COMMISSIONS PAINTER'S WORKSHOP

CATEGORIES, TAGS, ARCHIVES

CATEGORIES

DATES



My Old Haunt

Stacks Image 7228
Stacks Image 7230
Stacks Image 7232
Stacks Image 7234
My Old Haunt, oil on canvas, 52 X 52 inches, work in progress, copyright ©2015
History 
History:

The Red Lion Tavern is a Spokane institution. In the mid 1960s it was a predominantly black bar, with a separate food concession that fed fried chicken, fried bread and ribs to the bar through a window. The food concession was open to teenagers, and we would hang out there eating fried bread and listening to the jazz and soul that populated the juke box. In the bar there was a white bartender with appropriately long sideburns. Everyone called him “Whitey.”

In the later 60s the food concession was absorbed into the bar, which expanded to include pool tables. There was a painting on the wall next to the bar, of a man stabbing his own eyes out, perhaps an Oedipal reference. The graffitti above the urinal in the Men’s Room said “F**k the whole 5th grade!” It was now a mixed bar, full of hippies and cruisers. The constants were the great Jazz and Soul on the juke, the chicken and ribs, and Whitey.

In my early to mid twenties the Red Lion Tavern was the launching pad for not a few love affairs, and certainly the source of a good number of headaches and hangovers. It still exists, at Division Street and Main Avenue. Whitey is long gone. It is quite a bit more staid, and there are no longer the ubiquitous peanut shells all over the floor. But the chicken tastes the same, the ribs are still good, and the fried bread is just right.
Technical Notes 
Technical Notes:

The first image represents the cartoon, drawn very rapidly, first w/ graphite pencil, then fixed w/ burnt umber using a medium small filbert brush. The painting was first squared up from a smaller sketch.

The second image represents the lay-in. The objective was to get an approximation of the color, in very general terms. This was done also very rapidly, using large brushes and mixing the color directly on the palette. No colors were pre-mixed, I prefer to always be responding to the color in my subject as I paint.

The color at this stage is a bit exaggerated, and I want it to remain so. I want it to be a bit garish, like the bold colors of comic books or shin hanga prints.

By using this website you agree to our cookie policy