Monday, July 02, 2007

Germantown House


Today Echo and I went out to paint with some friends and recent grads from PAFA, Andrew and Elana and her husband Ari over at Elana's studio in the Germantown section of Philly. Elana rents a studio space in an old row house.
We had to get up at the very crak of morning and get over there by 7:30. We were out by about 8:30 painting. each of us walked around to find a spot that struck us.

It's been since last summer since I painted outside, or mabe last fall, but it's been a long time. I chose my spot and started painting away, the sun was already on the move. I am always atracted to painting with strong contrasts in them and so I picked a shot that would give me good contrast.

As I painted many nieghborhood folks stopped by to watch myself and the others, including the owner of the house I was painting...and he asked if it was for sale, so maybe I have a sale with this one? I gave him my card.
hard to get a good shot as it's still wet and glaring. I finished it up back in the studio from a photo I snapped as I wasn't going to be going back this week to finish it on the spot. I actually wipped a fair amount out and restated it as I was getting too picky too early and needed to get more masses first...

It was great fun and I look forward to painting again with the gang.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

great oils mike!

I always envy those that are willing to venture outside the studio and brave the elements while painting on-site.

Chris

rob! said...

very nice! looks very Edward Hopper, who i just sort of discovered and have come to love.

i took 2 years of painting while attending Kubert, and sucked at 2 years of painting. i admire your mad skillz.

dobby said...

great man! i always difficult to paint in oil, but i'll keep try.

Michael Dooney said...

nice one, the cars really make it look believeable rather than staged.

Mike Manley said...

ccarman, you know getting out there is a bit of a challenege, but challeneging yourself is something you have to do, even if you fail as an artist as it's the only way to grow. And if you make a mistake, so what..just grab a rag and wipe it off.

Mike Manley said...

Rob, Hopper is a favoite of mine, I was in fact just looking at a book of his work after I did the painting.

Mike Manley said...

Go for it Dobby, even better find a local place and take a few lessons, that will help. I took a summer class 2 years ago for 8 weeks, missed half, but the 4 weeks I took did help me a lot.

Mike Manley said...

Michael, I agree, the car kinda makes it in some ways and was fun to do. I've drawn a zillion cars in my life but don't think I have ever painted one.

Urban Barbarian said...

Nice surfaces. You really nailed it! The SUV came out absolutely perfect too! Gonna sell it them?

Kelly said...

Beautiful painting dude! Great use of color and contrast between light and shadow. Proportions and PERSPECTIVE are dead on!!!!!!!!

Mike Manley said...

UB, thanks, I don't kniow if I'll sell it to them, I don't have the guy's number, I could see if my friend can get it though.

Mike Manley said...

Thanks Kelly. I felt that by starting it there then coming back and finishing it in the studio gave me the break I needed to rework what wasn't working on location. I need to set up another still life today.