Site Seeing

It's so close to going live I'm going to declare this my last blog-post before I announce my revamped website of (mostly) commissioned artworks. So I'm giving you one last little tease with another composite picture. This composite represents one of my most diverse commissions. There were three parts to the commission, one part consists of three works, one part consists of four works, and the third part is a single mural. Actually the set of four works were ready made for the Henderson Village,  the designer bought them finished right out of my studio. The mural and silhouettes are very 19th century which is the look and architectural period of the resort but the four works from my studio while contemporary also fit beautifully as they recall twisted wrought iron associated with rural country life. And I thought it was especially clever of Amelia Handegan to include them to bring the place into the present while maintaining the atmosphere.  Then again the period quilt hung like a painting reminds us that abstraction is nothing new.

Composite of my work at Henderson Village

The little detail of my mural, the boat and the figure on the side, is taken directly from a work by Rufus Porter. His work has the charm and stylization of an itinerant naive folk artist artist but in fact he worked out some very sophisticated ideas of pictorial perspective and published his ideas in Scientific America. Actually he held more than 100 patents for inventions. It's quite fascinating that he was also an itinerant muralist. His works are found throughout New England and he inspired countless followers including me!

What's your inspiration?

Business up Front, Party in the Back

Come on in. I've been waiting for you. (Since 1984!)

A view of the front door from the inside.

Are you with me? I'm still in Atlanta (for the purposes of this blog only). And you and me we're going to revisit one of my early, early projects. Look at my previous post and you'll see the funky digs I called home. Meanwhile a typical client of mine lived in wild and wooly Buckhead and by wild and wooly I mean staid and sedate. So here we go back to my grisaille mural for a Neel Reid house. In the 1910s and 20s Neel Reid was the go to architect when you made a killing in cotton futures or whatever. Living in a Neel Reid house meant you had arrived. His work has impeccable lines, perfect proportions, and fastidious attention to detail and this was a great foil for my wild, organic, tropical, leafy mural.

1984 at the top and 2011 on the bottom. There's hardly any difference, an added widow's walk and some  changes to the landscaping are all I can see. Classical architecture ages well.

Work in progress and me on a ladder laboring in the shadows.

Look at those magnificent moldings! And by the way this corner was where most of my work took place.

Me, caught in the act of painting.

A signature of the designer, Jim Young's work, was the bullseye mirror. I think he managed to find a place for one in most all of his projects. Alas, Jim, a celebrated designer with a stellar client list is remembered by few today.

What else can I tell you about this project? After beginning decorative painting on a grand scale for the Fabulous Fox Theater and then the stately Edwardian lobby at The Ponce I had a series of rather forgettable projects in homes that weren't very special until the Neel Reid project came my way. Having really fine architecture to work on makes all the difference. I can still take pride in the painting I did in 1984, the colors seem right and the composition isn't bad, though naturally I could do a much better job of it today. Atlanta has a number of extant Neel Reid homes and many too of his successor, Philip Schutze so I suppose there's always a possibility I might have  a chance to revisit the experience of working in some really splendid Atlanta residence.

This is an overhead view of the Neel Reid house where I painted the grisaille mural.

A short walk from the Reid house is Philip Shutze's Swan House. Yes, this is front and back of the same house. It is!

As a sort of side note I've included a pictures of the front and rear facades of Swan House by Neel Reid's protégé, Philip Shultze. It's actually within walking distance of the house on Andrews Drive where I painted my mural. As you can the see the front and back look as if they're from two entirely different houses. Do you think the pupil was trying to upstage the teacher with this bit of daring showmanship? 

An Artist's Daring Dream House

The David Ireland article in HG magazine (1985?).

More of David Ireland's home in San Francisco.

Crash, collapse, derelict, disaster area,  in a word a wreck. That's just what I found when I ventured back to the bungalow rental home, the last place I lived in Atlanta's charming Lake Claire neighborhood. Let's be clear, when I moved in the house had not been lived in for years and had the predictable deferred maintenance but I went with that and made decadence my esthetic. In fact I had help.

An old church niche and decorative frieze inspired by it. I made the paper star on top, some  stark white and strict geometry for contrast.

A lot of decorative painting used to detract from an ugly space heater. The candelabras are fashioned out of  twigs painted white and that's a real stem of ivy on top of the mirror.

My Atlanta kitchen with pentimento walls inspired by David Ireland.

A detail of the "space heater decoration", a simple trompe l'oeil technique.

The walls are varnished "as is" and I painted the door to (sort of ) match. You can see a bit more of the mantle  painting and the frieze all based on the Victorian Gothic niches.

