GRAPHIC LA

santa monica sunset

stylistically i’d say this one is more gouache-like then the “film emulsion” look i have also been experimenting with.

NEW PAINTING!!!
finally had time for a new graphic LA painting!!!
this one is overdue, haha

I was so utterly impressed recently with the Edgar Payne show that I had to try a painting on a more grand scale. It’s interesting looking at his work with mature eyes. I can remember when I first saw his work and like most newer painters, you think it’s about the thick brush work. It’s so not. Every mark in his best paintings is a design element. The strokes tell us something about the form. The shapes are carefully designed to be interesting versions of reality. The patterns are thoughtful designed and executed to be brilliant passages of calligraphy that would stand on there own if you were to peel them off the canvas. the subtle color modulation reveals a plane change. His design is deceptive because it comes off as simplistic in that it seems like anyone can make a thick brush stroke BUT that stroke carries with it the weight of strong design, solid drawing, clear separation of light and dark, modulated color and the complete understanding of the 3 dimensional space he’s indicating on a flat surface!!
It was fascinating to have my memory of what I used to see in his work and compare it to what I AM able to see now. They’re are very few living painters of the landscape who have such control over drawing, design, composition and careful value and color control today. Lack of drawing today I think is robbing us of the understanding of form and composition. Drawing isn’t a trick of the wrist, it’s a method of understanding form and design.

I was trying to explain to someone recently why simplified graphic iconography is SO important to good design and this is a good example. The scene in front of me was literally this (A)
But a better design is this (B)
And you can’t see that unless you boil it down to the essential parts. All the “details” get in the way and must be striped off to refine the design cause without design we’re just human xerox machines. Copying what’s in front of us with no thought. Even Ansel Adams knew that you MAKE a photograph not TAKE a photograph.

not exactly from life BUT is graphic ;)

concept/BG from Tron Uprising.

i’ve been sketching more, trying to limit it to 3 values and pushing the overall graphic read. it’s good design practice and not as easy as it look ;)

this is one i did over the holidays last year. wasn’t sure about it at the time but thought it was looking good enough to post ;)

finally! a new one. put my 3 day weekend to use. the challenge on this one was taking something that could have been very flat and horizontal and really exaggerating the z depth. lots of calligraphy was used to show volume and contour.

haven’t been able to paint any new Graphic LA pieces but have done a few sketches. always working on keeping the eye sharp. this one had a nice balance of shapes and composition. hoping to do more color soon!!!

Graphic Glendale

the latest in the series. still working on doing more with less. meaning, what are the absolute essentials of the scene and still have it represent what’s there in front of me. trying to spend more time understanding what’s going on and less wrist movement. art is always a translation of reality, always

or near that street anyway. every single shape is altered, pushed and skewed in this one even though it looks somewhat real. had an interesting talk with Robert Valley which lead to this. although my stuff isn’t nearly as pushed as his. i really exaggerated the rhythms of the trees, bushes and lawns as well, pushing and distorting them quite a bit while keeping the values and colors on the very real side. the shapes are very simplified and designed. the atmospheric perspective is exaggerated too to enhance the depth of the street. in reality its not nearly as strong.