About the Art

The Inspiration

Each painting in the West Side Heritage Tour began with research. After selecting the stories that best represented each community, I gathered the historic photographs, articles and oral histories that provided insight into how the area looked and how the people lived during their respective time periods.

Using historic photographs as reference, I created a series of preliminary studies in gouache and acrylic on watercolor paper, most of them in sketchbooks or on loose sheets. These small studies allowed me to explore individual figures, buildings, and moments before bringing them together into a larger narrative. The next challenge was composition.

I arranged and rearranged the studies on a 12 × 18-inch board, experimenting with different relationships between scenes until the paintings told a cohesive visual story. Once the composition was finalized, the study was transferred to a 24 × 36-inch canvas using a grid, allowing the original design to be enlarged while preserving its structure and balance.

The three large community paintings featured in the tour are all acrylic on 1½-inch gallery-wrapped canvas. In addition to these centerpiece works, many of the original studies—and several larger paintings that grew from them—are displayed in the gallery as part of the exhibition. Together, they offer a glimpse into the creative process behind the West Side Heritage Tour, from the first sketches to the finished narrative paintings.