What do you think?

[Bongo]

I posted this in Photography - then realized it fits better here.

Walked by this on my way to do Plein air yesterday. the tall structure in the b.g. is the Space Needle.

I'm thinking of doing this as an 18"x24" acrylic painting. But not all photos make good paintings - so I'm kinda on the fence about it.
what do think? (of course, I would some doctoring to improve on it for painting)

 

[Artyczar]

I actually want to steal this idea, or do something quite like it. It's an excellent composition.

 

[trufflecat]

I think you would do a great job on this as a painting, Bongo.

 

[Donna T]

If anyone can pull this off you can! Would you include all the busy stuff in the foreground or leave it out and focus on the famous skyline? I do like how some of the poles/posts echo the shape of the tower.

 

[john]

You know, this would probably break all the rules of composition ( visual blockage for entry into the painting?), Ian Roberts would have a fit, and yet it could be great. I question that composition stuff. If it's interesting that's all that matters and this is interesting. This could be on that interesting border of abstract/realism.

 

[Enyaw]

interesting Bongo, by all means. Photos are only starting points it's what you do with them that makes of breaks the painting.

.. Ayin, the one I said was a crayon story. I can't remember the tread but that paining is this composition. I'm not talking line for line but the depth of the soul exposed.

 

[Trier]

I think I feel why you were attracted to this scene Bongo, although I can't verbalize it.
The composition is almost all precise verticals and horizontals with many sections able to stand on their own as a smaller composition as I see it.
Challenges are there, but what have you got to lose. . . go for it!

 

[Perry]

There's an interesting skyline there. I would remove the foreground
clutter, but that's just me. Have fun with this one Bongo.

 

[john]

It's funny because I just took a photo and I was wondering about painting a similar thing. Wires running across a cool cloudscape. Include the power lines and tower or not?

 

[Trier]

I vote for leaving tower and lines out. Great shot.

 

[Bongo]

Thank you all. A photo has the verisimilitude that a painting typically does not - part of the attraction is knowing that this really exists, in a painting there is a danger that it would just come across as a skyline with abstract shapes in the foreground. A realist painting would be great - but I'm not a realist painter.

However, Thursday I went back and gave it a shot as a Plein Air. It was coming along better than I imagined when it started to rain. So I had to pull up stakes. The painting got wet but not much damage. I managed to get the composition and all the elements in but needs value and color tweaking. So we will see.

John I would do the photo with the telephone poles/lines - but they don't have to be as dominant as in the photo. I love all the elements in the photo sun setting, contrails, telephone pole/lines - but I would experiment with different arrangements.

 

[Hermes2020]

I posted this in Photography - then realized it fits better here.

Walked by this on my way to do Plein air yesterday. the tall structure in the b.g. is the Space Needle.

View attachment 14761

I'm thinking of doing this as an 18"x24" acrylic painting. But not all photos make good paintings - so I'm kinda on the fence about it.
what do think? (of course, I would some doctoring to improve on it for painting)

My opinion, for what it's worth: the greys ranging from light bluish and beige grey to dark, almost black, are lovely. Those coppery horizontal pipes make an interesting linear composition over the horizontal pale blue water. I like the shapes of those insulators, so perhaps you could cut them out of very thick cardboard and glue them to the canvas. I would keep the lines and scratch them into the paint with the handle of the brush to give a sgraffito effect. The tower forms a vertical triangular composition with the poles in the middle ground. I would probably lose the tall buildings on the left, because I find them distracting.

 

[E.J.H.]

It's a very interesting photo. But I think the question whether or not one could turn into a good painting is difficult to answer.

I think I would not trust myself to do it, I'd have reservations because of the complexity of the image.

I think I would walk around those foreground structures and paint the city skyline with the spaceneedle. But of course that would mean a run of the mill, not very original cityscape.

So, long post short, you can do it, go for it!

And don't forget to show us the result.

 

[Artyczar]

I just think it's a great abstract composition, all the vertical and horizontals of the "pipes" are so cool, the coils, etc. Then there is a citi scape that is in the background that doesn't have to be rendered clearly. But what is cool for you is different in your mind than what's in mine. I still want to do something like this.

I once took a pic of the Dolly Madison factory, years ago, that had a similar vibe and wanted to paint it, but never did. Maybe I'll dig up the picture.

 

[Bongo]

I see the foreground as the city without its skin - sort of laid bare, the bones. Many(many, many) years ago I made training films, and one of the places was a huge commercial bakery - this is in L.A., I forget which one - humongous dough mixing machines, people running around - I can imagine the Dolly Madison was like that maybe more so.

You should definitely do something along these lines- seems.

When I first came upon this, it reminded me of a painting I did years ago, during my wrestling period -

 

[Artyczar]

OMG! I LOVE that Bongo! This is the style of your art that first attracted me to your work.

I looked everywhere for that factory picture yesterday and could not find it. I actually saw it recently, so I think it's on an old disc of images I was pulling art from when I'd been updating my database. I'd have to go back into the closet to fish it out and that might not be worth it right now, but it might stick in my mind and I may fish it out. I doubt that factory is still there because I also tried to search for it on Google maps. It was in Frogtown along the LA River, if you know where that is.

I'm working for a show right now, so I probably wouldn't paint it until I'm done with all the work for the exhibit. But I have the intention to do it one day.