Stages of a Painting: Parade Scene, Part 2

Hallelujah!  Warmth and light until 7 p.m.!  I had a sweet taste of painting outdoors last Friday.  I love the light, I love the breeze, and I love the opportunity to be more a part of the community than when I am painting in my studio.  Of course, I love my studio too, but nothing is better than painting right on Main Street.

I positioned myself as close as was possible to the perspective shown in Anthony Pellegrino’s photo, the winner of the .  I chose to work at the corner of Main and Kaldenberg, in front of the Chinese restaurant.  The perspective in my painting had already been established in the drawing stage, so I was free to work wherever it would be most enjoyable, within view of my scene.  I could have gotten closer to Broadway, but I didn’t want to get in the way of the Friday night crowds going to the Music Hall. 

My goal for the day was to establish the colors of the bank building, the 7-Eleven, and the street, and to begin to make distinctions between the sunny and shadowy areas.  I was working late in the day and the sun was coming from the opposite direction than in the photo, so I had to keep that change in mind.  There was no place to position myself where I could see the background trees with leaves, since that would require time travel, and I’m still waiting for that to be invented.  Luckily, there’s enough information about the trees in the photo.  At the time I put down my brushes on Friday, I hadn’t yet seen what was behind the truck on Broadway in the photo, but I have now and the details of the bank building will go in eventually.

Stage 2 is the first color stage, a simplified version of what will be the final work.  It will be, like my other works, realistic but not photographic, a recognizable subject in my style with my “handwriting.”  In this stage I often try to get some color everywhere, but in this case I left the marchers for next time.  They are so important to the painting that I need to do them while I’m fresh and able to concentrate fully.  Much as I love sharing my work, I won’t be able to chat with passersby while I do this part.  One of the reasons I chose Anthony’s photo was that it is an opportunity to pay tribute to the uniformed men and women who contribute so much to our safety and well-being.  I want to portray them to the best of my abilities.  I can’t see too much detail in the photo, and that makes the body language even more crucial.

As I draw and paint, I always think about master works I’ve studied, and this grouping of marchers, tightly knit and caught up in a common goal, brought to mind the musicians in Degas’ L’Orchestre de l’Opera.  The real thing, or something close to it (the colors are far more subdued than the ones I recall from its visit to the Metropolitan Museum several years ago) can be seen on the website of the Musee d’Orsay.  I did a copy of this oil painting when it visited the Met, and I’ve included it among the photos here.  In it I focused on the intense expressions and body language.  Even though the Degas depicts mostly faces and my painting will depict mostly full figures from the back, it may give you an idea of what I’ll be aiming for.  Essentials will be the shapes and motion of the figures.  Gesture will be more important than detail.  My goal for the finished painting is not that you’ll be able to read someone’s badge number, but rather that you’ll hear the music and feel the pounding of the feet.

Next time: the marchers and more light and shadow