More Gas Pumps

Corner Station, 36 x 48

commission

Hello friends. Outside work and painting larger of late have kept me away from blogging much over the last few months, but today I do have a new piece to share. It will look familiar to many who have visited this blog before, as I was commissioned to do a larger version of a piece I painted in early 2011 called Corner Station. The new piece, above, measures 36" x 48" and is hanging in the lobby of the new north Austin branch of Horizon Bank near Oak Knoll and U.S. 183. Not much different than the first, though considerably larger and, therefore, a bit more detailed. The first studio version and an earlier plein air study are shown below.

Corner Station, 24 x 30

available

Corner Station, 8 x 10 plein air study

SOLD

Driftwood Station

Driftwood Station, 8 x 10

purchase

You may have seen this old gas station depicted in paint before, as it is a favorite subject of Plein Air Austin painters. This was my second attempt at this venue, which we revisited as a group several weeks ago. I haven't been able to paint as much so far this year as last, so I really enjoyed taking the time yesterday to touch this up before posting. 

Corner Station (lg) — In Progress

 Round Rock Gas Station (24 x 30) — Step 1

Happy Holidays, everyone. I hope you're all still enjoying family and friends for a few more days. My blog posts have been few and far between the last several weeks, but now that I've completed my short move (a short move is still a move, trust me) and made it through Christmas shopping, I will be back to posting on a more regular basis. 

Because I've been away so much of late, and because my latest project is a large piece and will take more time than the usual 6x8 or 8x10, I've decided to post it in stages. That way, at least people will know I'm not twiddling my thumbs. 

The picture above is the beginning of a larger studio version of a rough field study I did back in October in Round Rock's new Chalk Walk Art and Music Festival (see field study below). Referring to the field study for color notes and photographic reference to fine tune the composition, today started out by blocking in the main color. I was very happy with how quickly it went, considering the size of the canvas. I used Kevin McPherson's "best average color" method, which can be a huge time saver, because you start right in with the more or less correct color and value for the main color areas and get it down with a big brush. Because of the beauty of the oil painting process, there is no real need to start with a line rendering (I did, however, mark the half-way points along all four edges and the center of the support). The slow drying oil paint, instead allows you to push the shape edges around until you're happy with their location. Another time- and paint-saving element of the block in process that I find especially important on larger paintings is adhering to the well-worn maxim "fat over lean." Thinning the paint and using a big brush makes this stage go so much faster. Now that I've mapped out the composition, in the next stage I'll go in with thicker paint to start adding nuanced color and values and make the edges read as they should. I hope to post again in a day or so.

Corner Station

Corner Station, 8x10

purchase

Today the city of Round Rock, just north of Austin, sponsored their first annual Chalk Walk Arts & Music Festival. Plein Air Austin was invited to join in the festivities, which several of us did. The weather was perfect and many turned out. The subject I chose is an old gas station that has been restored on the outside and re-purposed inside into small offices. It's a really cool little place.