Thursday, January 31, 2008

Winters Water Tower


I love old water towers. They have been used for a long, long time to highlight the name of the town they are in. Either it's just the town's name as in this painting ("Winters"-a small farm town nestled against the coastal mountains on the Sacramento Valley side in Northern Calif.) or a salutation such as "Welcome To Modesto". This is an 8"x16" acrylic on stretched canvas. I've just started to brush on a self leveling clear gloss gel made by Golden over my finished acrylics for luster, depth, and greater color richness. More water tower paintings may be in my future.

11 comments:

craigstephens said...

That looks great David. I particularly like the foreground.

William R. Moore said...

David,
Why is your emphasis not on the tower? The two things that demand my attention are the foreground (Size, proportion)and the tree (Color) In your previous painting, my question would be to emphasis the ship wouldn't an increase in size be a solution without changing the original version of the painting so much? Just trying to learn from those blogging on the internet, please don't take offense, definitely not my intention.

Thanks for your sharing.
Will

Danny Griego said...

Looks pretty sweet, David! Love the high horizon line and the shapes are simple and strong. Hopefully you have more water towers where you live!

Danny

William R. Moore said...

QUOTE:David Lobenberg said...
PS: for Mike Bailey and anyone else who might be interested. This speaks to the subject of a spirited exchange of opinions between artists. Go to my link for "Terry Miura Studio". Click on "Studio Notes" then click on a recent post titled "Sketch".

January 30, 2008 8:12 AM

Thanks David for this input, I thought Terry had a good painting , also. In the end the only opinion that works for the artist, weather others think good or bad is his/her own.

David Lobenberg said...

William: Here I respectfully disagree. I think that there is a path from the foreground to the tree and up to the tower. The light pinkish sunset sky plays against the shadowed tower to create a value contrast that highlights it.

David Lobenberg said...

William: You are correct. As artists, we are the final arbiters of whether our artistic endeavors are successful or not, but it sure helps to hear other opinions. Oft times our egos can fool us! Or, we are too hard on ourselves or, do not see that maybe a painting WORKS when we think it does not. This may have been the case with Terry.

David Lobenberg said...

Danny: Thanks Danny. Yea, I have a few more water towers up my sleeve. Believe it or not, the gallery owner in one of the art galleries I'm in said that water towers sell! Who would have thunk, but I do respect his opinion.

Grape Mike said...

Oh Yeah, Dave! We love a good spirited exchange about design, don't we!!

As for Mr. Moore's comments, I would suggest he is jumping the gun a bit on the foreground comment. I think the painting is a great display of line and direction carrying us to the *region* of interest in the painting. A lot of movement that carry us to an active subject that quietly awaits the viewer's arrival. Nice job, Dave!!

David Lobenberg said...

Thanks Mike. Like you, I love the exchange of ideas. I tell my students that any time they disagree with me to shout out. I'll either learn something from them (love that learning) or I can respectfully disagree or maybe they might learn from me! No matter what, it's a "win, win"( as they say in the business community).

Bill Sharp said...

David, This is my favorite of your recent landscapes. Several things I especially like are the way it morphs from an abstract foreground into a landscape, the way the tracks lead you toward the tower but veer of to the side before you get there and the slightly off kilter horizon line. The kind of fisheye perspective also gives the impression that your seeing the curve of the earth. There's a lot of energy in this and it leaves me a little unsettled, all things I like in a painting.

David Lobenberg said...

"...a little unsettled" I like that Bill. Thanks! I'm noticing that sometimes my paintings can stray a wee bit from level. I have a link to an artist by the name of David Loyd. His work can really tilt! Check him out.