A Higher Education

"Turl Street"

By James Swanson / Traveler Kallie Day

16" x 11" Oil on Linen Panel

See the journey of this painting here and the story below.

She came, she saw, she conquered.

Traveler Kallie Day

This next traveler painting project inspiration comes from my niece Kallie Day, who was studying aboard in Italy a few years back. 

Florence Italy, all photos are from Kallie's trip.

 Kallie was junior at Skidmore College when she had the chance to go to Italy for a semester to study design. While she was there she did a lot of sight seeing of her own. 

Gull and Big Ben

Kallie and her classmates somehow were able to get to London over a weekend and did the town.

The Traveler Painting "Turl Street" When this project idea first came up I was very lucky to have my niece Kallie an Art major in Italy studying. When I mentioned the concept to her, Kallie offered up any photos I wanted.

The photo that inspired me the most right off the bat was this Oxford street shot of hers. 

Oxford, photo inspiration for the painting.

I must say, at first I thought it was Cambridge I was painting, but was quickly corrected by some English friends when they saw the painting.

Here are the steps to Turl Street.- I started this painting as a painting demonstration in front of my class.

The rough oil sketch on canvas to start the painting. I already had a composition sketch made and transferred  it to the canvas. I knew I wanted to paint this one very loose with strong bold strokes. I rubbed and brushed in the sketch with a mixture of Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna. At this point the painting was done in my head.

Painting in the dark colors first. Painting in these dark colors  first gives the painting all its structure. Kallie's photo radiated this warm monochromatic tone that I wanted to capture in paint. So I didn't go over board with the color and kept my color scheme heavily in the yellows and browns.  

This painting was part of a painting demonstration so I must apologise for the lax of photo steps here. But I was painting very quickly. Here are the painting steps from the last step. The sky was next. After that I painted background to foreground. Watching my paint edges  the whole way. I then painted the street, car and people.

With most of the painting close to finish here, all I needed to do is some clean up and color changes.

Done and signed. All this painting needed was a little warmer sky.

 Details from the painting.

Framed and ready to go.

"Turl Street"

By James Swanson / Traveler Kallie Day

16" x 11" Oil on Linen Panel

A quick update on Kallie- She graduated from Skidmore College, started Kallie Day Photography Studio there in Saratoga  Springs, NY and recently gave birth to a big happy baby boy named Donate. If you need a great photographer I highly recommend Kallie. Thanks for the photo Kallie

The artist and the Traveler is always looking for new spots to paint and interesting stories to hear about them. If you have any you con contact me here or through the website www.theartistandthetraveler.org

Until next time.