The gathering place in many small towns in America is the local bar. This painting is of one of them in southern Indiana.
The two main things in this picture are the bar and the large mirror. The items closest to us on the bar are painted larger than the persons further back. This gives the illusion of depth. They are almost silhouetted, so no detail is needed. Your mind puts the features in.
The top-right hand portion of the painting is of the mirror. You see reflected in it the front window and entrance to the establishment, as well as the reflections of the bottles that are on the counter. Again, the bottles are painted simply with quick strokes of color. Your mind sees what is there.
Filed under Oil Painting Technique by on Apr 14th, 2010. 5 Comments. 
I’ve always loved the night lights on downtown city streets. Reflections from store fronts, traffic lights and overhead lights bounce off cars and sidewalks.
Notice the linear and atmospheric perspective. The front car is on the far right but the others end are displayed in a line going from right to left towards a vanishing point. The same thing is happening with the buildings. You will see a roof top at the top right which angles downward to the left and the overhead lights angle to the left. The cars. the roof and the lights all go to a vanishing point in the distance. This is linear perspective.
Atmospheric perspective is shown by the cars at the front being larger than the ones further back. Both types of perspective give depth to the painting. You have a feeling that you could walk down the street.
This painting is 18″ x 24″ and is for sale at $850.00. If you are interested in purchasing it, contact me on the email address on this site.
Filed under Oil Painting Technique by on Sep 16th, 2009. 3 Comments.
I love doing cityscapes! I love painting cars! This painting shows atmospheric and linear perspective. The atmospheric perspective is shown by having a big car nearest us with detail while the cars further away are smaller and less detailed. The same is true with the streetlights and trees. The linear perspective is shown because the street is wider at the front and goes narrower the further you go. Both types give depth to the painting.
Another technique used is reflected light. Look at the left side of the large white car. It has a pink glow on it from the road. Further ahead you’ll see some yellow windows in some of the vehicles. That is reflection from trees. Notice the road is painted deeper red in the shade, but a yellow shade in the sunlight.
Filed under Oil Painting Technique by on Apr 12th, 2009. 3 Comments.
This is the finished work of my nighttime car painting. You saw the progression from Work in Progress 1 to Work in Progress 2. This one actually changed because I moved the buildings on the right further towards the center of the painting. You’ll notice windows. The building in the center emphasizes the linear perspective as the lines move to the left. I’ve worked more on the cars, the lights and a few people. I’d like to mention that I was more interested in creating a “feeling” than a representation.
Filed under My Inspiration by on Mar 13th, 2009. 3 Comments.
This painting is of Roy Gentry and Patty Wells. Roy is the person featured in my last post. They are sitting in Hinkle’s Hamburgers in Madison, Indiana. I have used both linear and atmospheric perspective. You can see the linear perspective when you look at the angle of the tables. The atmospheric perspective shows the closer items larger than the ones further away. The chairs that are closer are painted larger than the ones further back. Note the light on the sides of the tables and chairs. This shows the direction of the light. It come in from a window you don’t see. Also note the reflections on the top of the table.
Filed under Oil Painting Technique by on Mar 8th, 2009. 3 Comments.
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