As a nod of thanks and appreciation, I recently completed a landscape of the Kerbey Lane Cafe in San Marcos, where I recently wrapped up a solo show, “Something for Everyone”. The restaurant is located in a historical building on the San Marcos River. The view of the river from the patio is amazing, but the sight of the restaurant from the river itself is arguably the better perspective.
Now the first time you look at this painting, you might actually need the reference photo to know what you’re looking at. It’s not every day that one comes across a restaurant with “river AND a waterfall” as a seating option AND $7 local brewery pints!
This painting introduced new challenges and the according hard lessons along the way. Two of particular note dealt with architectural elements:
- Window Reflections: I’ve done reflective surfaces numerous times, so I understand the foundational techniques. However, the windows on the back of the restaurant had a coating that effectively made them massive mirrors. This meant the sky reflections needed to be more precise, yet despite numerous wipes and re-paints of the windows, I couldn’t get it just right… something just looked artificial about it. On a whim I put the vertical window seams into the composition and “voila!”, suddenly it translated as mirrored windows!
- Screen Windows: There is a real nuance to getting this right, and something I’d never tackled before. I’ll be honest, luck had more to do with the final result than anything – my artistic creativity isn’t the best of friends with architectural features of the world. If you look closely at the screened-in patio, you’ll notice the most prominent part is in the sunlight, and that area is nothing more than the original underpainting of burnt sienna. The very thick, toothy nature of the canvas board also contributed ideally to the aesthetic without much need for artistic technique. That said, I’ll remember this bit of serendipity the next time I run into a screened porch.
Ultimately, I’m very happy with the final result. The staff at this location were fantastic supporters of my artwork and an absolute pleasure. I’ll have to do another show at that location in the future.
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Art Bern 