"Smart Car Choices", 34" x 34" acrylic and watercolor on gallery wrapped paper

Smart Car Choices by April M Rimpo

Smart Car Choices

acrylic and watercolor

34" X 34" varnished gallery wrapped paper
$2550

Available for Purchase

I started this painting just because I enjoy aerial views of cities and felt the cars and vans presented an interested design opportunity.  It wasn't until I got part way into the painting that I felt the painting was more than just an interesting aerial view.  One of the vehicles is of the "smart car" ilk. When I see these small cars on the road I am always amazed at how tiny they are.  They make me grin and wonder if they might fit in better on a bumper car track rather than competing with trucks and SUVs on the road.

The more I thought about the various vehicles in the painting, the more I thought the painting should be about people’s travel choices.  Here we have two large vans, much larger than the “smart car”, that might provide driving and parking issues in a large city. There are also two cars, one a bright red sports car, the other a white sedan, perhaps a rental car.  Then there is the taxi cab where you can just let the other guy drive.  And don’t forget the bike chained to the street sign post.  Lastly, there is the person walking. There are many choices for people with different preferences

Do you find your location drastically affects this choice?  I have always loved sports cars, but alas, I succumbed to a sedan when my son was in high school so we had room for the whole family.  Don’t get me wrong, I now love that car, but at times I miss my sports car.  When in the big city I general prefer walking or taxi if going a long difference. What would be your preference?

Other transportation paintings:

• More Beautiful with Age
• Aerial Bikes I
• Aerial Bikes II
• Delivery Trike
• Missing You
• Streetcar
• Department Store

Interested in a print? Prints are available on watercolor paper or on a gallery wrapped canvas. Check my print shop.

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Copyright April M Rimpo All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

"A Conversation" watercolor 14" X 10" image

A Conversation by April M Rimpo

A Conversation

watercolor

14" X 10" image

21" X 17" wooden frame

$295 plus $12.50 shipping within the United States

"Making a Difference" 24" x 24" gallery wrapped acrylic and watercolor

Making a Difference by April M Rimpo

Making a Difference

Fluid Acrylic and Watercolor

24" X 24" varnished gallery wrapped paper

$1375 within the United States *

Available at HorseSpirit Arts Gallery

Phone: 410-461- 4505
Email: info@HorseSpiritArtsGallery.com 
Open: Open 6 days a week, check their website for hours

Here is my painting for the invitational exhibition held at the Columbia Art Center Galleries in coordination with the Howard County Tourism & Promotion's Blossoms of Hope, which runs April 10-April 27, 2014. This year's theme "Vision of Hope" is in recognition of James Rouse’s 100th birthday, and celebrates Mr. Rouse’s spirit as a visionary.  The paintings in the exhibit are inspired by his quote “Optimism stimulates energy, spirit, home, and action.”  Proceeds from the exhibit support the Claudia Mayer/Tina Broccolino Cancer Resource Center at Howard County General Hospital.

For my entry I wanted to combine Mr Rouse's vision of hope with the great work done at the Claudia Mayer/Tina Broccolino Cancer Resource Center and decided to focus on a walk for cancer.  I researched the closest breast cancer walks to where I live and decided to highlight the walk in DC and the Washington Monument, where the opening ceremony will occur in 2014. To me these walks epitomize this quote. I also wanted to tie in the cherry blossoms that are the symbol of Blossoms of Hope, so I looked through my photographs of cherry blossoms in DC and found the background for the painting.  From there I looked through photographs of crowds so I could include people who were walking that looked natural.  All of this came together into "Making a Difference".

Posts of this painting while it was a work in progress:

• Just starting out
• WIP Part two

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"Making a Difference" Work in Progress Part 2

"Making a Difference" Work in Progress Part 2

I've made a lot of progress on "Making a Difference" and wanted to share the current state of my painting. The people in the cancer walk are getting close to completion.  I'm sure I'll need to do some clean-up to sharpen edges, but I decided it was time to get in the cherry trees to make sure the similar color between the trees and the people's clothing didn't make the people disappear.  I intentionally muted the trees to push them back and made sure the shadows along the bottom were at the right color and intensity to help the walkers show up. Still to be done is the spring green tree on the left.

Let me know how much I need to intensify the people to make sure they are not lost in this scene of DC.  Thanks for your help.

"Making a Difference" just starting out

Starting with the textures (c) April M Rimpo

I was invited to participate in an exhibition to be held at the Columbia Art Center Galleries in coordination with the Howard County Tourism & Promotion’s Blossoms of Hope.  The exhibition is titled Visions of Hope. The goal of this annual event is to help raise awareness about and funds for the Claudia Mayer/Tina Broccolino Cancer Resource Center at Howard County General Hospital.

I thought I'd share the evolution of this painting.  As you can see I started out creating some textures in the background that will help provide some form to the trees and give depth to the Washington Monument.

The stars in this image will be the runners in this walk to fight breast cancer.  Since I don't want them to get lost in the trees I decided to develop them first and then move to the background so I can balance the values to keep them as the stars.

"Shipping Port", 10.25" X 24" watercolor

Shipping Port by April M Rimpo

Shipping Port

watercolor 

10.25" X 24" image

16" X 30" brushed silver frame

$615

AVAILABLE NOW FOR PURCHASE HERE

Maybe I should have named this painting "Three Cheers for the Little Tugboat" but it was the cranes in the shipping port that really attracted me to this landscape.  My husband and I were traveling across Puget Sound on a ferry when this port became visible across the water.  The large structure of the cranes and the rainbow hues of the crates stacked at the port are what  caught my eye.  I had fun using very wet and soft washes of the background hill and down into the crates at the port.  I left the soft background to provide a sense of distance, arial perspective.

I layered washes over that soft pastel area to the right of the cranes to add structure to the crates.  Although the ship was in the foreground I simplified shapes on the ship so the lines and structure of the cranes could be the stars of the painting.

"Icicles", 26.5" X18" fluid acrylic and watercolor.

Icicles by April M Rimpo

Yesterday the Mid-Atlantic region what glazed with ice.  Lots of people shared their photos of beautiful chrystaline scenes.  This storm reminded me of another we had a few years ago that had resulted in my painting, Icicles.

I've loved icicles as a child in New England when they grew from the gutters into long swords. Here in Maryland the icicles create amazing fringe on the plants and trees.  The ice encapsulate berries and seed pods.  Trees bend like they are bowing to Mother Nature.

Creating the delicate pale pastels of the ice while achieving the bold and varied colors of the leave led me to use a combination of watercolor and fluid acrylic.  Combining these two media let me use their strengths to capture this icy scene.

Below are photographs that show a few of the steps along the way.

Icicles

watercolor & acrylic on paper, matted and framed 35.5" x 27"

$1000 shipped within US