The bus stop was actually slightly crooked like that, its not a mistake. I got out for some painting last night after it cooled off a bit, and did this painting of the bus stop in front of our condo. I waited for the light to turn green over and over again to get the colours right. Do I need to make one called Red Light? Yellow will be even more difficult. Other light sources include the street lamp, the lights from the condo, and some eerie glow of a mostly full moon.
Walkley Bus Stop Green Light, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2021 (No. 2798)
After the previous night effort I reconsidered some of the approaches to painting at night under an amber light source which is quite common. It was a matter of trusting the mixes. For example, when I was painting this, all of the green foliage at the bottom appeared to be grey, and the cool blue nuances were absent to my vision. Also the yellow appeared to be lower chroma than it appears in the painting. For the most part, the finished painting looks close to what I saw, but the colours in real life were lower chroma and with less contrast overall. There is over 1 million times more light during the day than at night, so your eyes are in different state of adaptation. By understanding it better I may be able to paint decent night scenes. I am all the more impressed with van Gogh who painted night scenes instinctively. Of course this was a tribute, considering the sun flower theme. A community garden group plants them in the boxes every year (except last year due to covid).
Sunflower at Night, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2021 (No. 2799)
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