Saturday, March 11, 2006

Park by a Freeway... work in progress



This is a brand new painting that I just brought to the Timmons Gallery in Solana Beach. It was originally called "Park by a Freeway", but we retitled it as "Sorrento Valley". It is 12x12 inches, oil on canvas.

I actually started this painting last year, it had a subtle palette of bluish and milky grays (top image). Then I reworked it and painted in the orange sky with the radiant light, all out of my imagination. I pushed it into an overall warmer palette with an impressionist approach (bottom image).

Lately I've been really cranking it in the studio, working toward my June show. Sleeping the Thomas Edison hours... work till 5am, sleep till 9am, back to work, take a nap... days on end of this cycle. It works for a while, but finally fatigue sets in. But if feels great to be so excited about my work. All I want to do is work! I know it might sound like hype or *rah rah* but I've gone thru periods where I wasn't so confident about my painting. I'm glad to be on a working highpoint and grasp some refound enthusiasm.

4 comments:

tonypetersart said...

Thanks catlin,

I'm a hug fan of the ashcan school... Robert Henri, John Sloan, George Bellows. They felt that they were working in the tradition of Duumier, one of my all time favorites. I love Daumier's layered brushwork and glazing.

Anonymous said...

Now this is truly one cool painting. It shows such a soft side of the freeway. Even though you look up and see the world going by, you are in such a seductively peaceful setting.

I like it much.

tonypetersart said...

Thanks Clint! Alot of us in southern California get to see most of the local landscape from within our cars. So I figured, what more appropriate subject than a freeway? I'm working on a series of these right now.

Anonymous said...

Tony,

I love the nature thing, a switch from your other masterpieces. The colors are dazzling. Makes me want to retire from working and live out the rest of my days enjoying scenes such as this.

Brenda McGee