Parking Under the Overpass oil painting

A line of cars are parked under the freeway.

PARKING UNDER THE OVERPASS, canvas size: 24” x 36”

The drama of this cityscape comes from the shadow that falls at an angle across the front of the painting. The shadow falls over a parking lot with five cars parked next to each other. Just beyond them, a for more cars are parked near a show fence. Above them all is an array of interstate overpasses. Two cut from the left to the right. Another one on the right displays a curve. On the left, a small portion of another section of highway is the cause of the shadow that cuts across the painting. On the horizon is a bright blue sky and a number of downtown buildings.

Artistically, I am attracted to contrasts or visual contradictions, especially when it concerns the basic elements of art. Some of the Impressionists used contrasting colors and it became the basic idea behind pointillism, but an artist does not need to lay tiny dots of contrasting colors to make that point. Large areas of light and dark or of contradictory colors can also create some form of artistic excitement. The shadow that falls across a large part of the foreground of this painting forces the viewer to look deeper into the painting. The brightly colored area where the cars are parked and the sky is blue is boxed in by a number of shadows. And unless you are intrigued by those darkened sections, it’s the brighter areas that your eyes move towards. And as an added inducement, the color red is sprinkled generously through that area in a number of shades.

I found this location in early spring, on a nice, sunny Sunday. The springtime weather pattern seems to follow a weekly cycle. Sometimes I get lucky and the rain will fall on the weekdays and the weekend weather will turn out nice. That timing was really important with this painting as a university and many city employees used this lot for parking during the week. While painting many parked cars did not bother me, finding the same parking place open would get a little annoying.

Attempting to capture spring in the painting was important. I wanted to paint the young trees in their spring foliage as the more open look of the half bare trees allows for a more open view of the highways.

This painting is favorite of mine and there is a lot that I like about it; the deep shadow that falls across the front and the red car on the right for starters. I always like to paint red cars because they bring the right contrast to the sunny neutrals of concrete, the greens of the trees and the blue skies. I have searched for other colors to use in that position but they just don’t seem to work.

Other works of Fine Art you may enjoy:

The Connections Of Mary Cassatt

Bend In the River, an oil painting

Silence In the City, a cityscape painting