There is something very attractive about the vent, the balcony, the stairs, the pipes, the wires and all the structures tangled on a yellow wall. I was painting it close up looking up at the vent as I could see the wall as many abstract shaped puzzle.

After working for two days last weekend, the painting still looked very flat, two dimensional and uninteresting. I decided to take a step back yesterday and moved 30 feet away from the building. The view looked more interesting with a bigger surrounding and it felt like a fresh breath of air after being so up close to the wall. I decided to take this as an inspiration and start over. I learned that the view you fall in love at first sight does not always translate well into a painting. You still need to take a step back, think and edit.

I sanded the painting, especially the darker shapes but left some evidence of the past. The yellow wall is transformed into a smaller scaled yellow building and a white building. I added surrounding space for both buildings to breath. The size and the perspective of the vent was the main element of this work. Therefore, even though I was painting from a different perspective, I left it as is. A balcony and a stair was added and was extended to the white building to create interaction between the two buildings. As the day progressed, the left hand side of the building looked vacant but adding a window there will be a balancing act and seemed too predictable. However, around 5pm, a sight of a angled shadow on the building fits my need. I borrowed the staircase shape from another building and incorporated into the shadow.

This painting is a juxtaposition of different perspectives and different timelines. Although the painting is still not complete, I hope this experience will open more doors for my future work.