Upon arriving in Jackson Hole for a three-month, self-funded artist residency — I found myself wandering downtown. What caught my eye in this gorgeous Western City was the glimmering neon signs… and friends, the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar is something to behold.
There’s something about a bar with saddles… I actually took the source image while Periscoping to an audience. The angle felt interesting and different… something I instantly wanted to paint.
Here is the entire process in a shade over one minute, soundtrack courtesy of my boy MH the Verb — who just relocated to Philly. This is doubly relevant, as I watched “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” while painting this bad boy.
A simple shape and two tones… looks like a note, ushering in some Honky-tonk, no doubt.
A choppy blue gradient and some patient letter drawing… beginning to define the composition.
The shadows always reveal… which is why I like to paint them first.
With any painting, a portrait or a landscape, I try to deconstruct each element, and build them over several layers. The wood would eventually see grain… but for now, it’s merely a mahogany gradient. Not pictured… many leather-bound books.
This is where it starts to get exciting… some dimensional play within the sign itself.
It’s strange painting the effect of light before the lights themselves…
Repainted the sky… too light… and spent an entire day drawing in bulbs. Bulb Day… probably won’t catch on.
Oh, and the pay-off pitch… painting the neon in the cowboy, on the dollar and in the boy-B. Each bulb in the red has three tones, that were each painted twice. Now, it was time to darken the sky, anchor the bulbs, grainify the wood, detail the entire piece and call it a canvas.
And voila! The Cowboy Bar, painted… I’m delighted to share, this painting will be entering the collection of friend, ad-man and hockey player Michael Rutstein. Not only have we been skating together for years, Mike founded his agency, Strikeforce, when I went full-time artist… which makes for a special connection. Thank you Mike.
Great post. Thanks for sharing
Cheers!