Fellini's Pizza in Decatur!

Good friends and great patrons asked me to paint this scene from a foggy evening at Fellini's Pizza in Decatur Georgia. She took a great photo, which is helpful. Below for the 1st step I began with a white canvas. Then I painted transparent layers of paint for nine coats to create the black background. The layers were crimson, blue and green, three times each in order. So the background is not black, but many layers of color which make the surface look deep. 

 

For step two I added initial layers for the neon signs and spot lights. The "walk" sign was done in a series of color dots of paint. The shadows in the background and under the bush are the color of the canvass. 

For the final step I used several iridescent colors to make the metal parts shine. The main neon sign has many different colors to get the neon effect. The red areas are red, orange, yellow, and pink. Fun painting. Acrylicon canvas 11 x 14. 

Vicarious Exhibition: Fire Series

The Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art is hosting an exhibition of art by Veterans. I am one of the featured artists and veterans. These paintings from my fire series will be in the exhibition. The above watercolor is titles Cave Fire. The fire in this painting illuminates petroglyphs from the American Southwest. It is 18 x 24 inches. I used a layering technique which resulted in over 20 layers of color.

Fire Light, Acrylic on canvas.

Flame, watercolor on paper.

Fire Series

Here is another painting in my fire series.  This is a small painting, 8 x 12 acrylic on canvas.  I painted around the edge on this one, even putting my signature on the edge.  In the ground, I used some of the metallic paints from Golden paints.  This adds a great reflective quality to the an otherwise less important part of the painting. I am very happy with the many layers in the back ground.  There are parts of the back ground that are very dark violet in contrast with the bright orange flames.

Blazing Fire

This is one of the paintings in my fire series: blazing fire.  It is an acrylic painting, 18 x 24.  I started with a black and white under painting, then layered or glazed the colors on top.  It is a combination of realistic and abstract.  The logs are realistic and the flames are abstract shapes.  The cast shadows on the logs and rocks came out very well.