Click the image to view a video of the Spires & Steeples in HD at Vimeo and here for YouTube version.
For our wonderful Thanksgiving holiday we moved furniture for our daughter who is now living in Washington, DC. On Thanksgiving Day the Smithsonian Museums were open, so an easy trip to the National Gallery of Art and the Freer were in order. What a treasure we have in those museums. The Corcoran has a Sargent exhibit that will leave early January. We weren't able to take that in this time but hope to return with another load of boxes.
I haven't been able to post lately but have plans for several DC images along with plein air pieces of local items of interest. On Thanksgiving morning I got out on the mall early and found a wonderful fog was present and providing the perfect atmospheric background for the old Navy Memorial (Peace Memorial) and the Grant Memorial at the foot of the Capitol Building. The fog was pretty thick and the Capitol dome was barely visible. The last time I was in the area I was taken with the Navy Memorial or The Peace Memorial, but it was a sunny afternoon and the statues were surrounded by white tour buses, which made for a curious view. This time only a few joggers and occasional police cars came by. It was pretty great! I'm so glad I got up and out early. I'm thankful for many things.
Below are some of the drawings I made for this painting. There were several variations but I quickly settled into what I needed to do. Symmetry of buildings, balance of sizes, the inclusion of fountains and trees, and the civic buildings central seemed the correct way to proceed.
I did entertain working them up separately and then combining them digitally into a larger composition. You may recognize the solo spire as a street view of First Presbyterian. I made a pastel of that church as it looked before the restoration.