Butch Belair is a photographer and digital artist based in Brooklyn, NY.
He indicates that he drew extensively as a child, but lost interest in drawing for a time and only returned to the practice a few years ago. He began to carry a pen and sketchbook and draw his surroundings, and has since added watercolor to his sketching materials.
Belair says he considers drawing his form of meditation, an escape from the stresses of working, and devotes time to it whenever he can.
His watercolor sketches of city scenes, particularly those of row homes or industrial and commercial structures, are wonderful in their contrasts of texture light and shadow.
He takes on complex scenes as a challenge, working immediately in ink and watercolor, without preliminary pencil sketches, on subjects like metal bridgework and elevated train structures.
He now frequently works in 5×8 watercolor sketchbooks and has posted a Flicker stream of his sketches.
Belair also contributes to Urban Sketchers, which is where I encountered his work.
This guy has some serious watercolor skills. I must say I was a bit surprised going from these watercolor paintings over to his portfolio. But, I suppose a big difference is to be expected when the first portfolio piece that I clicked on was based around a Visa card.
Historically photographers have made excellent artists. All that looking through the viewfinder produces a strong sense of composition.
I agree, there’s definitely an overlap in skill set there.
I agree. His compositions are wonderful.
I love these. What about slice-of-life (er, slice-of-architecture) cityscapes that is so alluring?