Today’s watercolor experiment:

I consolidated two photographs as a reference for today’s graffiti study.  I took one of the photos of the warehouse at ground level, but could not get a good sense of the rest of the building from that vantage point. At the time (1990s) I used a darkroom on Vestry Street, on Manhattan’s west side, just a couple of  blocks below Canal Street. I got a pretty good photograph of the upper portion of the building from the window of the studio. Every single window opening, flanked by miniature doric, brick columns was blocked off.

I have been reading The History of Art by E.R. Gombrich. He spent much time reviewing architecture from ancient times through the 15th century. That must have been the impetus for me to include the arch and columns of the second-story window in my watercolor sketch below.

Warehouse Graffiti
6″x4″ 140# Mixed Media Paper

The colors I chose do not correspond to real life. The combination of red brick and yellow ochre wood coloring work very well together.

I particularly like the cobblestones in the foreground.

Below is a composite photograph showing how the upper portion of the warehouse fit with the graffitied portion that I chose to sketch.

Composite Reference Photo

This scene warrants a larger rendition of the three graffitied doors; possibly a tryptic or a single sketch on larger-format paper.