Linnaeus Teaching Gardens

Eager for Spring I chose to diverge from architectural pieces for this piece to get a chance to paint some fresh colors.  This 11 x 14" pastel painting is based on a photo I took at the Linnaeus Teaching Gardens at the Tulsa Garden Center last year.  And guess what?  They're open for the season next Tuesday!  It's felt like a very long winter and we're having unseasonably cool temps for this time of year.  But today was sunny and that was a welcome reprieve from the winter doldrums.

It also felt good to have a change of medium - messy, but good.  I think soft pastels are such a lovely medium for portraying flowers, don't you?

More Tulsa Brick x Brick Now Showing at Pearl Gallery

Work or live near downtown Tulsa and looking for something fun to do on your lunch break today?  Why not pop by Pearl Gallery at 1201 E. 3rd Street (one block West of Peoria on 3rd) to see some new pieces in my Tulsa Brick x Brick series, including "Atlas Life Sign" and "Tulsa Monument Company Building" to name a couple.

While there you'll enjoy works by other local artists as well as handmade jewelry and other textiles.  Who knows, you might find something you just can't live without!  The gallery's open from 11-5 pm Tuesday-Friday and until 7 on Thursdays and by appointment by calling 918-588-1500 • Cell 918-640-4490.

Day & Nite Cleaners - Finale

After studying the painting for a few days, I felt that very little needed to be added to complete the "story" about the building and the feeling I was after.  So, I developed a few details a tad more and called it good.

I think it's easy to lose the freshness in a work when one gets too fussy.

I know very little about this building except when it was built, who designed it and that it's now empty.

Built in 1946, the architect was William H. Wolaver, AIA who was born in 1900.  The building is a classic example of Deco Streamline architecture complete with the curved facade and ample glass block windows.  Some of Mr. Wolaver's other notable contributions to Tulsa architecture include Webster High School in West Tulsa and B'nai Emunah Synagogue at 17th and Peoria. 

To see the Day & Nite Cleaners building just take a drive on Route 66 to 1012 S. Elgin. While there you'll also see the old Warehouse Market Building just across the street and back a little to the East sits the Fire Alarm Building.  Go a little further East on 11th and you'll find the Monument Company Building.  Travel further East on the South side of 11th you'll see the Page Moving and Storage Building (originally Guaranty Laundry Building).  So much to see in just a few blocks!

Day & Nite Cleaners Building - Stages 1-5

So, here are the phases I went through with this painting up to now.  We're getting close to completion and will allow this to sit on the easel to study it for awhile before touching it again. (Always a good habit so as not to quickly overwork something.)

Despite some of my "wonky" photos of the painting while on the easel, you'll get the general idea of the various phases.

Some insight - I've used Cerulean Blue, Cadmium Red Light, Cadmium Yellow Light, a little Azo Yellow Deep, Titanium White and some neutral grey for these mixes.  I like this odd mix as it creates some subdued pastel colors.

I saw this morning light as cool and thus created warmer shadows. That's why I chose Cerulean and Cad Red Light to create the greyed, purplish shadow colors.  I like all these colors against that Transparent Red Oxide underpainting.

Here's a fun animated gif showing the progress up to now.


Gif maker

Day & Nite Cleaners Building - WIP

Decided to do another "WIP" (work in progress) for my latest painting in the series.  I did a study of this nice example of Deco Streamline last year and really wanted to revisit this building.  Sadly it's presently empty and has an "Available" sign in the window.  I sure hope that someone buys this building and puts something neat in it.  It's just such a wonderful example of architecture.  It sits right on historic Route 66 at 11th and Elgin - across the street from the Warehouse Market Building.

The curved facade is flanked by tall, narrow glass block windows and features rounded green awnings and  cool neon signage over the entrance.

I challenged myself with a square format, 12 x 12" prepped mdf (for those who like a resistive surface on which to paint, it's a great, non-warping hard surface that should be gessoed in three layers with sanding in between each layer).   I really like the square format, but compositionally find it a bit daunting.  I've started with an acrylic wash of Transparent Red Ochre removing the light areas with a damp cloth.  Next I've mixed the Transparent Red Ochre and Cobalt Blue for some darker areas.  I had to stop at this point - but from studying the photo,  I can see that I'm going to adjust that strong vertical line that runs right up through the middle so as not to break the surface in half so much.

Stay tuned for more posts with updates in the days ahead.  More on the history of the building later too.

An Interview with Australian Photographer David Thompson

Recently while doing some research on one of the buildings I was painting, I encountered Melbourne, Australia Photographer David Thompson and his wonderful blog about Art Deco Buildings from all over the globe.  When I saw that he had over a dozen posts about Tulsa with photographs from his trip here in 2001, I thought it would be fun to interview David and share some of his fascination with Art Deco and especially his comments about his trip to Tulsa and what brought he and his family half way around the world to our fair city!  So, please sit back and enjoy this insightful and interesting interview.

When did you discover your passion for Art Deco Architecture?

I have an interest in Ancient Egypt and started taking note of buildings around the place that had various Egyptian motifs as part of their decoration. Over time I found out that a lot of these buildings dated from between the wars and fell under the broad umbrella of Art Deco.