David Ireland pointed the way for me with his San Francisco Victorian which I saw published in HG magazine. A brilliant conceptual artist, David realized while rehabilitating his home that he needn't return the place to it original condition or conform to any conventions for that matter. He soon realized the significance of the unfinished, of pentimento, and of the mystery of the ordinary.

This was the bedroom/sitting room of my place. Notice the carved wooden curtains. There are more wooden carved pieces on the mantle and the library is actually created out of a hallway.

Another shot of the bedroom/sitting room. The birds and rings motif is based  on Etruscan mural depicting the afterlife.

Soon after I moved into my bungalow I discovered an architectural salvage warehouse just down the road from me which instigated my collection of church artifacts and assorted carved wooden forms. Also, at this time in the world of decorative architectural painting Pompeii was once again being mined for it's stunningly creative murals, wall glazes, and schemes so that was another influence on me.

This is my Atlanta bungalow. I added the yellow stripes to the  awning.

Then/Now. I painted the front door Frida Kahlo blue but currently (as seen on the right) you'll note there's no door to be found!

This Wally Aero Eagle from the 50s was parked across the street from my old house. If only my old house looked this good. It's a shame because the Lake Claire neighborhood is otherwise in great shape.

This was in the window of the Wally. 

It's a little ironic that when I left Atlanta and moved to San Francisco I couldn't wait to paint all the walls stark white. I'm still pretty much that way. I like a neutral background. That's my dream house. Actually for the past several years I've been into traditional Japanese architecture, dark stained wood against white. What do you like?

The 22 Magazine

Now serving tasty hors d'oeuvres. 

From Brooklyn? Yes, yes, yes.

All Over The Map

LGT corporate cities rendered in Mercator typeface

Lightening followed immediately by thunder, I mean it was that close (!), and torrential rain causing instant flooding. That's where I was mere days ago: Atlanta. It was pretty thrilling, actually, the same way a little seismic action electrifies those people visiting from outside of California. But I am back in L.A. now, though, I was downstairs in Antarctica a little earlier today. I'll explain. It's all part of my restoration process, trying to resurrect past projects from my haphazard, on the fly photography. I re-shot some of my work while I was in Atlanta. More about that later. Today I'm all over the map, my world map mural. Go back to an earlier entry for some history but here I'm posting more in a series of rectified images for my new site.

Assorted compass roses

Installation view of my map mural

See, I told you Antarctica was downstairs.

Make it work. I know someone lays claim that phrase but really, it so describes what I do from the beginning to the end of my painting projects and beyond. Right now I'm in the beyond stage which is where I make selections from terrible photographs of my work and make them work with a little help from Photoshop, a lot actually. Then I cut and paste together a collage of impressions to give some sense of what it's all about. My Liechtenstein Global Trust World Map Mural was never lit properly, well maybe, but when I was there to shoot it wasn't so that's a challenge.

Coat of Arms and Crest for the Liechtensteins

Top center of my map mural.

Assorted map icons.

So it is my hope that with a little detail here, a scribbly sketch there, some paint dabs on a card, and various camera angles you'll put it all together in your head and will be transported to the best vantage point to view my work. Is it working? If not or if it is I suggest you acquire my work for yourself. That's the best solution yet. 

Another installed view and sketches.

Palette, details, and Antarctica at the bottom of the stairs.

The Check is in the Mail

And other clichés such as "New Website Coming Soon".

Acrylic and mica powders on canvas, Scott Waterman, Hong Kong, 2001

Have you heard that one? I'll tell you my bête noire, probably my number one bête noire in the blogsphere is: "I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've posted!" I'll never write that. It's so useless and so effete I can't stand it. Please don't do that! Thank you. But I have to tell you something that I know you don't know and that is that this blog has essentially been a stand in for: New Website:Coming Soon! for all of it's existence. It's partly due to me not being sure what I wanted for a new website and partly due to Blogger giving me the ability play around with words and pictures quite easily without the aid of web development skills. So I've been going back to old projects and talking about new projects, even foretelling some projects to come on Corbu's Cave.

Acrylic and mica powders on canvas, Scott Waterman, Hong Kong, 2001 

Acrylic and mica powders on canvas, Scott Waterman, Hong Kong, 2001 

Acrylic and mica powders on canvas, Scott Waterman, Hong Kong, 2001

Cha cha changes are in the works. A new website is coming and I'm giving you a little taste of it here. I've gone back to Hong Kong (yet again, 1, 2, 3) and you, dear reader are getting the chance to see some never before seen shots of my octagon dining room project. These composite images will be used in a slide show and give the world yet another chance to say: yes, YES, we want you. We want that, something like that. Do it for us!

Hello, is anybody out there?

265

265.H, a photo by scott_waterman on Flickr.

I painting I did in 2008 at the framer and ready to be sent to the client.

Ink, watercolor and gouache on paper