Tulsa Brick x Brick Nominated for an Okie!

I've just found out that my Tulsa Brick x Brick Blog has been nominated for a 2009 Okie Blog Award in the category "Best Arts/Crafts Blog"!  THANK YOU to everyone who nominated my blog for this wonderful award!! 

I'm thrilled to be nominated along with so many other fantastic Oklahoma Blogs.  Congratulations to everyone for this wonderful honor.

Tulsa Fire Alarm Building - Work in Progress Phases 5 & 6

I haven't had much painting time on this over the past few days.  Here's a quick update of where it's at now.  Just building up the layers and will push some of the details back some when I get to paint again.

Seeing it on the screen though helps me read things better.  I won't let all the brick work's definition be quite so prominent in the end.

And here's the earlier phase without the brick work defined.

Tulsa Fire Alarm Building - Work in Progress Phases 2-4

As promised, here are the phases of my WIP - and David correctly identified the building as the Tulsa Fire Alarm Building.  Once the painting is completed I'll add more details about the history of the building, its architect, etc.

At this point you can see that I just start blocking in large areas of color and working up to more detail.

Lots of adjusting, stepping back, looking to see how the composition's working are a constant part of the process.  I begin with fairly thin layers and work up to more thickness.  I'd like to keep the thickest layers up in the frieze section as well as the most detail.

I can see at this phase that I'm going to adjust the steps area to a lighter value as the contrast is much too intense for my liking.  I do however like the switch over to a more purplish blue coloration.




Earlier phases:

Tulsa realtor Lori Cain helps spread the word about "Tulsa Brick x Brick" project

As word is spreading about this ambitious "Tulsa Brick x Brick" project, I have to thank Lori Cain, a Tulsa Realtor with Midtown Tulsa Real Estate, Chinoweth & Cohen Realtors, for her enthusiastic support in telling others about it.  Last week she posted a wonderful story about the series on her blog.  It encourages me so much to read such positive comments from near and far!

It was fun to read about her favorite painting in the series thus far and the fond memories it conjured up in her post.  Exactly the effect I'm hoping for with the paintings in this series.  It's stories like hers that I hope to continue to chronicle along with the paintings.

Thank you Lori for the ongoing support and for spreading the word!  The more folks that contribute their ideas and stories, the richer the series will become.  It's your stories that add to the inspiration behind the paintings.

Process of a Painting...Who Am I?

I thought it would be fun to post a "WIP" or work in progress so that you can see the stages of a painting and how it develops.  Now I realize that this is a "risky" proposition since at this point one doesn't know exactly how a painting will turn out!  Let's hope it's good.  I really feel strongly about this reference photo and have a good feeling about its composition.  In planning this I decided to force the perspective to give the viewer a sense of awe in looking up at the beautiful terra cotta frieze work above the entrance to this famous Tulsa Art Deco Landmark.  Inclusion of some diagonal lines in the scene also adds to the energy - appropriate for this structure.

At this point I've begun using a prepped piece of mdf that's 11 x 14".  I lightly sketched some of the main lines with pencil but didn't go into a lot of detail as that can hinder the development of major forms in the design.  Given the unusual composition I feel it's important to keep those big forms somewhat abstracted with the main focus up on that decorative frieze.  So, once the main outlines were established, I just used a heavy Burnt Sienna wash and removed light areas.  Next I worked back in some of the darker areas with the Burnt Sienna as well as just some very light freehand references of the detail in the frieze.  This will likely be adjusted and corrected along the way as I constantly look at how all the shapes and their sizes relate to one another.  Stay tuned as I post future phases.  Hopefully I'll remember to stop and take photos along the way!

So, at this point, can you tell "who I am" (that is what is this building?)

Tulsa Brick x Brick Update

Thought those following the "Tulsa Brick x Brick" series might enjoy a quick update of the pieces completed since December 2009.  Above is a collage of the 14 paintings of these historic and interesting Tulsa buildings.

So far I've painted the following (not necessarily in this order):

1. Atlas Life Sign
2. Claud's Hamburgers
3. Phoenix Cleaners
4. Fairgrounds Pavilion
5. Guaranty Laundry Building (Page Moving and Storage)
6. Boulder on the Park
7. Bill White Chevrolet (4th and Elgin)
8. 320 South Boston Building
9. Philtower Entrance
10. Tulsa Monument Company Building (Benchmark Monument Company)
11. Will Rogers High School
12. The Brook
13. City Veterinary Hospital
14. Warehouse Market Building

I must say I know I've barely scratched the surface, but I feel happy with what's been accomplished so far in the last two months!  Many more are on the list to paint...meanwhile, I'd love to hear your stories about the buildings listed above or others of interest to you.  Have you lived in Tulsa a long time?  Did you or do you now work downtown?  Or, has it been awhile since you've driven through downtown?  What do you think has changed the most?  Would love to hear from you!