Hey, thanks very much!! I do appreciate it.
Used to be I inked all my lines on co dot dot dot missioned house portraits, but that was just one more inessential thing I stopped doing to speed things up. However, the guy who co (la de dah, music playing here) missioned this one, who's a damn good comics artist himself, wanted those black lines in there to give more of the comic book look. I didn't think about it at the time, but it was the right call — the black lines help balance out that super-vibrant red (even if it also creates kind of a CAD/illustration look, rather than something painterly.

Hey, thanks very much!! I do appreciate it.

Used to be I inked all my lines on co dot dot dot missioned house portraits, but that was just one more inessential thing I stopped doing to speed things up. However, the guy who commissioned this one, who's a damn good comics artist himself, wanted those black lines in there to give more of the comic book look. I didn't think about it at the time, but it was the right call — the black lines help balance out that super-vibrant red (even if it also creates kind of a CAD/illustration look, rather than something painterly).

Past life impressions!

When I'm out urban sketching, I try to do the whole thing, soup to nuts, right there. With more finished pieces that I do on, uh, begins with co and ends with mission (trying not to break the rules and get deleted here), such as this one, I will generally take source photographs onsite and work from them at home. Particularly with a large size such as this (22"x30"), that saves me a day of standing in the middle of the intersection with a gargantuan piece of paper. .

Sunsetters unite! I lived at 48th and Pacheco for a while, before moving to 27th between Judah and irving, where I am now.

Give it a shot!

Did you grow up in the Sunset District?

Thanks so much! Glad I could get the vibe right and bring those memories back for you...

You know what's up.

Yeah, current owner, a friend of mine, decided just before the pando that he needed something with a bit more pizzazz than tan. I'd say he got all that and then some.

Nice! WYKYK. I had never lived in or even BEEN to the outers, or even the Central Sunset, despite having grown up in SF. Then in 2015 or 16 I had to move out of the Mission (master tenant moved his GF in) and I landed on 48th and Pacheco. Fell in love with it right away.

I've since moved to a place inland, at 27th near the park, and I can't say I don't love the dining options, but my spiritual home is out in the 40s.

Thanks so very much!!

Yeah, someone else pointed out that the shadows don't quite match up, but, heck, I'm happy with that. I for sure worked from a photo -- wasn't about to sit in the middle of the intersection for three weeks with a 22x30 piece of cold-pressed paper, not in this rain and graupel. But it was looking a bit too much like a CAD architectural rendering. I like that shadow wonkiness. 😂

Wow, thanks so much!!! That's getting my day off to the right start 😊😊

Really, thank you so much!

Thanks for asking, and specifically about the paint.

The red of the full house is, if anything more intense than this. So especially as the Sennelier paints I like to use are not real saturated like, by contrast, Daniel Smith or Winsor & Newton, I was wondering how I was going to pull it off.

Did a lot of tests before I came up with a plan of a base layer of French vermilion, a really hot, orangey red -- which ended up being several base layers, one on top of the other, to make it seem strong enough. Then I laid a glaze of alizarin crimson over it to make it a bit darker, take some of the heat off.

I liked where that was going, and kept doing it, layer after alternating layer, really for days, until it just didn't seem to be getting any redder. So I call it Terminal Red.

That's a very inside baseball walkthrough of this piece. Normally, I like stuff that's low saturation and colors that are pretty dialed back, which tends to be how we roll out here in the foggy Sunset District by the ocean...anx in general a more, uh, watercolory look. Now if you like more saturated, intense colors, I'd point you towards the brands I mentioned above, or M Graham, which is another set I use: beautiful paints, a good value, and honey-based so they don't dry out.

Must be an old photo you saw on Google street view or somewhere else. Friend of mine has owned this place for the last few years, and had it painted this intense color shortly before the pandemic. The house painter kept asking if he was sure, over and over again.

And as far as watercolors go, this is the first time I've pushed them this far. Many many layers of French Vermilion and alizarin crimson.

It's the best! Well maybe not the best, but it's good for us artists.

Speaking of which, do you ever attend SF Sketchers meetups? I'm the organizer for the Sunset Sketchers...we are sort of a subset group, meeting on the west side. Msg me for more info of you want.

Someone in an SF group on another platform dug up a 2015 picture, reminding me how it used to be a pale faded blue. Totally different vibe. My friend Thorsten, shortly after he moved in, decided it needed a bit of pop. He said the house painter kept asking, "Are you sure??"

Pshaw! I don't think the ghost of old Edward is terribly worried about his reputation...but I thank you very much for that generous comment 🙏😊

[EDIT: Typo fixed]

Thanks so much! Getting all that red on, I'm realizing, took as much time as the rest of the painting.

As I was mentioning over in r/watercolor, my watercolor kit was like I can give you the power, Jim, but I don't know how long it'll last!

Many thanks, Formal-Department! A lot of coats of French vermillion and alizarin crimson. A lot.

Also black ink and a bit of gouache and acrylic, 22"x30"