June Trial and Error

Quiet and cloudy Saturday afternoon was a perfect setting to rework on this painting from 2 months ago.  The composition still seemed unresolved so I decided to make the building smaller and change some of the perspective to create more surrounding space.

Although I still paint on site, I am no longer faithfully copying what I see.  This creates its own set of challenges which I don’t always have answers for.  It’s a process of trial and error.  Looking at the progression from April and June side by side, there has been quite a few minor changes in effort to make it more interesting.

In April’s painting, the yellow building on the right hand corner seemed like a dead space.  Although I have tried changing it to a few different shades of yellow and gray, it seemed too bland.  Finally, it ended up with a shade of red brick color which compliments other dark and earthy colored buildings.

I also moved my painting easel’s position a few feet to the right which showed a narrower and an angular perspective of the alley.   It also inspired me to change the left hand side building into a slightly angled perspective to echo the subtle angles of the alleyway.  This created a new dynamic in the painting.  However it also raised other questions on the surrounding shapes for eg. shape for the shadow on the ground.  I ended up extending the angle of the building to the shadow.  These are minor choices but the choice you must make as those answers are not in a plain sight.  Ultimately more decision making in the process lead to more identity of the artist in the work.

I am very happy with this direction for my work and I am looking forward to revisiting Northampton to complete this work.