Doggie Diner Head(From the Portals To Hell series)
10" x 10"
oil on panel
2010
Here's a quick painting done this week of our local unofficial San Francisco landmark, the fully restored Doggie Diner head. DD was a small hamburger franchise which shut down years ago. Every restaurant had one of these giant fiberglass heads out front greeting diners as they walked in to get their greasy food. This head is the last public pooch, the others have ended up in private collections. It was fully restored and painted with a new coat of automobile lacquer- it shines like a sports car. Doggie now resides outside the north entrance to the San Francisco zoo where he continues to scare little children.
Denny-
ReplyDeleteYou've managed to capture nostalgia and crepiness all at the same time! The painting is amazing!
David @ Ashfield Hansen Design
I mean "creepiness"
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether it's the light or it's actually the palette you used Denny, but this painting has such a wonderful dated look about it. I like it. Especially the clouds..dreamy. Nice to knock out something like this in a week. I look forward to next week's...no pressure ;)
ReplyDeleteApril j
David~ I've been trying to add a little creepiness to my work...I feel it's been getting a bit too sweet and precious lately. I had a lot of fun on this one.
ReplyDeleteApril~ I did lay on a bit of yellow on this one and if you'll notice I gave the highlight on the cap a little Alpine glow to soften it and make it dream-like. I actually learned a lot from this little painting and as I told David above, this painting was fun!
ReplyDeleteI'm working on this week's painting already, hopefully will post on Sunday!
Looking forward to the next installment. Where I grew up there was a hamburger place called the little tavern. Sold burgers by the bag. The buildings are still icons (sadly no more burgers). Looked like miniature tudor sag roofed cottages with great green tile roof. Juxtaposition of clouds and mildly endearingly creepy dog is very good.
ReplyDeleteDaniel
Daniel~ Next installment, I think, will be along the lines of a over-inflated bouncy house on someone's lawn at some kid's birthday party. Or maybe the Chevron refinery on I-80. So many possibilities.
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking in with your kind words...I'm really enjoying your work/blog. Very inspiring!