Prior to using digital images, all my paintings were made from thumbnail sketches that were made from the basic idea of what that thing looks like—something I still do. I make sketches and find a similar situation I can photograph. While I have no plans to eliminate the digital image, I have been thinking a lot about stand-ins and models in addition to how the sketch relates to this idea. So along those lines, I made this simple building structure out of corrugated cardboard. It is similar to a house I painted in Wonder Valley as well as a Russian Prison Barracks (which I apparently never placed on my website) I painted about 4 years ago. As for the model itself, I only made what you see; there are no back walls. The ground is my normally black platform, but i was cleaning it and liked the pattern the sanding created, so I shot it prior to returning it to flat black.
