Union Station

Sorry for the pic quality on this one, it's not so sharp. For those of you who are familiar with Los Angeles, you've probably made your way thru "Union Station" to catch a train at one time or another. This painting is 16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas, and depicts the outdoor waiting area of the old Art Deco era train station.

The paint handling is much looser than I'm accustomed to. Lately I've been experimenting with a more loaded brushstroke, thicker paint application, more palette knife use, and working quickly or more intuitively. This is the first one that I'm posting, I feel like it worked out well (although my pic doesn't show the variety of color in my darker shadow areas).

Beverly Liquor and Randy's Donuts

"Beverly Liquor"

"Beverly Liquor" is a recently finished oil on canvas, 18 x 36 inches. For this new series of Los Angeles landscapes, I've spent alot of time researching locations and looking for 1950's style architecture and signage. Anything with the Googie style (like this Liquor Deli sign) was a big plus in my urban photo-safari. This liquor store is on Beverly Blvd. and I was lucky enough to see the bus pulling away from it's stop just accross the street... I feel like it really makes the painting.

"Randy's Donuts"

"Randy's Donuts" is fresh off the easel, it's actually still wet and waiting for a final varnish. It is 18 x 24 inches, oil on canvas. As far as donuts in LA goes, this place is an institution. Relatively close to LAX, it's located on the corner of La Cienega and Manchester Boulevards. One of my teachers from Art Center (Jim Heimann) actually once photographed the Oscar Meyer Weiner-Mobile driving past this place... he called it divine intervention mixed with positive karma and dumb-luck. Anyway, I was surprised that I had never seen a painting of it before, and I had long been inspired to paint it, so it seemed natural that I would include it in the series.

Starlite Drive-In Theater

This is my newest painting, "Starlite Drive-In Theater". It is a smaller oil on canvas, 14 x 18 inches. Recently, I've started a dozen new paintings. All of them are depicting something of the Los Angeles area. That's why I've been slow to post any new artwork here on blogger for the last month, but now several of them should be coming upon completion soon. I may even pick away at this one a little more before I bring it to the gallery. Any suggestions?

This particular drive-in is actually no longer in use as a theater, but rather a swap-meet. The big screen is gone, so I had to imagine it here in my painting. The old sign was my initial inspiration, I love the old star on the googie style sign, as well as the long bluish shadow cast by it.