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San Francisco: Market St.Near Powell St. ca. 1941

This painting will be a 29"x 41" watercolor of Downtown San Francisco at Market near Powell st. This is the intersection upon which my painting Turn Around Time is set. The pencil image is a 9x12 inch sketch of the frame from a film clip taken in 1941. At present the sketch is fairly close to the film clip frame, but it woll be altered to fit my artistic concept as I go. People will be added details will be added especially to the streetcars and details to the buildings and signs along the street. This sub-gallery could easily take six monts or more to complete. I will try to keep it updated as much as possible. The sketch is drawn free hand , but used a straight to edge to clean up the lines on the buildings and sreetcars. Otherwise it was all eyeballed.. I developed the painting this wa to know where my reasearch would have holes and need to be fortified. I did a number of internet searches of Google images and the San Francisco Public Library web files to indentify certain featuresall the way down both sides of the street to the Ferry Building.Which is the tower in the distance. I hope all of you will join me in this little adventure, and feel free to ask me questions as I go. Also feel free to question what it is I am doing and why. Also fell free to voice your dis approval with my choices.

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Anonymous Guest 24 Jan 2011

-1'

Anonymous Guest 30 Nov 2009

Where are the running boards on the cars? Pre 1940s cars had running boards. Not every car in the picture can be a new car.

Artist Reply: Running boards became less and less prominent through the 1930's which was most likely due to the influence of modern industrial design and the introduction of streamlining that was all the rage from the early thirties on. The greatest width of the running boards was toward the front of the passenger compartment to just behind the front wheel wells, and from most angles in old street photos the running boards were obscured by the front wheel wells. In most old photos including the link to the old car brochures in this reply you can see how little attention the running boards command from some angles, http://www.lov2xlr8.no/broch1.html. In most street scenes the cars are coming directly at you or are going directly away from the viewer, so almost all views of any details on the side of the car are obscured by the over sized wheel wells. In most cases all the artist can do is to suggest the presence of running boards by creating what is known as "negative space" between the front and back wheels.

Lisa Hill 17 Nov 2007

this is so cool, I love to see how other artists work. Whenever I so a pencil sketch first the pencil always shows through. Do you not get that problem? I think you are an amazing artist and your attention to detail is breathtaking, Lisa x

Artist Reply: I erase the lines before I apply pigment. I also do a lot of finish detailing with a 9H drawing lead with I will erase as much as needed.

Anonymous Guest 07 Aug 2007

this is very nice work. i worked on the renovation of the Hale Bros Warehouse (just out of the frame at 36 Fifth St.) and know this scene well (as it has appeared ca. 1998-present). I currently work at the foot of Market St. it's a nice scene.

Artist Reply: Thank you for your comment. This has been an historically rich vein of images since they filled in Yerba Buena Cove in the 1850's.

Robyn Sturtevant 22 Jan 2006

I'm going to enjoy the journey your taking us on. Your work is awesome. The time and effort you put into each piece is amazing

Artist Reply: The journey is where the enjoyment lies. I just thought I would share it.
Artist Reply: The journey is where the enjoyment lies. I just thought I would share it.