Thursday, June 29, 2006

Musso & Frank's Nocturne



My show went well last Saturday, there was a great turn out and I saw alot of old friends. Wish I could have had this painting done on time, I was only a week off in completing it. This one is called "Musso & Frank's Nocturne", the size is a fairly large 30x40 inches, oil on canvas. I've painted Musso and Frank's before, but during the daytime. It's the oldest restaurant in Hollywood, it's been there since 1919. All the old Hollywood stars ate there back in the day, including Charlie Chaplin. In the Tim Burton movie, "Ed Wood", Ed went there (dressed as a woman) and met his hero Orson Welles. It was also a favorite watering hole of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemmingway.

I feel that the best way to approach doing a nocturne is to get a strong foundational drawing, so that I have a good idea of the structure even when it's hidden by the shadowy darkness. I had to make up alot of things in this one, particularly the ironwork on the facade of the forward building. And importantly, the color harmony of this piece seemed to work for me. I pushed the foreground to a warmer purple and redish color, and the area further away into cooler greens and blues. I think it has a good feel to it, like a comfortable alone-ness.

4 comments:

Jesse said...

I think, of the noctures I've seen of yours, this one works best.

The dull shadows on the forground building are really great.

william wray said...

Nice atmosphere. Definitely a feeing of loneliness sort of like an empty stage set.

tonypetersart said...

Thanks Jesse. I had fun working on this one, it moved quickly.

tonypetersart said...

Bill, that sense of "mise en scene" is something I try to get in my work. Like it's a setting for events that are about to happen, or alredy did.