In the manner of ...

I'm still pondering the notion of looking at the work of painters whom I admire and trying to use some aspect or their technique, subject matter, composition ... in my photographs. Last month it was the simplicity and sparse composition of Norman Lundin. In February's Print of the Month I'm looking at Edward Hopper's paintings of deserted or nearly deserted city streets -- in particular "Early Sunday Morning".

Early Saturday Afternoon in the manner of Edward Hopper.

Hopper's painting (Early Sunday Morning) shows a row of vintage city low-rise buildings with a single figure sitting on the curb. It contains his usual attention to the details of the building -- materials as well as (such as it is) architecture. The only splash of color in the drab building fronts is a slightly askew barber pole. The lonely figure in the left gallery window and the splash of white in the right gallery window are my substitutes. I fancy that Hopper would have appreciated the untidy network of wires above the roof line.

I took this photograph in Georgetown (the Seattle neighborhood, not the D.C. one). It is rapidly becoming a gallery/art/cafe neighborhood largely through repurposing sturdy old commercial and industrial buildings. It's a neighborhood that still has some character -- no new high rise buildings or upscale shops. As the pandemic eases off I plan to photograph there a lot.

Among the many things I admire about Andrew Wyeth's paintings is the way he paints light falling through a window. In his "Overflow" he has raking light from the right spilling through onto a broad window sill. I don't have Helga Testorf sprawled half asleep on the bed (can't have everything) but I do have an east-facing window and in the winter the early sun to the south spills into our bedroom not on a broad window sill but onto a dresser.