On several occasions I have painted scenes that disappear shortly after. The most eerie occasion was a barn I painted a picture of back in Bolton Ontario which burned down a couple of weeks later. I went back and painted another picture of the smoldering embers of the barn. In this painting you see Ben's Deli before the waiter strike and eventual closing of the famous restaurant. In the window you see customers sitting and eating and you may see a few pissed off waiters.
When you paint a scene you want the light and shadows to stay the same for awhile so you can have time to paint it properly. Painting in the city is very tricky because the sun tends to go down quick and the shadows from the building change. The light was coming in from the right side of the scene and going down fast. So I had to memorize a lot of the light patterns as they changed.
It is also important to have sunlight on your own body to keep warm, and to have the same lighting on your paper. I sat myself on the opposite sidewalk, in a spot where the sun came down on me and the paining. If you do this, the colours are rich and true to what you actually see.
Ben's Deli, watercolour 5.5 x 9" cold press, 2006 (No. 1098)
No comments:
Post a Comment