Eileen David paints ‘where past overlaps with present’

Anyone familiar with the distinctive juxtaposition of industrial landscape and residential charm in San Francisco’s southeastern neighborhoods will immediately recognize the sweeping views and sunlit hilltop crosswalks of Potrero Hill and Bernal Heights in Eileen David’s delicate brushstrokes.

Observations of the same scenery repeatedly over time, and the play of light in different atmospheric conditions, will eventually render the ordinary extraordinary.

David, 63 — who lives in Westlake after many years in the city, and paints at her studio at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard — has always loved exploring the city “in a non-tourist way,” deriving inspiration from the arresting bursts of color and interplay of the freeway’s rush and calming bay views that catch her attention as she drives around town, often to and from the Dolphin Club, where she swims in the bay every morning.

With her sustained fascination with the city’s basic aesthetics — the “backdrop in our quotidian urban existence” — David renders overlooked city bridges, overpasses, eclectic Victorian houses and empty early-morning streets in the Bay Area Figurative painters’ palette of vivid oranges, blues and turquoises.

For the last nine years, David has taught painting, drawing and color theory at Skyline College.

“Just driving on the freeway or stuck in traffic, I’ll see something fabulous, just perfect, even the back of a car that I’ll actually follow because it’s just the right moment, with just the right light,” says David.

The play of light on objects and locales transforms a scene into something altogether different.