Saint Basil the Great
Posted: April 15, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized 12 CommentsI love painting street scenes, especially when there is a contrast of architectural styles or colours, or some good side light. Saint Basil the Great Ukrainian Church in Lachine towers over the storefronts below it and it fit the bill of good lighting and interesting colour. Amazingly I was able to find a good parking spot across the street, with a bus stop in front of me, meaning no one can block my view. Just as I was finishing up my sketch a police car pulled up and parked in the empty spot ahead. My first thought—what am I doing wrong? I quickly packed up my gear and drove off, half expecting them to follow me with lights flashing to issue the ticket for whatever parking rule I had broken. Looking in my rear view mirror I realized that they weren’t even looking in my direction and my only offense for the day was muddying up the washes in my sketch.
Fascinating facades. I’m wondering what it is about the hydro wires that adds so much to these urban sketches? Is it that they connect off to a distant, unseen spot, thereby connecting this particular view to the wider context? Those spots of primaries really pop out.
For me the hydro wires add a horizontal element as a contrast to all the verticals in the sketch. And a contrast of fine line to all the big shapes.
Oh dear… there seems to be something wrong with my computer… I can’t see the posts from April 13 and 14. I just don’t understand it… I have checked all the settings that I can think of. Am I doing something wrong? I am not very good with technology.
Yes, you must be doing something wrong Ross. I think you should hire a technician.
You missed the best posts. Two self portraits. Side and front view.
OK, I can see them now… self-portraits from the side are really very difficult unless you have the peripheral vision of a fish… and you look so young in them… I thought you were much older. : )
BTW, the technician said that the posts didn’t come through because my web browser had a security setting in place that filtered images of persons-of-interest to law enforcement authorities in foreign countries… whatever all that means. But I guess it explains why you get so nervous when you see the police. Anyway, I don’t need to know any more… I am happy to accept you as a blogger, no matter what dark secrets you have in your past.
Thanks for sticking with the blog Ross, despite my shady parking activities.
As for the side view self portrait, I use a complicated system of mirrors.
This is what comes from being a rebel and painting in your car! It leads to all kinds of paranoia. I loved your paintings in this weekend’s show. It was great to see them in person! I think someone forgot to invite Ross.
Ha! I almost called my post “Paranoia”!
You were st the show?? I would have loved to see you Kathleen. You should have told me when you would be there!!
Beautiful! Loved the adventure in between…painting on the lamb.
Thanks Mrs. P!
Lovely sketch and great colors. If you’ve painted or sketched a place long enough, then you learn to adjust your colors for that place, though they may not fit the bill somewhere else. My markers work well for all things Washington, DC, but failed me when I tried to use them when I was sketching in Israel.
Lovely sketch and great colors. If you’ve painted or sketched a place long enough, then you learn to adjust your colors for that place, though they may not fit the bill somewhere else. My markers work well for all things Washington, DC, but failed me when I tried to use them when I was sketching in Israel.