I know this is a strange title, but it’s easy to figure out why I named it that. I am exploring my new idea with urban skate boarders some more. I have had some great comments for some of these works and even sold one in a gallery setting at this year’s Higbee 6 x 6 exhibition.  http://randyhigbeegallery.blogspot.com/search/label/6×6%20Show

I also like the long format, I think it’s always good to try and do new things. The format isn’t really all that new, but I think it works really well with an off-beat subject matter like this. I also like that I have found a way to combine my beloved taxis and the skaters!  They do live in the same environment after all, and I am wondering now why didn’t think about this before!

As for the painting process, I started with a grey wash in  the sky, just to take away the white of the paper. After that I painted an ‘underwash’ for all the buildings and into the foreground fairly strong. The goal is to finish the foreground in the first wash, which usually never works out. It is easy to be too light, since it is one of the first things we’re painting and we only have the white of the paper to compare it to…

Colors I used were Cobalt blue, cobalt violet, yellow ochre, ultra violet and cobalt turquoise and, believe it or not, some cad yellow and cad red. I made sure I used the most toxic colors available…ok, bad joke…. On a serious note, I made sure most of the pigment is mixing itself on the paper and took great care not to create too many hard edges. That’s one of the more challenging  things to do as a watercolorist, in my humble opinion.

Thank you for looking, I sure will do more of these…here’s a detail shot, the guy in the middle is connecting both sides of the street with his pose, I think that works quite well!

http://www.americanwatercolorsociety.org/a_exhibitors.php?year=2012

The reference materials for these scenes are from my friend, a music professor who has played in Vienna and Salzburg many times. He travels there quite a bit and was able to take some great pictures for me! I am quite taken with these work horses and carriages! To think how long horses have been part of street scenes in those old cities! Long before cars and bicycles they were there already, easing the lives of humans by providing transportation and delivery.
You may argue that this type of horse does not look as graceful as, say, an Andalusian. But to me, these are beautiful in their own way. They may look awkward and big, but once they are moving, it is easy to see how strong and resilient they are!

I love that they put plastic rain coats over them when they are ‘parked’. Huddled together at ‘Residenzplatz’, they are awaiting their next ride, these days only to carry tourists with cameras around the old town. Still, they are in need today as they once were. Some things never change!

I know I put the two horses smack dab in the middle of the compostion, but I don’t care…I feel it’s working just fine, and rules are really there to be broken. I was thinking of putting a figure somewhere to the right of them, walking into the scene but I am not sure the painting needs it? What do you guys think…figure or not? There is sort of an opening between the tall building and the car.

Thanks to all of you who were interested in my work this past year, I really appreciate your visits! Wishing you a Happy New Year and many great paintings! Never stop slinging paint!!

I know, I always say that I don’t like sunset paintings. The main reason is that they don’t seem to work very well in watercolor. These are two semi sunsets, sort of like the late light in the day. They are just made for watercolor, for the simple reason that the buildings are backlit. That way, you’re really just painting the silhouttes.

I found that although I didn’t paint in lots of windows, they still seem to be there! I am banking on the fact that the eyes of the viewer put them in, so to speak. There seem to be many details but it really is all just an illusion. I even omitted the headlights on the car and it works just fine..

On of the most difficult things in painting is to simplify objects so they still tell the story without looking overworked. If you paint a building with 20 windows and put them all in, just like in the photograph, your work will look stilted and tight.

How do you do it? By treating every single shape as part of the whole painting. How important is the window in the overall design of the painting? Not very…So, a simple suggestion with one or two brushstrokes is enough! What’s really important is the shape of the building! That has to be painted right.

We first went to the lillie pads and the chinese gardens after. I am posting my plein air efforts from both locations. It was perfect weather and not only did the care takers give us a free tour, they also supplied the best coffee you can ever have!
On top of that, Akemi, who is a very talented painter in my class, made the most elaborate and delicious lunch for us..all we had to do was paint! A very special day!

It was not a class setting, everybody did their own thing. There were requests for a plein air class, so we’re trying to do another outing as a class in the near future.
Usually, the hardest part about painting outside is finding subject matter that works. You can spend a long time walking around, trying to decide what to paint, time passing by and pressure to paint ‘something’ is rising.
My tip is, go with a view that speaks to you initially and if it isn’t perfect – do a little inventing, or chance things around a bit. It is better to paint anything at all, than wasting half a day looking for the perfect spot you may never find!

These two images have been accepted into this year’s Torrance Art Museum show, called South Bay Focus.
It’s a group show of several participating local art groups. South Bay is the area between Los Angeles International and the Palos Verdes peninsula.

