Each month, artist Bill Guffey invites fellow painters to virtually descend upon a single location via Google Maps' street view, find a perspective that inspires them, and paint it.
This month, he chose to Detroit — which, you may have heard, is not doing so great these days.
(The latest conscience-shocker: the city's fire department has to put up with thieves, as well as drivers who purposefully impede their calls.)
The rule of the paintout is pretty straightforward: the artists may only use images captured from Google Maps — no outside photographs, including ones posted by users to Google, are allowed (Guffey says he does not post links to the views used by the artists).
Guffey writes:
I was anxious to see what the artists chose to paint this month (Detroit.) Wondering who might jump on the 'dilapidated' bandwagon, and who might look for beauty in an urban, park or industrial setting. The diversity of the submissions didn't surprise me.
Here are some of the works that caught our eye (with links to the artists' websites when available).
Earl Boyer
"Remnant"
Soft pencil on toned gray paper
Nancy Farara
"Dog in the window, Goodrich Street, Ferndale"
Acrylic on paper
Murilo S. Romeiro
"Alexandrine Street"
Pen and water color pencil
Rick Eakins
"Vermont Street, Detroit"
Oil on canvas
Catherine Hale
"Heading downtown"
Oil on canvas
Janell Nishida
"Detroit Mist"
Watercolor and gouache
Cindy Pickup
"Rosa Parks Transit 34 EB, Detroit"
Oil on wood
Carolyn Owen Sommer
Untitled
Watercolor on Fabriano hot press
Al Woodford
"Rouge River from Fisher Freeway"
Watercolor
Al Woodford
"Last to leave turn off the lights"
Watercolor
(Via Detroit News' Nolan Finney.)
SEE ALSO: 25 Reasons Why Detroit Is On The Verge Of An Epic Comeback
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