Fall Shadows

(Click image to see enlarged view.)

I took a picture of a bicycle leaning against a bike rack when I was in Portland a few weeks ago. It was late in the day and the shadows were long and intense. When I did the drawing for the painting I cleaned things up and deleted the bike rack and other bikes and gave the bike a kickstand to support it. I added the leaves thinking the painting needed a splash of color, but I'm not really satisfied with them and not sure they were needed.

What I do like about the painting is the sense of light coming from the right highlighting the wheel rims and the metal components.

When I thought I was finished I hadn't added anything in the background. In the photo there were some plants and shadows. Instead I put in a darker wall and some tree shadows. Adding the background really gave the painting a good sense of depth.

Hawai'ian Vacation

We just spent five days in Honolulu attending a family wedding. I took a lot of pictures and did some watercolor sketching during the five to six hour flights to and from the islands. Here are three.

HUBCAP

(Click image to see enlarged view)

I took a bunch of pictures at the Eugene Celebration car show last month. After reviewing the pictures I chose this one to paint. There wasn't a car reflecting in the hubcap. Since I was squatting down to take the picture I blocked what was behind me. So invented the car.

I traced the circles of the hubcap and wheel and then drew in the reflections. Because I painted one quadrant at a time, I was often confused as to which circles connected to which circle. There are some technical errors there but I like the overall composition.

I started with the sky reflection. I continued to layer it in until I had the color I wanted. At first it was too light. I did the same with the black, laying in 4-5 layers until it reached the intensity I needed.

I kept turning the painting as I painted keeping the section I was working on in the upper right-hand corner. Since I am left handed, this works best for me.

I tried to make the tire subtle enough not to distract but enough detail to identify it as a tire.

I like this one.