Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Eccentric Architecture

I posted the pencil drawing of this old mansion a few months ago and just recently added color. Like a Ben Shahn drawing of an old man or David Stone Martin's jazz musicians, or jazz itself, the trick is in the slight distortions, the imperfect details, the odd angles. An interesting drawing isn't necessarily a direct quotation from life. Same with the color. Picking orange gave the image more life. Leaving the other colors in more subdued hues make the orange brighter. There is a "thingness" about architecture, about individual buildings, that's harder to capture with a camera. Painted portraits are looking for something the lens doesn't see.

2 comments:

  1. This is great, Eric. Are you familiar with the Scottish cartoonist John Glashan? He had a wonderfully expressionist approach to architecture.

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  2. Something the lens doesn't see: I like that idea thanks.

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