When did you decide to start chronicling your passion via photography?

For as long as I can remember I’ve taken photos. My parents got me my first camera when I was about 10 years old. So when my passions moved towards Art Deco it was natural that I would take pictures of the buildings.

I started taking pictures of deco buildings in 1996. I saw a story in a local newspaper that there was going to be an Art Deco walk around the city centre so my wife, Liana, and I went along. We discovered there was an Art Deco Society, now the Art Deco and Modernism Society (www.artdeco.org.au) and we have been members ever since.

How many countries have you visited and where are some of the places you’ve traveled to photograph these historic places?

I’ve been to over 30 countries but some I visited before I had an interest in Art Deco. Since 1997 Liana & I have been attending the World Congress on Art Deco which is held every two years. We’ve been to Congresses in Los Angeles; Napier, NZ; Cape Town, South Africa; New York; Montreal, Canada and our home town of Melbourne, here in Australia.

How do you learn about Art Deco structures that you’d like to see/photograph?

At the Congresses there are tours and lectures so it is very easy to take in a lot of Art Deco details relating to a particular place over a couple of days. Presentations also feature other places where there are deco buildings and of course talking with people from all over the world you get to hear about their own favourite buildings.

Otherwise I research what deco buildings are in a city before I travel there. I have Art Deco books that help to identify buildings and searching the internet always turns up some gems.

The Art Deco and Modernism Society (ADMS) produces a wonderful quarterly journal named after an Australian streamline train, The Spirit of Progress. While the focus of the journal is towards Australia there are often articles about places.

How did you learn about Tulsa in particular and what motivated you to travel half way around the world to our city?

Tulsa was chosen to host the 2001 World Congress on Art Deco. Robert Powers made a presentation at the Napier Congress in 1999 encouraging us to come to Oklahoma.

As the time for the Congress approached we had to make the decision whether to go to Tulsa or not. A quick search of the internet revealed the magnificent Boston Avenue Methodist and the Fire Alarm building (among others) so we booked our trip the next day.

Did you have any pre-conceived ideas about coming to Oklahoma to see Art Deco? 

I didn’t really have any pre-conceived ideas what Oklahoma would be like. I remember Robert saying the Congress would be held in the week after it was too cold to go outside and the week before it became too hot to go outside. He then led us in the singing of ’24 hours from Tulsa’ and ‘Oklahoma ... where the wind comes sweeping down the plain’.

Perhaps not how you want your State represented at an international congress but he got our attention and a lot of us went to Tulsa and had a great time.

Were you surprised at what you saw or was it what you expected?

I think the thing that surprised me about Tulsa was how the downtown area shutdown after 6pm. It really brought home to me how important it is to keep the inner city areas alive with shops, restaurants, bars, concerts, and cinemas. Otherwise they die and start to feel dangerous places after dark. I’m sorry to be a bit negative and I truly hope that Tulsa has changed in more recent times.

What stands out in your mind most about your trip to Oklahoma?

The people were fantastic. We had a great time and lots of fun on the tours and the evening functions.
We had one bus tour that stands out included a visit to Westhope in Tulsa (http://artdecobuildings.blogspot.com/2009/10/westhope-tulsa.html) then onto the Price Tower in Bartlesville and the Price House nearby where we got to meet Mrs Price and hear her speak about being a client of Frank Lloyd Wright. It was a wonderful overdose of FLW.

Do you know of any of the structures in Tulsa that you saw that are no longer here?

Thankfully no. Older buildings are always under threat and I hope that if developers can’t see the value in keeping them in their own right then perhaps they will look at the costs of tearing down and re-building versus the cost of the adaptive re-use of a building. Not just in dollar terms but also looking for better use of the earth’s limited resources

What are some of your fondest memories or best experiences regarding pursuing your passion of photographing Art Deco structures around the world?

My fondest memories are the people who have invited us into their buildings. Mostly they are proud of their building and they want to show it off and occasionally they are astounded that there are some mad Aussies taking photos.

It has happened all over the world. In Durban, South Africa I was exploring Berea Court (http://artdecobuildings.blogspot.com/2010/02/berea-court-durban.html), an apartment block and was invited in by one of the residents to see the wonderful interior Art Deco leadlight windows.
In Asmara, Eritrea the workers repairing the Fiat Tagliero building (http://artdecobuildings.blogspot.com/2008/04/fiat-tagliero-building-asmara.html) let us join them on the ‘wings’ of that spectacular building and then some people in an overlooking office block saw us taking pictures and invited us up to their office for a better view.

The people at the Little Theatre in Rochester, NY invited us in and gave us an impromptu tour.

And in Tulsa a resident saw a couple of buses stop outside her house and when a third one came along she asked what it was about and then promptly invited us all in for a look around her house. I’m not sure I would invite 50 or so people into my house just like that but I was very happy to be on the last bus that day because the others missed out.

Why do you think we should value these buildings and what do you think can be done on a local level to encourage that?

