Dorothy Connelly
Quick Info: For 2024 ... Two Open Studios Weekends & Three Wednesdays in October by appointment. Come visit on Sept 28 & 29 ... Noon to 5 pm and Oct 5 & 6 ... Noon to 5 pm. Visit on Wednesdays Oct 2, 9 & 16 ... 2 pm to 5 pm.
Living with an international icon like the Golden Gate Bridge is a privilege. As an artist, the question is: can you turn this 1937 Art Deco miracle into a painting that doesn’t look like a tourist postcard? The next question is: can a city girl who paints portraits paint a landscape?
The Bridge may get all the attention, but it’s the sky, the Bay, and the National Park lands of the Golden Gate that make it memorable. Otherwise, the Bridge would just be a pile of painted steel on a 6 lane highway with a toll booth. All the elements of a landscape are really what make the Bridge a star attraction: the light of northern California, the sky formations, the south side woodlands and the northside rocky headlands, the waters of the San Francisco Bay. From sunrise to sunset, the Bridge changes color with the time of day, the time of year, the cloud cover, the fog creeping in and out, the angle of the sun, the reflections of the Bay. So does the surrounding land and sea.
Visitors get maybe a two day view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the usual tourist spots. Residents get a 365 day, 24/7 View of the GGB from all over the City. When GPS takes you down a different street in San Francisco and up pops the Bridge, you feel happy all over again for no particular reason. But which Views to paint? A wise Marin artist suggested that any subject was worth pursuing if you did 100 versions of it and still liked it.
“Postcards from the Pandemic MMXX: 100 Views of the Golden Gate Bridge” came into existence during Covid as a sanity project working from home in a tiny space. I began one 7 x 5 inch painting every day in June, September, and November 2020. Though rarely finished in one day, at least it was a start. Some were based on plein air sketches, others on photos. But it’s the quality time I’ve spent with the Bridge up close and personal over many years that made each painting possble..
Still trying to answer the first question, but you can see the results during Open Studios at my studio at 2377 San Jose Ave, or on Instagram/docosf, or on my website dconnelly.com.
Special NOTE: In this extraordinary election year, Free posters of my painting “Defending Democracy” are available while supply lasts at my studio.
