From Republic Square

From-Republic-Square

Republic Square is a small public park that sits on a western edge of Austin.  Looking eastward from the park a changing skyline can be seen.  The older government buildings are now back dropped by towering glass buildings that reflect the sky and clouds.  As my paintings move from Scotland to Austin, I find myself having to adjust my painting style. The buildings I painted in Scotland barely rose much higher than a few floors, even those I saw in Glasgow and Edinburgh were not extremely tall.  While this was true for Austin not that many years ago, the economy and tax incentives have led to a rapid growth of these 40 story towers.

Masking tape, lots of masking tape, helps me achieve the long straight lines my jiggily hands would not allow me to paint.  Between the windows I have used a narrow pin-stripping tape to block off what I don’t want painted.  This process allows for several options, which are best to apply in a consistent manner.  I can paint the brick and mortar of the building first, then when the paint is dry, mask that part off leaving the windows to paint; or I can do just the opposite and paint the entire building as a window, then mask off where the windows will remain and paint the brick and mortar of the building.  Either works, but I have found it is much easier to tape off the building first, leaving the windows in the gap between the tape to paint.

The tall glass structures present a similar challenge that can only be solved by painting the windows first at the same time I paint the sky. I then mask the outline of the building to add its contours and structure, while still maintaining the reflection of the sky.

So palette knives in one hand and rolls of masking tape in the other, I am able to paint the familiar and not so familiar buildings of Austin.  Thankfully trees will always be trees.