic outline that mirrors my larger black & white Original...

There is no rhyme or reason for using these colors.  Mostly I like to start with 2 complimentary colors (in this case Yellow & Purple) then start playing around with other accent colors to see how the whole piece flows visually.


From this point I start to finish it up by adding liquid paints to help define the edges.....

'ORPHEUM THEATRE  #1'

Just as an added touch I chose to add to the marquee the Broadway musical that the Orpheum is giving the BIG PUSH for this year...... "Memphis - the Musical"!!!


Tune in tomorrow if you like and see how the 'Orphuem @ Night' came out.....