![Durham Traction Company Sign - 36 x 48” oil, acrylic and cold wax on canvas
Last spring, I read this post about the (locally) famous “Durham, Renowned the World Around” sign on Endangered Durham. I’d heard about the sign for years, but had never seen pictures until Gary dug them up. From his post:
The sign was erected on a moonlight night on December 15th, 1913. [It] was 31 1/2 feet wide and topped by a “10 foot sphere”. It required 1200 bulbs to operate. It was illuminated to a crowd of either “hundreds” or “thousands”.
The sign was commissioned by the Durham Traction Company, which is now Duke Power, and the completely ill-suited slogan was written by two guys named W.W. Weaver and J.E. Banning. No one’s sure how long it actually lasted before a storm destroyed it.
I love the dual naivety and hubris of the sign, and the art nouveau lettering and flourishes remind me of what Durham still wants so desperately to be: A real city with a thriving economy that equally welcomes cutting edge industry and local craft and creativity. Although our much beloved city has made a slew of smart improvements over the last decade, it’s still half-frozen in the early 19th century.
And although Durham has a better track record at preserving its structures and celebrating what once made it wealthy (tobacco and textiles) than most mid-sized cities in North Carolina, some of its developers keep tearing down historic buildings in order to build more bullshit condos and parking lots.
*** (process stuff ahead)
This painting took longer than planned because it kept getting interrupted by more work-intensive projects. The base painting has a little ivory black, but is mostly alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue. The lettering was tough, and I redid the larger letters after my Typography class started. I used acrylic puff-paint and mixed different values of white, gray and silver, which was messy, but the application nozzles came in handy.
After the lettering was finished, I decided to try using a cold wax medium mixed with ivory black oil paint to create more texture with different palette knives. I finished this thing last Tuesday and the cold wax is still not dry. But it’s pretty interesting to paint with, and I look forward to actually learning how to layer it properly.
The electric poles were enhanced with 5 different layers of an alizarin crimson glaze made from turpentine, linseed oil and mineral spirits. Glazing is something I’ve continued working on, and it’s a pain in the ass to learn. But the results are worth it when you get it right. A large version of this painting is here.
If this painting doesn’t sell at some point, I’ll probably give it to Gary for all the work he puts in at Endangered Durham. Not to mention Golden Belt, which is a beautiful example of what can happen when an old, abandoned and beat-up structure is renovated instead of leveled.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/kfibP3zrMfvdoalfyoNUf6PRo1_r1_400.jpg)
Durham Traction Company Sign - 36 x 48” oil, acrylic and cold wax on canvas
Last spring, I read this post about the (locally) famous “Durham, Renowned the World Around” sign on Endangered Durham. I’d heard about the sign for years, but had never seen pictures until Gary dug them up. From his post:
The sign was erected on a moonlight night on December 15th, 1913. [It] was 31 1/2 feet wide and topped by a “10 foot sphere”. It required 1200 bulbs to operate. It was illuminated to a crowd of either “hundreds” or “thousands”.
The sign was commissioned by the Durham Traction Company, which is now Duke Power, and the completely ill-suited slogan was written by two guys named W.W. Weaver and J.E. Banning. No one’s sure how long it actually lasted before a storm destroyed it.
I love the dual naivety and hubris of the sign, and the art nouveau lettering and flourishes remind me of what Durham still wants so desperately to be: A real city with a thriving economy that equally welcomes cutting edge industry and local craft and creativity. Although our much beloved city has made a slew of smart improvements over the last decade, it’s still half-frozen in the early 19th century.
And although Durham has a better track record at preserving its structures and celebrating what once made it wealthy (tobacco and textiles) than most mid-sized cities in North Carolina, some of its developers keep tearing down historic buildings in order to build more bullshit condos and parking lots.
*** (process stuff ahead)
This painting took longer than planned because it kept getting interrupted by more work-intensive projects. The base painting has a little ivory black, but is mostly alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue. The lettering was tough, and I redid the larger letters after my Typography class started. I used acrylic puff-paint and mixed different values of white, gray and silver, which was messy, but the application nozzles came in handy.
After the lettering was finished, I decided to try using a cold wax medium mixed with ivory black oil paint to create more texture with different palette knives. I finished this thing last Tuesday and the cold wax is still not dry. But it’s pretty interesting to paint with, and I look forward to actually learning how to layer it properly.
The electric poles were enhanced with 5 different layers of an alizarin crimson glaze made from turpentine, linseed oil and mineral spirits. Glazing is something I’ve continued working on, and it’s a pain in the ass to learn. But the results are worth it when you get it right. A large version of this painting is here.
If this painting doesn’t sell at some point, I’ll probably give it to Gary for all the work he puts in at Endangered Durham. Not to mention Golden Belt, which is a beautiful example of what can happen when an old, abandoned and beat-up structure is renovated instead of leveled.
