California Street, San Francisco

 

California Street, San Francisco

original oil painting, 8x10

SOLD

 

California Street is over 5 miles long and one of the longest streets in San Francisco. It has a number of important landmarks including the Fairmont Hotel, Mark Hopkins Hotel and Ritz Carlton. The view in my painting is the eastern portion of California Street which runs from Market to Van Ness Avenue.  You can see Polk Street in the foreground and the cable car lines in the street.

 

You may have noticed that I like to paint streetscapes.  It makes for challenging compositions.  Part of the challenge is deciding what architectural elements to paint and what to leave out.  Simplifying the color palette brings harmony to a city scene that can be full of bright garish colors on signs, buildings and cars. 

View of Bay Bridge, San Francisco

View of Bay Bridge, San Francisco

original oil painting, 8x10

SOLD

The Bay Bridge is an impressive site.  You can catch a glimpse of the bridge from many streets in San Francisco.  It's actually a pair of bridges spanning the San Francisco Bay between San Francisco and Oakland.  A western span connects downtown San Francisco to Yerba Buena Island and an eastern span connects the island to Oakland.  It has one of the longest spans in the world, which it feels like when you're driving across it.

My painting shows the Bay Bridge in the distance on a street in San Francisco.  In the foreground, on the left you can see a typical San Francisco building with curved corner windows.  When painting cityscapes it's difficult to decide how much detail to include in the painting.  I simplify the information while trying to suggest a sense of depth and space.  Then I hope to find a balance that works in the painting.

San Francisco Street 4 (in progress)

I'm working on a larger version of the painting I posted last week.  I liked the painting so much, I decided to paint a larger version 16"x20."  I started the painting by laying in the values using transparent red oxide as an underpainting.  I'm about half way done. So far I really like the painting.  It can be a love/hate relationship when I'm working on a painting. We'll see how it comes out when it's finished.  I'll post the finished painting.

San Francisco Street 3

San Francisco Street 3

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

Finally, I'm back to painting after the holidays.  The sun is moving higher in the sky and I'm getting direct sunlight in my studio again. 

The painting above is a street scene with a cable car line.  I don't always know the exact location of my photographs, because I'm often taking pictures as I'm driving around San Francisco in my car.  (I do wait until I'm at a stop sign or stop light.)  I like to include cable cars because they give the paintings a sense of place and they make a nice focal point for my paintings.

San Francisco Street 2

San Francisco Street 2

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

Steep rolling hills, a dense eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture and stunning views of the Pacific and Bay, make the roughly seven mile square that is San Francisco, one of the world's most visually interesting cities.

I have long been drawn to street scene compositions. I have always been intrigued by the juxtaposition of the natural and the man-made. I find that the contrast of the tall buildings, and the long shadows that they cast, with the softness and color of the natural elements, like trees and bushes, brings both tension and harmony to the composition.