Paintings-in-Progress

Ladder 49 FDNY
December 2003 to May 2004

The painting of Ladder 49 began first with a trip to the Highbridge section of the Bronx where Ladder 49 and Engine 68 are brigaded together at their station on Ogden Ave. I used to live in the Bronx from 1982—1991 and I worked around the corner from this station at the H.W. Wilson publishing company. One of my favorite diversions from work up on the 5th floor was watching Ladder 49 and Engine 68 do their thing around the neighborhood.
 

I visited the station in late December 2003 and received a friendly welcome. Everyone was helpful and the trucks were moved around so I could get photos from all angles.

I visited again in May 2004 to set up my easel in the
station and get more photos of some details.

At this point, I wasn’t sure what angle I would use, so I wanted to get photographic references for every angle.
 

Since I wanted to paint Ladder 49 in front of Yankee Stadium, I also visited the stadium.  I took numerous reference photos of the stadium so that I would have plenty of images to work from as I composed the painting.

The first step in any painting is building a canvas to paint on: I use heavy duty wooden stretchers as the frame. Unprimed canvas is stretched tightly over the frame using special stretching pliers and then stapled to the frame.

The canvas is primed with acrylic gesso, then usually painted with a semi-transparent wash of thinned oil paint.  For this  painting, though, I’m working without using a wash because I expect to cover the canvas with a pretty heavy layer of paint by the time the painting is done.

After deciding on the composition, I begin the painting by making a detailed perspective drawing of Ladder 49 and

Yankee Stadium using my photos as a reference. I don’t project the image and trace as that process introduces all kinds of perspective distortion. Not to mention, it is not really a drawing.

In my view, a realist rendering of these subjects requires a careful drawing that is as accurate and as in-scale as I can make it. No, I can’t draw a straight line without a straight-edge.

Below:  Most of the important, structural details of the ladder and the stadium are drawn in.

Fine details are not drawn in at this point. I’ll paint them in later on, without drawing them first, after the larger elements are painted in.

I use colored pencils because the color doesn’t mix into the paint like the graphite from regular pencils does so I can avoid using a fixative. Also, the colors help me keep track of corrections and alterations in the drawing.

Here’s the E 68 drawing.

Above:  Ladder 49 and Yankee Stadium mostly blocked in and the flags and poles added.

The aerial has yet to be blocked in. Once that’s in, the real painting starts.

Below:  A little more blocking and finishing, and the finished painting bottom.

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