Well, gondolas are vehicles, so I guess this isn’t completely off brand.
As much as I absolutely love creating automotive art, and have an on-going fascination with Art Deco, I think it’s important to explore lots of different subject matter and styles. (You may have seen some of my Pop Art, and Mid-Century explorations). Probing new directions can inform and broaden one’s own “core” style. Plus, It’s just, plain rewarding.
I never attempted a digital painting of a landscape (seascape?), and have been wanting to do something with my old reference photos from Italy. So… I got to work using techniques Iearned at ArtCenter (as well as School of Visual Arts). This piece was completed entirely in Photoshop, unlike my more recent work. I started by blocking out the scene with flat planes of color, gradually refining and adding detail (similar to how I render my more photo-realistic car art).
Though I’m pretty happy with the end result, I should have probably started with a structural sketch, which would have allowed me to identify perspective issues earlier. (Ya live, ya learn.) I’ll likely revisit this piece in the future to add more detail, experiment with color/shading, etc. As I often say, I love working digitally, because “the paint never dries”!
I’m not exactly sure how this exploration will influence my future work, if at all. (Perhaps I’ll cross pollinate my graphic/deco style into this direction.) Stay tuned!