London Ontario is a small sized town with a big heart. In the downtown they built a large covered market to sell fresh produce and interesting items including artwork and crafts. For a time I worked part time at a gallery there, where some of my work was offered for sale, and during the day I would sit and paint. This scene was from the top level, looking through the fence down into the busy ground floor. I tried to put in every detail I could, the final result is kind of abstract, but if you concentrate you can see the maze of booths, stairs and a few shoppers.Usually when painting on location, you want to keep the amount of detail to a minimum in order to save time, and to prevent the viewer from getting overwhelmed. I usually try to decide what is the main center of interest and start with that, then fill in the surroundings last. In this work I did the opposite, there is no real center of interest and the detail is totally overwhelming...the viewer's eyes can not settle on any one detail....but in that sense the painting is more successful...you get the feeling of a busy, colourful market with a million things to do. As they say, rules are meant to be broken...
12x16", hot press paper, 2004
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