The Anchor and Urban Clutter

The Anchor 28x26 Oil on linen. --SOLD
This lovely painting was fun to produce. It is of a bar located on a fairly busy street and for the angle I wanted, I would have put myself at risk from traffic had I set up my easel where I needed to. So, early on Thanksgiving morning (though this is actually set at sunset), I set up my easel with a large drawing pad in the street. Traffic was nearly non-existent. I drew it sight size, took a few reference photos and later transferred it to the linen in the studio. For the sunset effect, I used a number of reference photos at various times to get the right light for the neon sign. In the process of exploring design and color possibilities, I realized I would need to forge my own sky, and eventually decided that gradating the light from near pinkish-white to a dark evening cast of blue would best convey the brilliance of the sign without losing the impact of the sunset. This had the added effect of creating a path for the eye to follow from the sign to the bridge at mid-right, which allowed the eye to come up the street to the cars, and then up the pole to the sign again--a typical circular design.

Another consideration is the clutter of the typical urban environment. Had I simply transferred what was there to the linen, it would have been a design mess. First, there were several additional signs just above the cars. These were, at best distracting. Normally, at this time of night, the little fenced in patio would be occupied with patrons sipping beer, but I wanted a certain feel that would have been ruined by a group of people. I left them and the patio furniture out--goodbye visual clutter. Finally, the parking lot is directly behind the fencing and is always filled with patrons' cars. Again, I canned the extra cars and the clutter. Now, the design featured a lean, exacting feel, a clarity of emotion and movement.

On a side note, this exceptional painting had several people vying for it. There is nothing more flattering and exciting than to find more than one person waving their money. As you may know, the first one to hand over payment wins and the red dot is affixed. Hooray!!

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