8th Avenue (Underpainting) 48" x 72"
My last two posts relate the perfection and deployment of a camera-on-a-stick as way to elevate my point of view when aquiring images for paintings. The just completed 4' x 6' oil on panel underpainting shown above features the view looking south at the oncoming uptown traffic on 8th avenue at 39th street I shot using the new camera rig. It may not be readily apparent, but it's a challenge to get an accurately aimed, high resolution image in low light, while paused mid-intersection in Manahttan traffic...trust me. But the results were worth the challenge as I rode my bike (you can see it locked behind the trash can in the center) to each new location on a steamy June evening closing in on midnight.
This image captures the multi-ethnic throng as people carry on in and out of doors in the heat and humidity of New York at night, as traffic moves or waits its turn in the grid, lit by the signs and streetlights. As I work on these large, detail-filled paintings over the months it takes to create them, I'm always absorbed watching the details resolve as I go through the stages from rough underpainting to final glazes. Sometimes an area begins as mere blobs of color, and as I work it up, a face emerges, and even later on a glint in an eye reveals the direction of a gaze, and this triggers a memory of the moment when I first saw the scene. The daily practice of prepping materials and dithering around the studio before actually committing to the first paint laden brushstroke is a kind of ritual. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have an intern or assistant, but I've come to think I need those quiet, contemplative slots to warm up and get ready to make the magic. I'm also not sure I'd be comfortable assisgning grunt work like applying and sanding gesso or digital file management to someone else to endure, or how they could stand my thinking out loud.
While painting I sometimes get curious about a sign, shop or vehicle and try to make out a phone number or address so I can contact the relevant party and share the image with them. Some amusing conversations and follow up contacts have resulted, and they help "populate" the image even more for me. I'm also curious about the smaller stores and shops lining these streets, how they survive the astronomical rents, random difficult patrons and other challenges. Some seem to have so little traffic, or their customers make purchases so small that I can't make the arithmetic work as to how they can keep the lights on, let alone pay themselves. What they add to the visual texture of the city is priceless though, and I'm glad not everything has been homogenized by the relentless appetite of franchises and chains. Many of the locations I've chosen to paint change shortly after my capturing the images. Signs are altered or removed, buildings are torn down and replaced, and I've unwittingly created an historic record. I'm doing my best to preserve and share as much of my sense of wonder and the complete experience of these places through these paintings, hopefully it's working...
For those of you in the Charleston SC area, please come visit a special one week exhibition of my recent work at Helena Fox Fine Art that opens with a reception on Friday, Nov 3rd and runs through Friday November 10th.
My wonderful gallery representation: LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
And as always, you can also contact me directly by email: info@sethtane.com and follow my occasional photo posts on: Instagram