Painting 50 streets in 50 pictures: Local project by a plein air artist highlights the Richmond district

By Clarisse Kim

The image is simple: the border between Golden Gate Park and Fulton Street, cars rushing by. Neighbors and their dogs stroll through the scene, telephone wires sway in the wind; 22nd Avenue stretches out as if it were touching the bay. In the center of the image stands artist Nathaniel J. Bice, his back to the trees, his head bent over his easel, his hands capturing the vibrant Richmond landscape with brush and gouache.

The mission sounds simple, but only in its phrasing: to paint a series of 50 paintings showing the view of 50 different streets, each looking north from Fulton Street. Bice aims to paint a plein air portrait of the entire Richmond District, told from the perspective of Golden Gate Park.

“The exciting thing about the series is that when you put all the paintings together, you see the Golden Gate Bridge appear behind the Presidio and then disappear again,” Bice said.

Plein air painting is a practice of painting landscapes outdoors. Artists paint from their natural surroundings, not from photographs. This style is Bice’s preferred method of painting.

For the past month and a half, Bice has called Fulton Street his outdoor studio. But Bice’s artistic journey began years ago, first as an actor in high school, then as a stage production major at Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts, and finally at the beginning of his career as a set designer. He developed an interest in plein air art through his participation in Seattle’s Urban Sketchers group.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and theaters closed indefinitely, Bice began transitioning from his career as a set designer into the field of fine arts, pursuing his interest in outdoor sketching and practicing on the landscapes around him.

“I started out in watercolor, so I was basically just adding a little bit of color to my drawings,” Bice said. “That’s very different from what I do now. I’ve moved on to painting completely opaque now – I don’t even use a pencil. I just go straight in with color. I try to see the world not as lines, but as blocks of shape and color.”

As Bice developed his artistic skills, he switched from watercolors to gouache, a water-soluble paint known for its opacity and yielding effect. Gouache has become Bice’s preferred artistic medium.

He also began submitting his work to galleries, including the upcoming 50|50 gallery show at the Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica, where each participant submits a series of 50 6×6-inch pieces, each with a unique theme.

In December 2023, Bice created a plein air painting looking from Golden Gate Park down to 20th Avenue.

“Right in the park, there’s a hill that leads to a stone circle that’s just big enough to sit on,” Bice said. “It’s like it was made for me to paint here. I painted the view from the middle of 20th Avenue, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.”

The painting “20th Avenue” became the starting point for Bice’s series for the 50|50 Gallery. After learning of his acceptance into the gallery, Bice began painting in late June. He began at the east end of Golden Gate Park and worked his way west. Each painting takes about 30 minutes to two hours to complete.

“When I returned to 20th Avenue to paint the next part of my series, I felt like I had come full circle,” Bice said.

However, this latest series is not without its difficulties. Plein air painting is completely dependent on the weather, just as the consistency of gouache depends on the humidity.

“Plein air painting is a sport,” jokes Bice. “There’s the wind and the fog and the power lines in the background.”

More importantly, translating a three-dimensional view into two dimensions is challenging. The artist must flatten the space like a camera, taking proportions into account.

“Your eye can see things differently than a camera,” he said. “In plein air painting, you can change your perspective and see how different objects interact. In the photograph, you can’t see behind a pole. The image has disappeared from you. I can really take the time to enjoy the world around me. Most people admire the Golden Gate Bridge for 30 seconds – I’ve spent hours studying what makes each individual view so magical.”

Colour is also a tricky subject. To counteract the somewhat murky undertones in Richmond’s landscape, Bice uses a bright magenta underpainting as a first layer, which he then paints over with gouache. This method highlights the blues, olives and beiges of each street and gives the buildings a whole new vibrancy.

He has created about 30 paintings and invested about 100 hours into the series. Bice said the project gave him an artistic perspective on the Richmond District.

“Every street has its own character and I have to look for the parts that make it recognizable,” said Bice. “I learned that the plants characterize each street, from the purple leaves to the red flowering trees.”

According to Bice, his project was also positively received by the community.

“One of the benefits of painting outdoors is that you talk to people who walk by,” Bice said. “People come over and realize I painted them into the painting. One person even recognized her neighbor and his dog in my painting.”

With each anecdote from his neighbor, Bice learned more about the Richmond District, which is reflected in his paintings.

“Neighbors have told me stories, like how Funston is called Funston instead of 13th Avenue,” said Bice. “There is so much history and culture in Richmond!”

Bice’s series of 50 paintings will be on display in the 50|50 exhibition starting September 6. Looking to the future, Bice hopes to one day paint a mural in Richmond, contributing to the community he spent hours capturing on canvas.

“We live in one of the most beautiful places in the world,” said Bice. “Richmond is amazing – our community has been incredibly supportive and has made this experience surreal.”

In addition to plein air painting, Bice also paints murals and house models on commission.

Check out Bice’s work on Instagram (@njbice) and at njbice.com. To register for his gouache class on August 10 at Arch Art Supplies, go to eventbrite.com/e/cityscapes-in-gouache-with-nathaniel-bice-tickets.