Back to Work

After a little break from my normal routine of painting to do some teaching, exploring acrylic abstracts and building a model, I am back doing urban scenes in pen and ink and watercolor. I found a slide I had taken a number of years ago of the Chinatown district in San Fransisco that has everything: buildings, signs, people, cars, and the Bay Bridge beyond. This is an overwhelming scene. To keep myself organized, I started from the center and worked outward, taking my time and enjoying the drawing process, not thinking yet about how I am going to paint it.

I decided to use the sketch I did of Chinatown in Los Angeles (top) as inspiration. It started as a detailed pen and ink sketch to which I added bright colors, splatters and white paint. I left a large part of the sketch unpainted.