New Painting from Stanimation Productions

Broadway Plaza
36"X36"
acrylic on canvas
by Stan Levine

This painting took about three weeks to paint. I used a photograph by my wife, Ronda Levine who is a freelance writer and editor. I originally began the painting by covering the whole canvas with a sky cerulean blue. I often chose the basic atmospheric color for the painting to set the mood, and as a way of just getting into it without having to make any big design decisions so early in the project. I always begin with general elements in a painting before polishing in the final details. When I was a student at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now known as the California College of the Arts) in Oakland, I took a photography class with Chris Johnson as my professor. Having the experience of watching a photograph develop in the chemical bath has helped me to conceptualize my process with my artwork.
The painting got increasingly difficult to complete, because once all the basic shapes are in place, the challenge of capturing all the little nuances of the light and shadow that coats over all the shapes of various components in the painting. It was especially difficult to understand the spots of light that appear to be caressing over the shadows of the buildings on the lower right hand corner. It took many hours of patience, focus and experimentation to get the painting to a finishing point. This is the sort of painting I can see fitting in well on the decor of someone's dining room wall, or perhaps on the wall of a nice upscale restaurant.

Well, that's all for now. I got to get back to work!