The Whiteaker Train Tracks--Original Pastel Painting

The Whiteaker neighborhood in Eugene Oregon is filled with interesting sites and people.

An interesting site to an artist is called a motif.

I saw this motif as I was riding my bike towards home. I had just passed the mural at 4th and Monroe--the one painted by Kari Johnson--and as I crossed the railroad tracks I looked both ways for the possibility of oncoming trains, then I saw the sunset and stopped. It was like seeing a fireworks display!

Another bike rider looked over and saw the sunset and slowed down but continued riding. At that moment I was glad that I was an artist and could capture what will only be a dim, self-contained, memory in the other rider's mind.

I dug out my pastels and began scumbling away on pastel paper.

 Now, I can share with you the sunset over the train tracks in  "The Whit"--The Whiteaker neighborhood.

The Whiteaker

Cezanne's Carrot

Paul Cezanne, one of the great Post-Impressionist painters, once said, "With an apple I will astonish Paris."

He is also reported to have said,“The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.”

Cezanne did indeed astonish Paris and set off a revolution; and he is now considered the Father of Modern art.

I used Cezanne's methods of using warm and cool colors to create form (warm colors advance on the picture plane and cool colors recede), when I painted this tomato.

For example, instead of using black to create shadow, I used cool greens, cool dark blue; and a cool red for a complementary color in the green shadow.

Also, I also used a violet (a cool color) under the edge of the tomato to push back the bottom edge.

See Impressionist color theory online for more information of this fascinating topic.

I am no Paul Cezanne and I painted a tomato rather than an apple, but I think that my painting is better off for having been painted in a Post-Impressionist manner.

Thank you,Paul Cezanne for your contribution to art.

You can purchase this painting by direct email to me at mailto:dkbalter@comcast.net or on my Etsy shop account:.net

http://www.etsy.com/people/danielbalter1?ref=si_pr