San Francisco Rooftops

San Francisco Rooftops is probably my most complex painting.

It features 82 buildings, 671 windows, 3 hearts, and one human being.

While visiting San Francisco in 1978, I spent a night at the Holiday Inn at the corner of Van Ness and Pine, 24 (?) stories up, and took a photo with a zoom lens that became the basis of this painting. I did a very detailed line drawing, which I printed as a black-and-white serigraph (silkscreen print), then used several coats of gouache (opaque water color) to create these saturated colors. YES…. I do like to “stay within the lines”….

After working on this painting for 3 months, I woke up one morning and decided “Today is the day I will complete this painting.” I did that every day for the next two weeks, then FINALLY signed it and called it “done”.  I have referred to San Francisco Rooftops as my “Sisyphus painting”, as I could have continued to paint on it for the rest of my life.

Medium: Limited edition lithograph

Dimensions: 25.1″ x 15.4″