Short North in Red, Colorful Mixed Media Painting

"Short North in Red"
8"x10"
Acrylic, paper, ink, and charcoal on wood panel

The Columbus Short North never fails to get me excited about painting it. :)
Every time I go I just have to take pictures that I stash away in a reference photo folder and boy, do they come in handy!

This photo in particular (see below) was taken from the car, thanks to my lovely passenger at the time. Gotta love when you have someone snapping away for you, so that you don't become a danger on the road, lol.

I started with a ground of various papers, including music sheets, ink, and paint, and I built it from there. See the picture below...

Start of the painting above. The mixed media includes paper, acrylic paint, charcoal, and ink.

I painted most of it at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center, in a painting class. You should have seen the faces of my classmates as they approached and peeked at what I was doing, all confused by the random patterns, trying to say something nice about it.
I know it only makes sense in my head, and anyone seeing the initial steps is like wait, what??

When I try to explain my vision I see the puzzlement it creates in others. But they are nice people, they look for something they like about it, so the most heard comment usually is "Nice colors" - priceless! - That tells me that what they really are thinking is what the heck...?

If they come back when I'm almost done, you hear "ohhhh, I see now..."

The fun that I'm having making the initial craziness become something understandable is exactly what I love about this technique. It makes me smile inside.

Below is the reference photo I used, the painting looks kind of like it, right?
:)

Photo reference for the Short North in Red Painting by Robie Benve

The painting will be soon available at Marcia Evans Gallery in the Columbus Short North.


Thanks a lot for stopping by and (maybe) reading.  :)

Blessings!