Interpretations of Richard Diebenkorn

Street Scene, colored pencil, copyright Nina Leung, 2013

All of my interpretations of Diebenkorn's Cityscape I  have a similar palette. I simply cannot get away from the greens, blues, and touches of yellow or rose. They're all so San Francisco to me and so Diebenkorn. He grew up in Berkeley so he knows the colors of San Francisco!

Cityscape I is very geometric, but I have such a hard time being THAT geometric in the shapes I use. I had to give them a little more curve. It's impossible for me to make perfect angles and lines. My hands won't let me.

Curved Geometry, chalk pastel, copyright Nina Leung, 2013

The blues of the sky and bay, the greens of the hills, redwood and eucalyptus trees, and the bits of warm colors from the buildings, Sutro Tower, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Now I fully understand why red was the chosen color for that bridge. It's the perfect compliment to the cool greens and blues surrounding it.

Wire, watercolor, copyright Nina Leung, 2013

The lines of those intricate and amazing electric bus wires. LOVE! One of my favorite things is to watch the bus drivers get out of the bus to reattach the bus to the electric wires. Sometimes they spring off making a fantastic, almost cartoonishly exaggerated spring-y sound. The whole process is so San Francisco.

Gio's Colors, chalk pastel, copyright Gio Leung, 2013

These last two are by my 4 year old son, Gio. He did a marvelous job capturing the colors of Diebenkorn's Cityscape I. He remembers seeing the painting during a visit to SFMOMA. The museum educators had a puzzle of the painting out on the bench in front of it and invited Gio to try to piece the puzzle together using the painting as a guide. He really had to study the painting and so remembers it quite well, especially considering he saw it 4 months ago.

Filled Colors, watercolor, copyright Gio Leung, 2013

Richard Diebenkorn's Cityscape I

Ipad Rendering of Diebenkorn's Cityscape I, 1963

I've always felt a certain closeness to the work of Richard Diebenkorn. In my first year at the San Francisco Art Institute, Diebenkorn, who taught there, just died. Knowing nothing of him, I attended a kind of remembrance party for him and learned so much about the man and the painter. Students loved him, the other artist/professors loved him. It seemed to me that not only was he a great painter, but a great man.

Color is what I love most about his paintings. His color choices have such a strong feeling. Cityscape I, which is at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, is so obviously full of the colors of San Francisco. The grays, the whites, and especially the yellows. He captured the San Francisco palette perfectly.

Do you consciously or even unconsciously assign a color to the cities you've visited? For me, San Francisco is yellow ochre, Chicago is a rusty red, L.A is aqua (probably because of Hockney, ugh!), and New York City is dark gray.