Acrylic on Canvas, 12" x 16"

This was a rare foray into acrylics for me. I hadn't touched them in quite a while, and was curious if it would be a quicker turn-around on a finished piece than oils. It wasn't, and I missed a number of aspects in which I consider oils to be superior, but the washes you can do with acrylics was really interesting to me. Very versatile. 

There wasn't anything spontaneous about this one. This was from a photo I'd taken of a local landmark downtown, during a photography foray with a good friend of mine. I'd recently read an article by an artist that was into illustrating local landmarks, and he put a number of ideas into my head. I'd also been looking at Diebenkorn's work a lot. This piece was the result of those influences. 

The Centre finished construction in December, 1941, and was immediately acclaimed as one of the finest of the numerous Southwest cinemas designed by architect Jack Corgan. I took the reference photo for this piece about two years ago. As you can see in the painting, the upper portion of the sign is beginning to list. It has since fallen, the C and E now missing. I'm glad I got the photo when I did. This piece is a commemoration.