Building Investigation 4

Cranky Fins

gouache

5 1/2"x 10"

The Cranky Fins piece was the fourth sustained investigation of a series of 15 and I chose to "investigate" buildings from my childhood in Sydney that held meaning to me. The building I have painted here was a surfers bar and restaurant right on the beach in Sydney. Cranky Fins was so iconically Australian, I couldn't not paint it. It was in the farthest north neighbourhood of Sydney and we had to go through a real pilgrimige to get there. But when you arrive it is set on a beautiful beach with classic Aussie food and surfers and their boards everywhere. Sadly due to Covid it has been closed for close to a year and they don't have plans to come back.

I really liked this piece and had fun painting it, this was the most I have used gouache in a painting as it is entirely gouache. It was also the first time I full just trusted gouache but I still practiced a little bit on a similar piece of paper. Then I sketched it out in my sketchbook and transfered the drawing to the cold press paper I used. Then I just started painting, I painted the building first and then gave the background a green wash and added detail to individual trees.

This project was fun to create a truly Australian atmosphere, the view is if you were standing on a beautiful beach looking back at a dense jungle with a bright blue sky, there are surfboards all throughout the painting and bright Aussie colors on the signs. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the piece until I was fully completed and I struggled with making the trees look good, but I just kept layering paint until I was pleased. Overall I really like this painting.