60's architecture, and a nocturne

[Jerry Campbell]

Hello. Two recent paintings from around the city. C&C welcome, thanks.


Gold Car 11x14, oil on panel


Red Van 11x14, oil on panel


www.jerrycampbell.blogspot.com

[rasaluk]

Really like the light you captured in both. The red van one has a great evocative quality. Nice work.

[Trikist]

Both are nice but the red van is great to may taste. I always wonder how a painter can see well enough to make a good painting like this and not ruin his vision for the night scene. Gary

[My1eden]

Really like the second one, very painterly.
Richard

[cameronm]

As an Architect and a modernist, the first picture is very appealing. Is that in downtown T.O.?

[tedfromtoronto]

Jerry
They are both very lovely. As a watercolour painter, may I ask your technique with respect to the lattice and window sills in painting #1? And do you use a transparent or opaque colour as an undercoat in painting #2?
Ted

[Jerry Campbell]

Thanks so much for the comments, everyone! I've been out of touch for several days, so I'm pleased to see some positive reviews of my pictures.
Gary- I use a Petzl bicycle light that straps around my head. As long as I am some distance from the subject- ten feet or more- the light works great and doesn't illuminate the scene itself.
Cameron- this building is from west Toronto. The daughter of the owner crossed the street to see what I was up to. Her father built his car repair business here in the mid-sixties.
Ted- The nocturne is painted on a panel that has a wash of turps-thinned burnt umber over it. Sometimes this acts as an earthy undertone, but in this case, with dark values, it imparts a glow that was a bit unexpected.
I'm not quite sure how to interpret the question about the window sills, and I hope that you will return here to clarify.

[tedfromtoronto]

Thank you Jerry. Assuming that the West Toronto painting was done alla prima then my question was really how do you do fine detail work without dragging in the undercolour? For example the sharp white muntins on the black background? I suspect you use a good quality paint, wet it with a little Liquin, and load up the brush, but I'm not sure. I am a watercolour painter so I never learned how to do this.
Ted

[tedfromtoronto]

When I look at this closely you even have a cast shadow on the upright bars in the second storey - incredible!

[Jerry Campbell]

Hi, Ted. You are correct- unthinned paint underneath with a thinned paint over top. As you say, the brush is loaded, and you have one chance to get it right. Thanks again for your kind words. Jerry