Downtown St. Denis, Ile de la Reunion

Most of the paintings I did on Ile de la Reunion were intended to show the relationship between the urbanity and the natural landscape, with the exception of this one. I searched the downtown for an hour trying to find a scene that would show the green-topped mountain and the emerald-coloured Indian Ocean, but when you're down town all you see are these kind of run-down looking white plaster buildings. Everything has a thin layer of moss on it due to the humid tropical climate, the streets all smell a little oily from the diesel cars, the sidewalks are narrow and crowded, and it is hot, really hot. Finally I found this scene with the sign for a Chinese food store, powerlines, and an array of yellow and red tones. There is no nature in this painting, just the building, but it really captured the swelterin chaos of the place, it is very reminiscent of a painting I did in Kyoto, Japan posted Nov 20 2008 on my blog.

Making a painting is kind of like being on a roller coaster. You get the idea for the painting and then feel a little nervous... is it the right scene, can I do it, will the sun come around too fast, will the store owner kick me off their front step? Then you just start it, sort of like getting on the roller coaster, where the first part hauls you up this giant ramp, with that ticking sound as the roller coaster car moves up the tracks a sharp angle. Then at the top you look down the other side with terror and it lets you go and scream and it pulls you all over the place, and then just like that it's done. I forget what my point was with the analogy, but basically, when you are in the middle of making a painting everything is twisting and turning and you're not quite sure what comes next. I remember this one being just that, I was convinced that it was going to be a disaster until I put the brush down, and presto, it worked out. Time to take the ride again!

5x7" watercolour, August 2011