Portrait of a Beauty in Late Summer

In March I mentioned a warehouse/factory building next to the parking lot of the Pennypack Trail, where I often run or walk. Here it is in August.

I’m fascinated by this building. It’s still in active use, so I am restricted to the view of it I can get from the park. That concentrates my idea of what the building is – I can only really examine one façade of it.

The building looks like it is full of – to put it plainly – junk, and yet I heard sounds of banging or hammering coming from inside, meaning someone is doing something in there. And I know it’s busy – I see the trucks and cars parked around it and people going in and out. It’s a bit of a mystery.

Lastly, it’s a typical example of a style of building once very common around here in Philadelphia – the huge long open span building with clerestory windows. No extra detail, meant to be utilitarian only, and yet beautiful.

Yesterday was a sunny bright day and after I finished my exercise I got out my camera for more pictures. This time I concentrated on the windows. I just can’t get over the wild array of detail and color in these simple shapes.

So, here are the pictures.

This building is just the kind of place I’d like to tour. Forget museums or historic houses, as much as I like them – a factory or warehouse like this one is just the thing for me.

Trees and the Tree-like

Two more experiments with watered-down acrylics.

The first one is my impression of trees and green plants growing in the flood plain near the Pennypack Trail in Lorimer Park, Huntingdon Valley, PA. I also used an acrylic paint pen for some details.

Forest floor

The second one depicts a tree-like creature, looking a bit desperate, and flailing at the moon. I don’t know where this one came from but I hope it all works out ok.

I used the same paint techniques for this one as for the one above.

Creature fending off moonlight.

Both of these are a good size to be sent as postcards so maybe I will do that later on.

Portrait of a Beauty

This morning I parked my car in the lot at the end of the Pennypack Trail off Huntingdon Pike in Huntingdon Valley. My plan was to go for a run on the trail. I got sidetracked by this building next to the lot. I have often admired it but today it really seemed to be calling out to me – the light was soft on it and all the personality of this old factory structure shone out.

Before I started my run I took a lot of pictures, just walking back and forth along the one side of the building. I don’t know what it is being used for at the moment – I have the feeling it’s a giant jumble of industrial objects inside.

I’m not a photographer and I just meant to take some photos to use for references for paintings, maybe. But things got away from me – there is so much beauty just in the arrangement of the utilitarian elements of the building, and in the way it has weathered and aged. I had to take the time to look.

I didn’t do anything to the photos – they are just as I took them.

I’m not going to say anything else. I’ll just post the pictures in the order I took them. See what you think.