Transportation

"Stanley Steamer" sketch by Lesley Spanos. Gouache and pen on kraft paper, 8" x 9". Copyright ©2011 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved.

I’d never seen a steam-powered car fired up until I saw this one. It was in the daily parade at the Indiana State Fair, it’s shiny red paint gleaming in the sun. When I looked up Stanley Steamer Motor Carriage Company on Wikipedia, I found a photo of this car in the article. Not just this model, but this actual car with the same US flag decal on the windshield, and the same owner/driver, photographed at the Indiana State Fair. Small world, eh?

I’m posting this one in Liz Wilzen’s Value Challenge on Daily Paintworks. Liz’s challenge requires us to use only four values, so I used black marker, white gouache, and a brown gouache. The light brown paper works as the fourth value. I used to like doing sketches like this in life drawing class in school, but that was a LONG time ago!

"Blue Angels" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on birch plywood panel, 5.5 x 13". Copyright ©2011 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved.

I swear that if 100 photographers at 100 different air shows pointed their lenses at the US Navy’s Blue Angels demonstration team, 50 of them would come up with a shot similar to mine, and some would be so much alike you’d have to overlay them to tell the difference. This seems to be the iconic view of the Blue Angels in diamond formation, and the similarity between photos is a tribute to the precision of this team.  As a photographer, I am happy when I can stop the action and see details I missed as these jets flew over at hundreds of miles per hour. It pleases me to no end to clearly see the helmets of the pilots in the cockpits.

But that’s photography. When I put on my painter’s apron, I need to interpret images differently. To quote Maverick, “I feel the need… the need for speed!” My photo is static. Those planes could be models hanging from a child’s bedroom ceiling. What I need to paint is what I experienced that day. I want to look at that painting and hear those jets going over me. So I pushed beyond the photo, asking myself what cues indicate movement. I blurred vertical lines a bit. I chose a wide format and jammed the noses of the aircraft right up to the left edge of the painting, like they were flying by so fast they almost flew out of the frame. The sky was painted in bold horizontal strokes. I was relieved when my contrails turned out better than I anticipated, because there had to be something of interest in all that empty space.

As a side note, I knew I’d be painting the Blue Angels this week. Just thought I’d be using fresh photos for reference. The team was due to perform at the Mount Comfort air show this past weekend, but they were rained out. I’ve been considering doing an air show series, and hated missing an opportunity to photograph them again.  But I took solace in the fact that they flew right over my house on Thursday, twice! In a way, it’s more cool to have them visit me on my turf than it is to see them on theirs.

"Blue Angels, 2009 Mt. Comfort Air Show" photograph by Lesley Spanos

"Clutches" by Lesley Spanos. Oil painting on Gessobord, 5" x 7". Copyright ©2011 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved.

There’s a little game I like to play to challenge myself when painting people. As I work on the initial composition, I ask myself “How much information can I eliminate, and still tell this person’s story?” This forces me to narrow my focus, and hone in on what drew me to the scene in the first place.

In this case, I liked how the woman held her clutch purse while perching delicately behind her wheat-bellied partner.  Showing their faces would not have enhanced that story, so… off with their heads! That’s how we see things, anyway – in bits and pieces, not everything all at once.

This painting is from my State Fair USA series. I photographed this couple as they arrived at the fair. After some research, I think this might be a Yamaha Royal Star Venture from the early 2000s. Any experts out there who can verify this?

"1938 Chevy Sedan" by Lesley Spanos. Spotted at the 2009 Mount Comfort Air Show. Acrylic painting on Ampersand Gessobord, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2011 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. $125

Saw this two-toned 1938 Chevy sedan at a car show, and knew I’d paint it someday. Tom and Marla, I love your car!

"Morning Tram" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved.

Another in my State Fair Series. It was the bit of sunlight on her shoe and leg that made me want to paint this image.

"No. 1059" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic on Multimedia Artboard, 6 x 8". Copyright ©2010, all rights reserved.

Trolley No. 1059 was built in 1948 and acquired by San Francisco in 1992 to become part of their historic streetcar collection. Though it served in Philadelphia, the car is painted to represent the Boston Elevated Railway Co..

Our location is on the Embarcadero at a stop near the Ferry Building, with the Bay Bridge in the background:
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Pretty, eh?

This week my goal was to not murder the paint by working it to death, so I limited myself to only one hour. Got finished in only 50 minutes. Yay! I’d love to have a bigger version of this one for my wall, so I might try it again when I have a big birch panel on hand.

Many thanks to Lee Brown for providing yet another spectacular HDR photo for his A Day Not Wasted June challenge. His process removes most of the “bad” stuff artists encounter when painting from photographic references, like dead shadows and blown out highlights. His photos are so lifelike it’s almost like painting on location.