A Tribute to Edward Hopper in Paint
"A Nod to Mr. Hopper"
I am a fan of Edward Hopper. He was my first, favorite painter. The thing I love most about his work is the mood he creates. His paintings reveal a still, silent world. A world of people isolated in their own thoughts in architecture that offers no warmth. It makes my heart ache.
Take Hopper’s most well-known painting, “Nighthawks.” To me, that building across the street, bathed in dim, artificial light, sculpted in shadow is an entity in its own right. It represents the thing that has driven those people to seek shelter in that clean, well-lighted café.
"Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper
In my painting, I’ve placed a “Hopperesque” building into a western landscape at dusk. A streetlight illuminates its dark bulk in a dim glow, casting it into its own silent world. It’s a world isolated from the rest of the painting, a world that Edward Hopper would recognize.
While the right side of the painting is painted in my own style, I’ve tried to paint the building as Hopper might have, laying it out in two-point perspective, simplifying its surfaces, and stressing its form.