Day 505 "Washington Street" watercolor & ink

The city streets provide ever-shifting light and shadow patterns.  I see them as caverns of light cascading down through the buildings.  Boston's Downtown Crossing makes for beautiful shapes, with pedestrians in the middle of the street casting shadows.  Every few feet creates a different view, all exciting.
This is my five hundred fifth consecutive daily drawing. Thank you for your continued interest and your comments.  I appreciate all of them.   

Day 234 "Festival Crowd" 12 x 9 watercolor & ink

Today was the second day of our annual North River Arts Festival.  Yesterday was hot and sunny; today 40 degrees cooler, overcast, with eventual showers.  I love New England.  I sat and sketched a few of the passersby, sitting between a couple of my friends who were painting.  There was music, and a performing clown, lots of dogs, cute children, and catching up with new and old friends.  Every year, I have a chat with a thoughtful man who looks at the juried art show then comes to find me with his questions and observations.  I look forward to our annual discussion. Today, I met his beautiful new granddaughter as well. One of my entries was awarded "Best Drawing" in the Art Festival this year.  You've seen it here as Daily Drawing 116.  His observations were very interesting, as in "how can a black and white image convey color, mood, and so much information with very little detail?"  He has keen powers of observation, or he knows me well, because that's exactly what I was after.  This is my two hundred thirty-fourth daily drawing.  Thank you for taking a look at the world through my eyes.  

Day 128 "Don't Walk" mixed 8 x 9

I love Boston.  I love its buildings and shadows and pedestrians, and the constant visual feast as I walk its streets.  This is my hundred twenty-eighth daily drawing.  I am enjoying the day-to-day discipline, and your support and reactions.  Thank you.

"Walk - Huntington and Forsyth" pen & ink

There is an outdoor cafe on the Northeastern campus where I sat for an hour the other day.  It was fascinating to watch the Green Line,  buses, and pedestrians coming and going.  Some waited by the corner to meet a date, some smiled joyfully as they bumped into a friend, others walked purposefully to a variety of destinations.  I have always been intrigued by the layering of traffic patterns; cars, trolleys, and multitudes of pedestrians.  How are the traffic lights arranged to keep everyone safe and moving?   All I know is that it works.  
It was a beautiful evening, and interesting to decide how to arrange the layers of people front to farther back.  I began with the arrangement of the lamp posts and traffic lights and then added people as they came and went, with the goal of conveying the hubbub of the afternoon.  

As always, thank you for looking.

"Saint Sulpice, Montreal" pastel & ink 18 x 12

Back in March, we had a whirlwind weekend in Montreal to listen to our daughter speak at a linguistics conference at McGill University.  The city is lovely, and sparkling, and accessible, and we stayed at the beautiful hotel Le Saint Sulpice under the shadow of Notre Dame Cathedral, courtesy of a friend. The narrow cobbled streets are filled with beautiful buildings, each with interesting moldings, details, doors, windows... sumptuous.  Here is a view of the street where we stayed.  You can see it in progress in this post.  

"Saint Sulpice, Montreal" pastel and ink 18 x 12

A couple of weeks ago, we spent a quick couple of days in Montreal to listen to our daughter speak at a linguistics conference.  We hadn't been there in years, so it was a treat to get back, albeit quickly.  The weather was gorgeous, sunny, crisp, beautiful, creating great contrast in the streets of Old Town including this view up Saint Sulpice Street to Notre Dame.
I don't work in pastel,  but decided to give it a shot.  I drew the image using a bamboo stick dipped in black ink, and am in the process of painting in pastel.. sort of an exploration.  It's a bit of a mind bender for me because I usually work with a limited palette whether in watercolor or oil and create the colors I need.  This is a different process, and I'm trying to find my way... so exciting!  The painting is in process.  I chose toned paper that matches the undertones of the old town granite buildings.  We'll see where it goes from here.  Thanks for looking.

Rainy Day at the Coffee Shop 9 x 12 pen & ink

Another wonderful morning spent hanging in the coffee shop on Beacon & Charles Streets in Boston.  Parking is free in the city on Sunday so if you get in around 8:30, the streets are pretty open. I love watching the pedestrians, today pedestrians with umbrellas, walking in and out of the Common. It's so interesting to sit, draw, and listen to the buzz of conversations in the shop.  
I took a few reference photos of pedestrians to use in my drawing, but mostly, I like to try to grab their gesture as they wait for the traffic light.  

I think I'll add a little rainy day hint of color to the distance in this drawing.  I like to think of generations of people walking through the stone pillars at the corner of the Common.   

Rainy Day at the Coffee Shop - start

"Wednesday Evening" 16 x 16 oil - leading the eye

I have written about this painting in its early stages.  You can read about its progress here in these two earlier posts:
 "Newbury at Night" start
"Newbury at Night" in process

Years ago I asked my painting teacher how I can know when a painting is finished.  His response was that you need to know what your painting is about, know the idea behind your painting.  When you can do nothing more to support the idea, then you are finished.  At the time, I'm not sure I had enough context to understand what that meant, but over the years it has stuck with me, and is the drive behind my painting process.  

Wednesday Evening - detail

So... "Wednesday Evening" has always been about the transition occurring at dusk in this Boston intersection - the juxtaposition of commuters' speedy exodus and pedestrians meandering into evening.  I designed the painting to use the people in the foreground as your path into the painting, while leading the eye along the road and into the acceleration out the ramp to the Mass Pike. I used many, many shapes in the painting to lead your eye into the distance, into the dusk.  As an example, the detail shown here shows two   street signs and the upper tail light of a car in the middle ground.  These three shapes are intentionally angled to point to the blur of light as the cars exit the city.  I also supported that idea by softening all the edges in the high contrast areas of the painting, the lamp posts, the large dark structure, etc.. but I left the edges crisp in the taillights' glow along the Pike.  The tall building on the right side acts as a stopper so your eye doesn't leave, and I added the idea of architectural detail which  points down to the same area of light.  

My intention was to lead the eye, and to keep the viewer engaged in the painting, observing the contrast in tempos between the Pike and the street.  As always, interested in your thoughts.  Thanks for looking.

"Newbury at Night " in process 14 x 14 oil

Next stage of "Newbury at Night".  I have kept the glow, actually haven't touched the original wash in the sky.  It's been interesting working with the cool of distant neon lights, against the glowing sky.  I'm still moving around a few elements, have begun blocking in the pedestrians in the middle and foreground.  I've moved people a few times, and may again.  The light coming from an (unseen)  store window on the left is greenish so I'm wrestling with the small amount of light on the walkers, don't want them to appear green, but want to keep them less warm than the distance, and the lights. 

  I'm happy with the indication of street lights on the upper right, gives a sense of the cross street, actually, Mass Ave, without any other indication.  Stay tuned for the next iteration. Not much more to do in the painting, I'm proceeding very thoughtfully, not that I don't as a rule, but even more so, in unfamiliar territory... kind of an adventure.  I like adventures.