I think the buildings from this period can be enjoyed and valued on several levels. Firstly the use of concrete, glass blocks, vitrolite and other building materials gave architects the freedom to design whatever shape of building they wanted and these designs can be valued for their beauty or their breath-taking structure.
Besides the visual element there is also the social side. Many projects were constructed to provide work during the Depression. There is also the opening out of society in general after the stuffiness of the 19th century with an emphasis on exercise and the outdoors as can be seen, for example, in the lidos (http://artdecobuildings.blogspot.com/2009/11/saltdean-lido-saltdean.html) and seaside pavilions (http://artdecobuildings.blogspot.com/2010/02/de-la-warr-pavilion-bexhill-on-sea.html) in Britain
At the local level, I think the best thing people can do is to treasure their buildings, support the businesses and groups that are using them and keeping them alive. Let all levels of Government know that they are an asset to your city.

Miami South Beach and Napier in New Zealand have a whole tourist industry based on their Art Deco buildings. Ranfurly, a small town on New Zealand’s South Island have followed suit and are the town as Rural Deco and some people there believe it has saved the town. I have no doubt that in the coming years Asmara will develop a tourist industry based on its incredible Modernist architecture.

Anything else you want to add?

Art Deco is a truly democratic and international style. You can visit just about any large city and enjoy some Art Deco architecture. Also through mass production the style was used for everything from ships, planes, cars, clothes, jewelry to common household objects like chairs, cups and plates and even coffins. It was a time when artisans and quality were valued and this shows through even in many mass produced items.

The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne staged an Art Deco exhibition in 2008 and it was uplifting to see the range of Art Deco objects. One of my favourites was a streamline style meat slicer. There are not too many styles that can include a meat slicer and the finest Cartier diamond jewelry in the same exhibition. There is something in Art Deco for everyone.

I think what you are doing with your Tulsa Brick x Brick project is fantastic. Raising the awareness of all the fantastic buildings in Tulsa will allow people to re-discover their city through its built environment. Every building has a history and should be cherished.

Thank you David for taking the time to generously share your thoughts and experiences.  For all who are interested in Art Deco and beautiful examples of such from around the world, why not spend some time on David's blog.  You won't regret it!

Tulsa Fire Alarm Building - Animated Gif

Wisconsin artist Larry Seiler has been creating wonderful animated gifs of his paintings recently that really help an artist understand the steps involved in developing a painting.  I don't have Photoshop, but found a cool online service called picasion.com (there's a link below the animation) that allows one to create gifs.  So, here's my Tulsa Fire Alarm Building project animated so that you can watch as the painting developed and see how modifications were made along the way.


Gif maker

Fire Alarm Building - Final

You've patiently followed the progress of this painting and at last I'm finished!  This has been a fun project from the start.  As of the last painting session, I could see from studying the piece that I didn't want the brickwork to be so prominently "described".  So, when I began tonight, that detail got subdued, keeping in focus the frieze work and entrance to the building.  I blurred the outside "edges of the painting to push the eye to the center and up through the painting.  My portrayal of the terra cotta frieze work wasn't intended to be highly detailed, but to provide just enough information to recognize the building and hopefully make you want to go see this place for yourself!
So, when was it built and for what purpose?  Frederick V. Kershner designed this famous Tulsa Art Deco structure and it was built in 1934.  The frieze work is based on Kershner's award-winning Mayan Temple design.

According to the Tulsa Preservation Commission it was built for the following purpose:

"The Fire Alarm building was important because it incorporated the best alarm system available during the early days of fire protection in the Midwest. Originally the city of Tulsa constructed the building to make it possible for all fire alarms to be reported to one central station. From there, the firemen at this building could alert the appropriate firehouse of the location of the fire. From its original inhabitation in 1934 to its vacancy in 1984, the building acted as the alarm reporting center for the city of Tulsa."

About Mr. Kershner:  He was born in 1904 in McCurtain, Oklahoma, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory.  Tulsa Foundation for Architecture notes that interestingly in the mid-1920s, he also studied abroad at the American School of Fine Arts in Fountainebleau, France.  One of his other designs (and one of my favorite examples of residential Art Deco Streamline) is the Fleeger Residence at 2424 E. 29th Street in Tulsa.

Harvard Tower

So, this is the "youngest" older building I've painted in the series so far.  And it's already over 40!  So far, I don't know much about this building except that it was built in 1969.  When the present owner commissioned me to paint it, we both agreed on a fundamentally important detail about the project - clearly, the focus of this painting is the wonderful shape of the structure. 

It was easy to see that the composition best showing that shape would be a vantage point standing at the Northwest corner of the building and looking up thus emphasizing that wonderful concave curving detail.

Another exciting aspect about the project was when I was given the purple family as my dominant theme.  Selected was reddish-violet as the mother color with compliments of warm ochre and tints thereof to create a wonderful warm feeling.

The building is large and hard to miss sitting on the north side of I-44 and Harvard Avenue.  It has a real presence and the objective of this project was to create that feeling along with the family attachment to the place.  The painting is acrylic on 9 x 12" mdf panel and handsomely framed in a wide contemporary pewter-colored frame with creme linen liner and black sides.

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.  Please vote for me...any Oklahoma Blogger can do so.  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.