Saturday, May 7, 2011

construction site : los angeles

construction site : los angeles
30X22 inches
watercolor on saunders paper


thomas w. schaller
06 may 2011

























i was in downtown los angeles looking for an inspiring subject to paint -
wouldn't have guessed that it would be right there in the parking lot next to me.
the light here has been so brilliant lately - making for those deep, luminous shadows.

the objects might not be anything special, but the play of dark/light - sun / shade seemed
really outstanding to me.  
this is right off alvarado, next to macarthur park. 

12 comments:

  1. What a great artist you are, Thomas! And now I can study this painting and hear a slight humming of the song "macarthur park" in the background! Great detail!

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  2. Impresionante trabajo de luz y sombras perfectamente ejecutado, felicidades .Un saludo.

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  3. The effect of the oblique shadows on the wall is superb. Once again, congratulations, Tom.

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  4. It's true, you got a watercolor with luminous and transparent shadows and probably you used 10 or 12 colors, but they are so harmonically mixed, so that it looks like only there are two or three, I think to confuse your followers. This last is a joke.

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  5. Thanks so much everyone. I really appreciate it! And Julian - it's true: It was meant to read as really only warm/cool - dark/light - but there are probably at least 4 separate blues , and 5 or 6 warm hues.

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  6. Tom, Your work is so inspiring. As a beginner, I what is probably stupid question but here it goes. Your shadows on the concrete surfaces seem to show a reflection. Is that a normal practice or just a key to your originallity?

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  7. Oh I love it!! It's so cool.. I love your style of painting..

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  8. thanks again so much everyone. i can't tell you how much i appreciate your time and interest. and @ carolyn, i do try to show not so much reflectivity in shadowed areas, but luminosity. rarely is a large shadow just lifeless and dark - almost always a lot of colors bouncing around in there. cheers - tom

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  9. So great to see urban local paintings. Downtown is so inspiring. This piece is beautiful.

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  10. love this one tom ..makes a great subject the construction site .

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  11. Magnífica, como toda tu obra

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