Finding a Roadmap

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Philip Koch, Morning at the Route 6, Eastham House, oil on 
canvas, 30 x 60 inches, 2017, Swope Art Museum, 
Terra Haute, IN

For sometime I had wanted to make a painting of the farm buildings on Cape Cod that the painter Edward Hopper immortalized in his oil Route 6, Eastham that is at the Swope Art Museum in Indiana. The source is right on the main highway that runs through the town of Eastham. Unlike the open space Hopper saw, it's now tightly ringed by evergreens.



Edward Hopper, Route 6, Eastham, oil on canvas, 1941, 
Swope Art Museum, Terra Haute, IN

Much as Hopper has inspired me, I wanted to do a painting that would stand on its own, free from his long shadow. So instead of jumping right in I took more time than usual imagining different ways I might proceed. It required a balancing act, navigating my way between borrowing too much from Hopper and the need to deal with all those obstructing trees.

Philip Koch, Study for Morning at the Rte. 6,
Eastham House #1, vine charcoal, 2016

Five small drawings in vine charcoal helped me sort through alternatives. I chose this easy to erase medium because I knew I would be moving forms around a lot. You can see ghosts of where some edges had to be moved or eliminated.



Philip Koch, Study for Morning at the Rte. 6,
Eastham House #2, vine charcoal, 2016

Each new study had a different focus, some borrowed pretty directly from Hopper, like the one above with the two telephone poles receding into the distance.





Philip Koch, Study for Morning at the Rte. 6,
Eastham House #3, vine charcoal, 2016




Philip Koch, Study for Morning at the Rte. 6,
Eastham House #4, vine charcoal, 2016

Looking over the five drawings I realized my real interest was in the roofline, the one part of buildings I could see clearly from the road.



Philip Koch, Study for Morning at the Rte. 6,
Eastham House #5, vine charcoal, 2016

The final charcoal study was my favorite as a drawing and it sounded the clearest note of roofline and sky together as the key idea. With the feeling I knew where I was headed, I took the leap and began working with my oil paints.

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