I was walking through Mt. Lebanon one day and was stopped in my tracks by a red truck parked in front of Rolliers Hardware store. The red truck with the pink, white, and red geraniums in front of it just screamed “Paint me!”
Trouble was, once I got home and looked at the photo I had taken, I decided the truck wasn’t all that photogenic, and the picture would look a whole lot better with a cute truck behind the flowers.
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| “Old Red”, 8″ x 10″, ink & watercolor on 140 lb. Canson Montval watercolor paper |
So I went online and found an image of an old red Studebaker truck and sketched that in, instead of the homely red dump truck in my photo. The Studebaker is sleek,classic, and curvacious.
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| Highlights on the truck were lifted with a damp brush |
She’s definitely the center of interest in this painting, but I felt the picture needed a human element to add some life to the scene, so I added a woman across the street walking her dog.
The foreground flowers complement the truck and repeat its bright red color.
I like the way all the light areas in this composition and the vertical lines of the buildings and the lamp post lead your eye to the truck.
This was a fun one to paint, and since it didn’t sell at the show, it’s still available! The price is $300 for the framed and double-matted painting. Contact me if you’re interested at ljfehling@gmail.com.