Streets of Prague is almost a devided painting. The warm colors are predominant in the upper part while the cooler colors rule the lower part. To connect those two major shapes, I put the car and the band of trees in the middle ground so as not to have a complete division by the light strip.

Morning fog was a bit of a lucky shot. I used granulating blues and they seem to work in this painting. It creates texture on the facades and street. The cars are barely there and very much blend into the scene. Overall, it is important to have  lost and found edges as well as hard edges in a watercolor. Not too many hard edges though!

I call this piece ‘silver city’ because of the strange light quality that you sometimes get in NY. It is that late fall or early winter ‘feel’ that only occurs when it is cold out.

I am very attracted to scenes like this, because they tell such a great story; a story of life in a big city. You ponder it’s ups and downs, how tentative everything is…

You look at the people and you know you’ll never see this person again in your life. But you don’t get hung up on it, you just move on…

Is it good, is it bad? I can’t say…it is what it is!

In my work, I am always shooting for an impression. I try to make it look ‘as if’. The buildings, the cars, and the people… are they really there? They are because we think they are. They are because we know they are. A little bit like in real life walking down the sidewalk..do we really see the people? Or is it just a blur of things…

Tonal value makes this painting. Good questions to ask yourself are: where is the lightest light? Where is the darkest dark? Observe carefully and keep an eye on your entire painting while you work. Thanks for looking!

This was a work done in a class setting, a demo piece.

It is a great value exercise, but also fairly difficult for the incredible amount of shapes in it. When painting a street
scene it is important to reduce all the information to a minimum. Simplify. There is no way we can paint everything
we see on a photograph or worse, in real life while working plein air. We have to reduce it to a minimum and it will,
ironically, look more like the real thing than if we desperately try to paint everything ‘as is’.

Most students try to paint too close to reality and get lost in the details, it happens easily. To avoid that, it is essential that we always step back and check our work from a distance. A sure way to avoid overworking a section.

If you look closely at the details on the left side in this scene, you’ll notice that the people walking on the road are just an illusion. That means we make them up with our eyes. To give this illusion, I painted something that ‘looks as if’ there are people there.
I’d like to quote my teacher the way he always said, ‘if you can do it in one brush stroke or less, you should’. Quite funny, because you have to do at least one, but it serves as a reminder to bring as back to the important goal in painting: Simplify.

One other quote before I go, this one by one of the old masters, Leonardo da Vïnci. Also shows that the concepts we’re teaching today are certainly not new:
‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’

This sketch was largely responsible for the success of this painting. Without it, I don’t think I would have been able to remember this scene very well. It was over two years ago. I did snap pictures, but that’s just not the same as having this precious ‘note’ of what this corner felt like when I was there! Taking pictures of scenes like this is tricky, they usually come out too dark or too light and a camera can never capture the mood of a place very well!

A sketch like this (it’s less than 6″ long and maybe 3″ wide) can be done quickly, if you have a
small palette and some water on hand. I use an old W&N travel palette, it even has a tiny tray for water and you can put it on top of your sketch pad, painting standing up. Literally anywhere, anytime. A true lifesaver when you just don’t have enough time to do a bigger piece!

I also do this method when I am not sure if a scene is actually worth painting. Doing a little painting like this takes all of 10 minutes and you immediately feel if it’s worth an attempt in a bigger size. The painting process is pretty much ‘alla prima’, meaning in one go. The upper left side is the white of the paper and the umbrella and the yellow building with the windows and some highlights is the first wash. I started the second wash on the upper left side and connected everything with the yellow background wash and the right side, all in one wash. You can actually see that I barely caught the pigment before it started to dry, it left furry edges!

The details like the car, the cat, the streetlamp and shutters are last

Sunny corner, Avignon 7″x 18″

Last week I was out and about painting locally. Here are some of the best ones..

It’s always an adventure to paint outside. Things never go the way you expect them to. Case in point: I am driving down to San Pedro, unloading my paint stuff and looking around for a good view. The first thing I notice is that my water container spilled water all over my bag…mmmh, ok. No big deal, just put it in the sun while walking around looking for a painting spot.

I usually bring my point and shoot and take lots of pics to help me find  a good composition. So I turn on my camera and it says ‘change battery pack’. Needless to say I forgot to bring extra batteries…Classic! I actually had to wait two minutes every time I wanted to take a picture, so the batteries would just last long enough to let me take one.

Walking around, confused, trying to decide what to paint and from where, I finally get settled and started painting just to notice there’s only about half an hours daylight left! OMG, better get going… You can see, none of this happens in your studio and you’re forced to really deal with all kinds of fun outside. But I highly recommend it. It made me a better painter! It is sooo important and a great confidence builder! Just do it! I know it’s intimidating, go with a buddy or take a plein air course first but I swear to you, it will improve your work significantly!