Study and Finish

Like many painters, many of my studio works develop through a combination of observation, photos, on the spot studies, and so on. 

"MacDougal Street." digital sketch

Here's a digital study I did of  a street in New York. It's an intersection along Macdougal Street in Manhattan's West Village. The two places with signs are both famous for their clientele over the decades, including beatniks in the 1950s, and Bob Dylan a few years later. This digital study was done using Sketchbook and a Wacom tablet to explore colors, compositions, and so on. 

The resultant oil painting is considerably different, but clearly is a result of the study. The final oil is a tall and large work on canvas. As you can see, the color palette is considerably different, and the sky, background and pavement have been changed to suggest twilight. And of course the three figures have been significantly modified and repositioned.

"MacDougal Street," oil on canvas, 36x18