Well, here we go again. I have been infatuated with the tin litho cars of my childhood, both by their great color printed exteriors and by their simple design. I found a tin 'bakery car' that was the beginning point for this painting. I needed a bakery to park the car in front of, so I opted for the building above, an antique store here in Laguna Beach. It has some great lines on it and the sun hits it early in the morning, showing off it's 3-dimentional design. I will have to modify the building quite a bit, removing windows, street signs, etc. and then adding my own signs to make it into what I think a 'bakery' should look like.

Here is my mock-up for the painting. I've constructed a small portion of the building to give me some information as to how the shadows will fall from the 'neon' sign. The tablecloth will replace the street.

Here's the car that put this image into action. Notice the sign on the driver's door..."FRESH BREAD"... That will be the title of this painting. And no "FRESH BREAD" painting would be complete without...

... fresh bread! This bread was freshly baked by a friend of mine here in Laguna Beach at his bakery. And no bakery painting would be complete without ...

... the baker! This is Ron. He owns and runs "Andree's Patisserie" and is famous for his French bread. I will be putting Ron into the painting. He will be on the sidewalk just in front of the entrance to the bakery, bringing some 'fresh bread' to his delivery man who is waiting along the curb in front of the store. This is going to be a fun painting to put together. Tomorrow I will stretch some linen canvas and prepare it for the beginning steps of this oil painting.

Here I'm using a photograph to sketch in some of the detail for the building...

Here's a close-up detail of the drawing on the canvas. I've sketched in some vague interior shapes to turn the antique furniture store into a bakery. I'll begin applying the first layer of 'turpentine thinned' oil washes, painting areas that have to be a certain color. After all these 'need to be their natural colors' areas are painted, I'll look at the overall color of the painting and choose hues (colors) to balance out the image.

I've begun at the top of the canvas, blocking in the sky, some trees and the tile roof.

I've dropped to the bottom of the canvas and painted the pattern of the tablecloth in blue. Notice that I have added an additional car behind the bakery car. It helped to fill a 'visual gap' in my design. I will continue to paint all the objects that have 'predestined' colors...

Here is the same area with the grays added to the shadow areas.

The basic color and shadow areas of the building have been added.

Here's a detail of the plate of bread. In this photo I have painted the shadow that is being cast on it.

Now you can see the values of the sun struck areas of the bread painted in.

I've begun to paint the 'Fresh Bread' car.

I needed to let the car dry so that I can put some detailed lines on it later, so I moved on and blocked in the butter dish and the second car.

The interior of the bakery and the exterior signage begin to take shape.

"Ron" has been 'roughed in'. I will try to get a closer likeness when I apply the final paint application.

I have added a maroon color to the doors and lower walls of the bakery windows to put a little more contrast behind the baker and to put more interest in the building design.

This close-up shows the 'Fresh Bread' car with all of it's detail.

The painting is now completely 'blocked in'. All areas of the painting have been given an initial oil wash and I am now ready to begin applying the final layer of paint. I will start in the upper sections of the canvas and work down.

The roof and sky are finished...

Another detail of the right side.

The face of the building is painted as well as the 'Bakery' neon sign.

I've put some vintage 'venetian blinds' in the lower windows to the right of the bakery.

Before finishing the inside of the bakery and the baker, I've gone down onto the tablecloth and darkened the cast shadows, which help tell me how dark I want to get with the bakery interior as well as the baker.

The interior of the bakery is finished. The glare from my studio lights obscures the detail a little, but you can see how I darkened the values to make the baker 'pop' or stand out from the background.

Here is an overall photo of the entire painting up to this point. Except for the shadows I need to paint all the objects from the baker on down.

Bread is done! Butter is next!

There's the butter...

Ron's lookin' good!

Fresh Bread car is all detailed... and...

Here is the final painting. Hope you enjoyed the ride!