The Big Red Streetcar Painting

I was asked to paint a large red streetcar similar to my St. Charles Ave. Streetcar painting to hang in a restaurant dining room. I decided to document the painting process in this Blog for those who enjoy watching how a painting develops. The concept was something similar to the green St. Charles Ave. Streetcar but going in a different direction using the red Canal St. Streetcar. Lucky for me I had some photos from before the storm as Katrina damaged and put the red Canal Streetcar Line out of service.


Before I began I needed a large canvas so the restaurant owner sent me a 9x6 foot piece of canvas duck. The canvas needs to be stretched and painted with Gesso. I had to build a stretcher from scratch. I decided to use 2x2's as they were readily available at the lumber yard. However the resulting size of the canvas was limited to 8 feet by 5.5 feet.

I used metal brackets and screws to build the stretcher and stretched the canvas by hand using pliers and a staple gun. I like a lose stretched canvas to paint on so hand stretching is good for me. Next

I took the stretched canvas outside to paint on the Gesso. Eventually I had to move it from under a tree that kept dropping leaves onto the fresh Gesso. After drying

I set the canvas up in my new studio to begin the sketch and decide on the composition. I will try to mirror image the St. Charles Streetcar painting and add in things along the residential part of Canal St. Like the older lamp posts and palm trees found there, plus the oaks like the original painting.