Salesforce Tower going up fast!

A relatively quiet Sunday afternoon.  It had been a while since I visited this construction site, and it's pretty mind blowing how fast it has been rising:

Although my focus had been on the tower under construction, I was a little thrown off by the complicated angles and glass patterns on the building in front of the site.  In my attempts to de-emphasize it, I decided to knock it back in value, which in retrospect, I think I went too far.  The building (with the exception of the tinted glass sheath) was actually a bit warmer, and I should have just kept it as it was.  As a result, not only did I half-ass the other individual windows, but the buildings don't separate very well.  Meh!  Next time.

shock troop

Shocking.

I needed a  reason to cover up a bad painting, haha!  I don't love the helmet, but I was thinking a bit about these VR goggles that seem to be the 'latest thing'...

Medusa

...for fun.  Also to test out painting gouache and watercolor on top of casein.  Every now and then I like to spend time rendering heads, but always feel like 'normal' is just not interesting enough, haha!  In this case I wanted to make her snakes suggest actual hair somewhat.  Still need to work out a couple more of the snake heads...

UPDATE: worked out the snake heads a bit more as well as other small bits here and there. 

A famous bridge

Not terrible I guess.

Worked a bit larger and tried to be a bit more disciplined about waiting for paint to dry and let watercolor be watercolor.  Still need to get better at planning.  And not get freaked out by so many girders.

I have no explanation

...except that the image appeared in my head one day and I had to get it down.  I think I was vaguely thinking of a Hindu god or something like that.

Ancient one

This arose from an thumbnail that I was just messing around with.  Probably calls for a tad bit more detail (like the feet?!), but...

I guess it's a combination of centipede, tardigrade, and a Lovecraft-ian 'elder one'.  Fun!

not-SF

A sketch inspired by a recent urban hike in San Francisco.  Probably should have spent more time on the cars...

Our city is already so recognizable, so I felt compelled to alter the skyline a bit to keep me interested.  Future SF?  Judging by the number of high-rises going up lately, maybe not so far off!

Benedict Cumberbatch

Great actor (especially in Sherlock!) with a really interesting face, which is why I decided to paint him just for fun and practice.  I used the cardboard back of a watercolor block, which is not ideal as a surface - it degrades quickly and absorbs water - but it was still usable.  Overall pretty happy with the result.  One of these days I'm going to have to think more carefully about rendering curly hair. hmmmm...

halloween post!

..gearing up anyways...this is based on a drawing i did some time ago at a costume workshop.

Yupo!

I tried out Yupo paper the other day for the first time.  It is a super glossy paper that seems not to absorb water at all, adding even more unpredictability to watercolors (or gouache - gouache seems to hold a bit better), but with some interesting and unexpected results.  These aren't great, but I find them interesting:

2 minute gesture

20 minute pose

I was particularly surprised that my 20 minute poses were not a complete mess.  Because it takes so long to dry, you can keep pushing colors around.  Kind of intimidating, but interesting stuff.  Now that I have a pad of it, I may as well use it up!

Stump Beach

A rare occasion where I managed to pause in our travels to actually paint on the spot!  As with sketches, the rule for me will be to work at much smaller size.  These were done after a beautiful hike in Salt Point State Park up in the Sonoma County coast.

The first turned out better than the second.  I think I'd lost my concentration by then, and also the sun was getting unbearably hot.

That which shall not be named...

..or Trump as Cthulhu...Inspired by a Facebook thread involving some clever friends of mine.  I had forgotten about it, but am glad I remembered in time for the first GOP debate.  Plus, can there ever be enough Cthulhu?  I think not!

Totems and such

I've been fascinated by all the high-rises going up around town.  This is some pile driving equipment on 8th and Brannon:

Actually, it's a little manipulated from the actual site - I've moved some elements around.  I like the image as an idea but not terribly pleased with how it came out.  Plus I screwed up on the sky..:(

columbus cafe

My wife has been taking a watercolor class at SFAI wednesday nights.  Because the class starts at 6:30 and she only gets off work at 6, I pick her up from work, drive her across town while she wolfs down dinner in the car on the way.  Then while she is in class I hang out at this place, have a beer and read or draw...or in this case, paint. This was a complicated scene to take in, but turned out ok (the two dudes in the forground left before i started putting paint down).  Black and white gouache over a green and yellow pre-painted background.

Strangely, there were people intently watching the latest 'Sharknado' on TV here..

Hyundai and hazards of plein air

It had been so long since we'd had consistent sun (at least in my neighborhood) that I was totally unprepared for how warm it was on the other side of town.  I couldn't really put on my sunglasses as it altered the colors of the scene too much, so I was blinded by the the white of the page (which ironically made color mixing a little hard). And then I was unable to finish my second color sketch (not shown here) because I noticed how badly sunburned my arm was getting.  Ouch...

milk teeth

Yup, creeping myself out again.

This image kind of developed from an element of a commission I completed a couple months ago (will post it another time).  I thought it was the most interesting part of it and wanted to explore it a bit more.  At the same time, I have a vivid image of a child's skull with all its milk teeth present from an exhibition at the Academy of Sciences some years ago;  this nicely magnified my existing discomfort with and fear of dental procedures (I have one upcoming), and this is what has come out.

Sweet dreams!

more construction

This one really kicked my butt.  I'm fascinated by all the skeletal underpinnings of the new building, but it required a level of detail I found hard to get.  Looking at it now, I guess it still turned out ok after all.  All I can say is, thank goodness for gouache!

The bottom is a little curved only because the page in the sketchbook is...I have been too lazy to scan my sketches and have been just taking photos with my phone.

SOMA construction plein air

San Francisco is undergoing a huge building surge all about the city, with new office towers and luxury apartments going up everywhere you look, which is what brought me out to this location at First and Mission.  I think this is going to be Salesforce Tower?

Turned out all right considering I didn't bring a pencil, which would have been nice for tightening details.  Instead, all I had was a day-glow orange Stabilo pen that I got for free last year.  It turns out to be a nice tool for the under-drawing.  Thankfully, with a bit of gray and white gouache I was able to get some harder edges.

As always, there are unexpected challenges painting on location.  In this case, the crane started moving about ten minutes after I started, before I had a chance to note exactly how the light was falling on it and before I could make out some of the detail around the claw and along the arm.  Oh well!

I also mostly resisted the urge to tweak things once I got home.  Mostly..

skull still life

Not actually a really skull - just one of them plastic models.  Complete with brain!  Although come to think of it, I'm not sure where the pieces of brain have gotten themselves to...hmmm...