Retired

"Retired Power Plant"    SOLD

oil on panel, 2010

10" x 8" (25.4cm x 20.32cm)

Here's another industrial painting of a subject that may not be inherently beautiful to many. A 1950's era power plant. One of the many reasons I love industrial subjects is the palette of colors usually found. The blues, greens, grays, earthy & rusty browns, ochres, creams and whites.

I (and my two photography buffs)walked around the block eyeing the plant, searching for an angle that had some kind of drama, exciting composition, anything that might jump out, when I caught this view. I loved the way the stacks of scaffolding planks, steel, and railroad ties walked their way back towards the power plant, repeated by the driveway and concrete berm. The hiccup in the curvilinear shadow from the guard rail playing off the straight lines was one of those happy accidents you almost can't dream up. And of course those tiny bright accents of yellow and red almost always found at sites like this.

Since it was actually a crystal clear day I made some changes to better suit my concept of a retired but still maintained plant. Using cooler tones in the plant itself and dropping it back into an approaching airy mist separated it from the still utilized neatly stacked planks, steel and ties. Warming the middle ground tone a bit helped to ease the stark rectangular stacks, and reshaping the tree mass to echo the forms protruding from the smoke stacks.

It's reasons like this that I'm more of a studio painter than a plein air painter. I need time to contemplate a subject, create an image that would take far too long on site. It just suits my personality better.23

Click on image for larger view