Von’s - Woodinville

Vons - Woodinville (detail); R Williamson, acrylic gel and paint on panel, 1/2023

The first project of the new year is one started at the end of the last - a large painted panel for the new Von’s 1000 Spirits in Woodinville, WA. The scene is an imagined bar, packed with patrons, workers and the extended family of owners.

The main challenge in this case was to paint in a way that I wasn’t accustomed to. Specifically, to bend toward the very flamboyant, impasto style of Leroy Neiman, who had painted a mural 40 years ago in downtown Seattle for FX McRorys. So a lot of palette knife and thick use of paint with resultant texture was employed although I didn’t really come that close to aping his look.

This is being installed today, next week I’ll go back to see how it looks in the space. For the moment, I’ll include one of the early pencil sketches for the composition. In the end, the 7’ x 4’ panel included around 60 figures and a whole bunch of bottles.

Vons - early pencil sketch; R Williamson, pencil on tracing paper; 12/22