Water Tower reworked a bit

I got some good advice from visitors that I applied to this little sketch and this is the result.

6″ x 8″ oil on canvas

What did I change? I moved the bottom of the bridge so that it didn’t align with the roof line of the building (thanks Frank) and intensified some of the values as it was pretty much all mid tone before (thanks Ujwala).

I tweaked a few other things to help distinguish between objects and probably got a better photo this time than last.

I always see something else I want to fix after I post it so I may play with it a bit more but I’m getting tired of looking at it now so I’m more likely to toss it in the drawer and move on to something else.

I appreciate the feedback both positive and critical and I think this one turned out better as a result.

Water Tower

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6″ x 8″ oil on canvas

I’m dissatisfied with this one but can’t quite put my finger on the reason. There are awkwardly painted passages but I’m fond of awkwardly painted passages that somehow work anyway. I’m not that great at producing them on purpose but, I guess my strategy is to continue to paint awkwardly and hope for the best.

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View across the broadway bridge

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6″ x 8″ ink and watercolor

I like to do little watercolors like this as birthday cards for friends. Unfortunately I put this one off til the last minute and now that it’s posted I see that the river bank is a little off kilter.

I stole this composition from a painting I saw recently of a different bridge in Portland by Lli Wilburn. Her painting is much better, btw. My rule for stealing is, always steal from someone better than myself.

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Underpass beside the Broadway Bridge

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6″ x 8″ oil on panel

I like the abstract shapes that are formed by urban structures, especially the unintended ones. I’m sure no architects or planners spent time mulling how best to design this site from an aesthetic perspective.

I read a lot of painting blogs and many painters write very well about the technical aspects of painting, especially composition. I’ve never been very good at talking or writing that way. I used to worry about it. When I was in college, I asked for exercises to help me better grasp the concepts of composition.

I think, now, that different people think about design in different ways. Some are more analytical and others are more intuitive. I’ve reached the conclusion that I’m more intuitive. It’s not that I don’t think about the design of my work. I consider negative space and the way the eye moves and such but I don’t break it down in terms that I can express verbally. I look at the painting and feel what I want it to look like.

Of course, you may say, “well, frankly, Bill, your compositional skills are not that great”.

Since I’m not much good at talking about it, I couldn’t argue the point with you very effectively. I don’t really want to argue with you anyway.

interior with velvet chair

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8″ x 8″ oil on canvas

state 2

I did a little more work on this to get the values under control.  We’ve had some visitors and been out of town a bit and it’s difficult to get my momentum up again.

interior with dog and velvet chair

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6″ x 6″ ink and watercolor on paper

A quick sketch. There are some obvious problems with it but I’m trying to get going again after an interruption.