EVER SO SLOWLY

I'm getting there. Hopefully I'll be finished by the end of the week. Then, I can start all over again.



ONE SIDE OF MARKET SQUARE...watercolor...12x60

48x48 with revised sky

It took me three tries to get the sky that I wanted. The next step is to establish the placement of the primary subject, and from there, further refinement of the foreground which will not be as dark as it is now. If all goes well I should have something to show you in 2 or 3 days.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

I completed the top half of all the buildings on the block, windows excepted, and am now working on the street level...store fronts, doors, windows, etc. If it seems very piece meal, it is, but in the end it all comes together. When this is done I'll start on the other side of the street.


48x48 acrylic in progress

I have high expectations for this painting. The first thing I have to do is re-work the sky, retaining the same stormy mood. The foreground will eventually be much lighter, and the primary focal point? That can't be revealed at this time.

WATERCOLOR IN PROGRESS

Here it is...the proof that I really am working, happily at a pace of my very own. The photo shows my compulsion with hard edges and straight lines in my architectural paintings, a process/style that I fell into unconsciously as I taught myself how to use watercolors. I spend a lot of time laying down drafting tape (masking fluid does not give me the control I need for fine details.), but the payoff is I can be very loose and fluid when I apply the paint to these confined areas.

It is a slow process, which suits me well because I work in bits and pieces, intermittently between chapters of whatever mystery I'm reading. The eventual result is a painting that is immediately recognized as a "Renzulli" by those who know my work. To seem more samples of this approach look at the Print Gallery on my website.

I'm mulling over a new idea for the 48x48" canvas so it sits unattended for now.

IT'S BACK TO WORK!

After a wonderful long weekend with my daughter Amy and family in Oak Park, IL, it is back to work in the studio.


the Miller-Renzulli family at the fountain in Venice during our trip to Italy last fall.


Abigail & William on the tower in Pisa

I've been "coasting" a bit lately and feel it is time to turn things up a notch or two. There is a 48x48" canvas that I started over a week ago waiting for some attention, as well as one large watercolor in its very early stages. I should have something to show of their progress in the next few days.

In the meantime, here is one of the last small wc sketch completed before leaving town last week.


KY Tobacco barn watercolor 7x9"

A RED BARN!?

I suppose that one of these days I will get tired of painting red barns, but until then I'll continue to paint them...big, small, short, long, or any which way. When you think about it, it is no different than a figurative painting depicting the human form in one setting after another.


This barn surely exists somewhere. Here it does in a 7x9 watercolor sketch.

Getting back to work

So, I have been "hanging out" in the studio lately, doing more reading than painting (mindless but entertaining mysteries.). The work that I did complete sat for days waiting to be photographed, and when that was eventually done, I managed to avoid posting them on the blog for a few more days. My mind was elsewhere, that is my excuse and I'm sticking with it!



Autumn Field acrylic 8x8"


Fence Down acrylic 8x8"

I'm still working on the long watercolors but won't have anything to show for a few more days.

WORKING LONG...IN WATERCOLOR

I've decided it is time to lose myself in some work that will probably take 4-6 weeks to complete, giving me something to do when there is nothing else to do. Does that make any sense to anyone?

My goal is to depict the architecture of an entire city block, something I use to do quite regularly in my early artist years. The final painting will measure aproximately 20x60". The first step, after taking the aproppriate photographs, is to get a fix on the relative size of one of the buildings by scaling down the photo. A smaller pencil sketch is done of the entire block of buildings from this scale, and then scaled up to fit the paper. In this case Im allowing 52 inches for the image. Each building will be rendered as an elevation drawing; all depth to be created by shadows. There is no perspective, and the final drawing is done almost exclusively with t-squares and rulers.


I'm actually working on two of these at the same time.


I've exaggerated the contrast here to show the faint pencil lines.


DELANCEY PLACE is a a commission I did several years ago. I'm posting it here so you can see where I'm going with the work.

NEBRASKA PLAINS

is finally completed. This 48x48" acrylic has provided me with several weeks of delightful anxiety and satisfaction. Thanks to the unforgiving eye of my lovely wife I tweaked the area that needed tweaking and am ready to move on to the next painting, whatever that may be.

wip 48x48 #5

I'm not making any promises, but hopefully this will be the last time this painting will be posted as a WIP. My mind has already wandered over to the other side of the studio where I am preparing for my next big project...several Paducah streetscapes in watercolor. I will be working on Arches 300# rough wc paper, each painting on one half of a 40x60" sheet.





The painting on the bottom of the pile is a preliminary one done last year. It will be discarded after I salvage the measurements for its "do over".