Cityscape: Perfecting Street Scene Perspective by Brian Keeler

Transcription

1 Cityscape: Perfecting Street Scene Perspective by Brian Keeler In this cityscape, our goals are to show the meeting of nineteenth-century architecture and today, show ing old buildings contrasted in the reflections on a modern car, w hile demonstrating one-point perspective. In this scene, the midday sun w as also creating interesting effects and bringing out the geometric designs of the buildings, w hich contrasted w ith the fluid curvilinear reflections on the car. Step One 1. Mind perspective as you sketch Working on a canvas tinted w ith Raw Sienna acrylic, begin the draw ing w ith Burnt Umber paint. The draw ing stage here requires a lot of w ork and attention to details. This is essentially one-point perspective, w ith the vanishing point indicated w ith an X above the car s luggage rack on the passenger side. 1/7

2 Step Two 2. Establish a light to start Start the painting stage by blocking in the light of the building on the right (I used Chromium Oxide Green, Naples Yellow and w hite to achieve the desired hue). Also begin to w ork on the signage. I particularly like the slant of light coming through the drugstore sign. 2/7

3 Step Three 3. Block in and mass the darks Start blocking in the shadow areas. This scene lends itself to painting because of the nice division of light and dark. It is helpful to try to mass the darks so they are more or less consistent in value. Use Burnt Umber w ith Phthalo Green and sometimes Venetian Red to create a sort of low -chroma, even nondescript shadow. For shadow s, sometimes w e increase the intensity as the Impressionists w ere know n to do; at other times, as I did here, w e exaggerate the mystery by keeping them less defined, w ith thinner paint and less detail. 3/7

4 Step Four 4. St art t he car Start to w ork on the reflected surface of the car in the foreground. The patterns of distorted reflections in the car add to the appeal of this image. Use a variety of blues, but keep them toned dow n or of minimized intensity. In the shadow area, use Ultramarine Blue w ith Burnt Umber and perhaps some Prussian Blue. In the light areas, the blue is a mixture of Cerulean Blue, w hite and Alizarin Crimson. In the w indshield, the mauve is achieved by adding more Alizarin Crimson or Permanent Rose. 4/7

5 Step Five 5. Begin t he sky and st reet Now block in the large areas of the sky and the street. While painting these, it is important to keep in mind the value relationships, determining w hat is light against dark or dark against light. For the sky, use Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine Blue and w hite in varying degrees. The street is sunlit and light in value, a w arm gray comprised of w hite, Burnt Umber, Chromium Oxide Green and Yellow Ochre. 5/7

6 Step Six 6. Work on det ails and building cont rast Begin developing the w oman hailing the cab and articulating details in the buildings and the car in the foreground. For the car, add some darker accents and increase the chroma in certain colors. Now articulate some of the details of the reflected buildings in the hood. The orange in the hood of the car in step 5 w as still the undercoat show ing through, and here I have painted this area. The steering w heel remains as the tinted undercoat and serves w ell as it is, w ith only minor additions. Push the highlights, adding glints in the mirror and the trim of the car. The sky has had several layers of pigment added, and at this stage you want to move to a cooler blue, which means adding more Ultramarine Blue while darkening the value at the top. Darken the building on the right using Burnt Umber and perhaps some Venetian Red. 6/7

7 Hailing the Cab (oil on linen, 26 30) by Brian Keeler 7. Bring t he forms t o fruit ion In this final stage, continue to develop details and model form. Add some color to the cabs in the background and interject some lavender-like colors into the pavement. Make the sidew alk on the right darker and cooler w ith Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber, to contrast it w ith the sunlit street. One of the challenges of this painting was that I was using two references that were not in complete agreement. This necessitated manipulating and inventing the perspective in the car in order to get the orthogonals to lead toward the vanishing point. There is somewhat of a distortion caused by the wide-angle lens used for the photo reference, which in this case warps and makes the perspective lines curvilinear. ~Brian Keeler 7/7