Quiet in the Quarry

Quiet in the Quarry

8X10, Oil on Panel

Available

A little plein air nocturne I did a few months ago.

Quietude, Full Moon over White Oak Bayou

Quietude, Full Moon over White Oak Bayou

6X8, Oil on Panel

SOLD

This was a little plein air I did at Burns Park in North Little Rock a bit before Christmas.  I had the very interesting company of 4 skunks (1 of which was albino and a another was almost totally white) while I painted it.  They rooted around in the leaves nearby like I wasn't even there, wandering to and fro.  As they got a little too close for comfort and I began to think about leaving, I shined my light on them a spoke loudly but calmly to them, telling them to leave me alone and go away.  To my surprise, they complied and ran off nicely to the nearby woods.  The admonishment didn't last too long, though, as they came back a while later.  I kindly asked them to leave on several occasions, each time they would run away and come back, not unlike a group of young children.

Resurrection!

Last year, in preparation for a show at Cantrell Gallery, I pulled a few old paintings from the closet to rework.  I had shown these at one point but then realized they were actually failures.  I decided to start with a scene from downtown North Little Rock (aka Argenta.) It depicts 3 figures waiting at a trolley stop in front of a purple building. I chose the scene primarily because the purple building is a mainstay on Main Street in Argenta. You really can't hardly miss it. The painting was done in January of 2009 so it was 4 years old when I did this rework.  Here is my self analysis and thought process:

  Looking at it, I think it is obvious that my goal at that time was very similar to what my goal would be today if I started this painting from scratch: a loose, immediate vibe with economy of brush stroke.

This first thing I see is that light pole on the left side traversing the entire canvas HAS to go! Secondly, the foliage on the right side needs to either be eliminated or pruned back. Refer to Figure 1.

Figure 1

Before I went any further in my analysis, I went ahead and took about 20 minutes to basically re-mass everything but the figures. I knew something needed to be done about them but had not thought it through much. At this stage, I enlarged the building ever so slightly and fixed some minor perspective issues.

Now I'm confronted with the big question of what to do about the people at the trolley stop. The arrangement as it was painted in 2009 is cluttered. The purple building and the trolley stop with figures occupy almost identical amounts of surface area. The roofline of the trolley stop is perilously close to the same height as the purple building and this severely stunts any verticals in the composition. (Perhaps that was why I hamhandedly included the light pole??) So a critical decision must be made: what is the painting about? Is it about the people or the purple building? I had named it "Waiting on the Trolley" thus making it originally about the people. But if I genuinely want to make it about the people at the trolley stop then I really need to push the building back to subordinate it. However, the building is the reason I wanted to paint this corner in the first place. If I want to make it about the building then I need to subordinate the figures and the trolley stop. Ideally, I would do this by pushing them back in space and further to the right in the picture, possibly even cropping part of the trolley stop. This is the course of action I prefer but there is a critical consideration here. The trolley makes a left turn right beside this purple building so the trolley stop must be clearly indicated as existing in front of that intersection! In painting real locations, one must realize there are important details and not so important details. This falls into the important detail column I think. I could probably achieve the subordination I desire without sacrificing the reality of the location by increasing the presence of the road that cuts left to right across the scene. In effect, this pushes the viewer closer to the curb and might require a slight modification of the perspective of the both the purple building and the trolley stop.

In order to prevent having to do that, I could also shift the near corner of the purple building to the left. This would give the effect of moving the lateral street "back" relative to a diminshed size and location of the trolley stop figures without sacrificing the size of the building.

That's 3 options:

1. Push the building back and keep figures where they are, figures are the focal point
2. Increase the size of the building and street, move figures right and adjust perspective on both, building is the focal point
3. Push building slightly left and figures to the right, should require little perspective change, building or street becomes focal point

Option 1 is the easiest to execute while option 3 will require the most effort. Option 2 falls in between I think. I opt for Option 1. I pushed the building back by reducing it's size and reducing the saturation in the color. After deleting the foliage on the right hand side I realized that this made too much open space and added a crepe myrtle tree further in the distance and much smaller in size.

Waiting on the Trolley

 

Two Rivers Twilight, Pulaski County

Two Rivers Twilight

12X16, Oil on Panel

SOLD

Two Rivers Bridge crosses the Little Maumelle River where it runs into the Arkansas River.  The piece of land on the right of this scene is a large peninsula with a natural area park on it called Two Rivers Park.  There are extensive walking and biking trails in the park which are connected to a larger trail system known as the River Trail via this bridge.  About a mile downstream (to the east) is another pedestrian bridge across the Arkansas River called the Big Dam Bridge.  When it was built it was the longest pedestrian bridge in the world.  This awesome system of bridges and trails is wonderful amenity for the city of Little Rock and the whole state really.  This area serves as the focal point of a movement towards a healthier, more physically active city and on any given day you can find thousands of people using this trail system.  I myself am there regularly, pedaling down the River Trail or across the Two Rivers Bridge, weaving around the many walkers through Two Rivers Park to hit the roads on the other side, heading out to climb some hills around Pinnacle Mountain.  The state of Arkansas is a healthier and better place for this trail system!

Baring Cross Train, Pulaski County

Baring Cross Train

16X20, Oil on Panel

SOLD

Little Rock is a city of bridges.  We have 4 pedestrian bridges crossing the Arkansas River, 2 of which are former train bridges which have been converted.  In addition there are 4 auto bridges, 2 of which are interstates.  Baring Cross Bridge is the last and is the only train bridge in the city still in use.  This view is from the River Trail on the North Little Rock side.  The state capital building is to the left.  

Dickey Stephens Park, North Little Rock

Dickey Stephens Park

17" Home Plate

The above painting is available for online auction from now until October 27, 2010 at http://jimelder.org/auction/item.php?id=60.  Dickey Stephens Park is the home of the Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball team.  The Jim Elder Home Plate Heroes fund provides money to organizations aimed at providing opportunities to local underprivileged youth.  Other paintings being auctioned can be seen here:  http://jimelder.org/auction/

Burns Park Plein Air

Burns Park Covered Bridge

9X12, Oil on Panel

SOLD

A few weeks ago I went out plein air painting with David Paul Cook and Pat White of Sage House Gallery at White Wagon Farm.  We visited this covered bridge at Burns Park in North Little Rock.

Burns Park is one of the largest municipal parks in the country at 1700 acres.  It has a rather magnificent soccer complex which has hosted the US Soccer junior national championship as well as several regional qualifiers.  It also has some fantastic mountain biking trails.  I'll be enjoying those tomorrow morning with a brisk ride before I deliver paintings for the upcoming ALA show.

Shipley Do-Nuts, North Little Rock, Pulaski County

Shipley Do-Nuts

11X14 Oil on Canvas

SOLD

I don't know how long this business has been here but I think it's quite a long time! It's in the process of getting a facelift and is under new management. Shipley Do-Nuts is a local chain with all it's locations in the state. All of the locations I've seen are unique architecture-wise and this is one is a standout.