A Man Opens His Umbrella

Sequel to 'A Man Loosing His Umbrella' (posted 5/14/08), this work follows the trials and tribulations of modern man and his umbrella. This time he finds himself on a warm and sunny beach (with all the snow here in Montreal right now I wonder what that feels like) wearing a leather jacket and a flatcap, in the company of a scurrying crab. The umbrella opens up into a flat abstract pattern (a gateway to heaven surrounded by curtains?). The umbrella rod is crooked because I put the rod in last, and found that the handle did not align properly with the umbrella. Kind of like when they finished the railroad and the two sides were off by an inch. From a technical standpoint this was a gut-wrenching painting to create because I had to paint the beach scene first, and then overlay the dark figure of the man, which could not be changed or adjusted due to the dark, staining pigments . Luckily is came out okay the first try, although I had a lot of trouble with the hand and had to do some heavy lifting to correct it. The other notable feature (due to error), is that I originally started the umbrella shape and did not like it, so I turned the painting upside-down and started again. The evidence is seen in the sand on the bottom left where you can still see the faint outline of the original umbrella shape. I liked the star-effect in the sand anyways, so did not try to fix it. 

A Man Opens His Umbrella, watercolour 15 x 22" cold press, 2008 (No. 1937)