city scape

In the Eliza R. Snow building is located in the theater side of the building. The painting is a portrayal of an urban scene viewed from the boardwalk.
First your eye is drawn to the trolley in the right middle. The sloping of the street pulls your eye down to a little group of young pedestrians to the left. The lines of the crosswalk bring you to the foreground to a group of older walkers. From the gaze of the old people leads you to a “no left turn” sign. Seeing signs along the sides of the boulevard you look side to side for other signs and try to discern their words. Along with the signs you inspect the diverse buildings sandwiched together. After taking a trip all around the painting, your eye is snatched up by the tall, striking lamppost and leads you down to the street where you notice the colorful trolley car once again.
Memorizing this painting is impossible. The brush strokes are very thick and give character to the objects displayed. The style is impressionistic. The artist didn’t use any defining lines. The features were simplified.
The scene is a city from a pedestrian’s point of view. You see a portion of an industrious town. The view is from the sidewalk, not down the middle. The city has a dirty, grungy feel from the use of a large brush. An old, almost Roman building sits in the middle of the picture balancing the left and right sides. Varied shops and apartment buildings are scattered along the street. The trolley is full of people; a few cars are on the road and bunches of people are walking to and fro. There is a very good balance in the painting. If anything was moved or taken away it wouldn’t be complete.
The colors in this picture are well balanced with a mix of vibrant and bold and gray and dull. There’s a lot of gray and tan for the pavement, a few buildings and the distant overcast sky. The colors aren’t too complex or random. The common use of gray and tan make the colors pop. He used a cool palette, nothing too distracting. The cooler colors were probably meant to portray the everyday appeal of the city. The acrylic four by five is framed in plain wood painted black. This is nice and doesn’t distract from the composition.
The people in this painting are interesting. Walking across the street are the two couples of elderly people wearing drab colors of brown and gray. Heading towards the viewpoint is a group of four young adults who have vibrant colors of green and blue on. I imagine the old quartet looking at the younger people and the city scene with a nostalgic mood; remembering all of the good times they’d had as young people. With this thought you may look at the city differently, wondering what adventures could be had in these assorted places.
Walking and talking with a friend towards a practice room I’m not really paying attention to my surroundings and I almost miss this painting. Glancing momentarily to my left I stop right in my tracks. It is exactly what I was looking for. A painting I could enjoy without having someone explain it to me but complex enough to have room to interpret. The thick brush strokes fascinate me. The painting looks so messy and cluttered but still organized into recognizable figures.