Painting a Boston landmark

I’ve had the idea for a while of wanting to paint several Boston area landmarks as viewed through my signature rainy day window lens. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to think of which landmark to start with first. What time of day to do it. Which perspective, which angle. Is this landmark recognizable enough? Is it Boston enough?

After going a few weeks without painting, because of the busy-ness and business of high holiday show season, I was antsy to pick up my brush and start painting again. The thing I run into sometimes after not painting for a little break, is that I’m overwhelmed with the feeling that I have to whip up a masterpiece right away, from the beginning. This then can lend itself to a little bit of painting anxiety, and therefore painting procrastination, where I actually become timid at wanting to create something new on canvas again.

So to break myself of this, I randomly chose a Boston landmark just to have some fun with the bright colors. This is the “Rainbow Swash” gas tank that is highly visible to traffic every day on I-93 through Boston. As a kid I was told that there’s a recognizable face of a man on the side in the blue swash. It wasn’t until I was an adult later that I realized where the face was (hint: it’s a side profile silhouette, not a face-on smiley face like I thought it would be, as a kid).

So, I got to work on just putting paint on canvas in these colors, trying not to get too attached to the outcome. I ended up starting this painting on a Friday or Saturday, so by the time I opened my studio for SoWa Sundays, I got a lot of fun feedback from folks coming through the studios and saying, “Hey! I know what that is!” So, here’s my first foray into attempting to paint Boston landmark, through the lens of a rainy day.