St. Louis Fox Theatre

This verone-style picture of the Fox Theatre, the centerpiece of Grand Avenue Arts District in St. Louis, was produced as a gift for my mother in law. The image is an inexact, partially perspectivally-corrected version (tracing on black substrate is impossible), eyeballed from an internet photo, a departure from on-site and self-photographed work. The effect of the neon sign as it plays across the ornate masonry of the noble theater is the star of this work. The blue of signage and a sentry light atop the nearby towers contrasts with the heat of the red neon sign. The piece was produced in 5 hours and is the first new verone-style image since j8584 in mid 2010. The arts district had been a hotbed of my thirtysomething romance with the city: see j63b6, j65a9, and the Fox was a long-relished subject. The image is the “daughter” of the perspectival correction at j65a9 and the masonry of j6421, pieces I am proudest of, a decade and a half after their execution. This work appears against a disdain of artistic talent and the apparent “uselessness” of it, a sort of ironic “post artistic” phase of mine lately. It was a fun piece to produce and maybe could foster a sketching revival, as my 9 year old son was piqued by the work. (Cezanne and son would paint from time to time). What amazes me was the easygoing, carefree simplicity of making the piece, something I would’ve long suffered about and rethought — not a single erasure, just very confident composition and execution like none I’d felt in my thirties or before. Years ago I had painstakingly-precise “maps” of the color spectrum of the pencils I used; this time I didn't have it and the flow was highly efficient. The only thing I wish I could have changed was producing it on-site or from my own photograph. Produced 31 December 2015 = Tayya 974b, nine dozen seventh life-phase.

This page last modified Saturday 2 January 2016.