Petrol Station, Luang Prabang - First day

Contrary to my usual practice of working in pairs I have decided to postpone the companion painting to "The Lost Garden" and get on with a very different picture instead. Fired up by the trial pictures for the RA Summer Exhibition I wanted to try a larger scale painting that dispensed with the usual charcoal under-drawing, this time I would roughly paint it in with Prussian Blue heavily thinned down with turps on an acrylic imprimatura of light pink/orange. I came across this wonderful petrol station on the banks of the Mekong River in Luang Prabang, Laos in 2002 and have wanted to paint it ever since. The sun was starting to set on a hot late afternoon with puddles of water from an earlier shower reflecting the dusty light with everything bathed in an inviting haze - I had only just arrived from the flight and was instantly knocked out by the funky petrol station strangely situated by the river framed by the setting sun. I hope to get this all across as the painting progresses! This is destined for the June exhibition at The Medici Gallery and as the exhibition title is "People and Places" I feel that this and maybe another one of somewhere I have been in exotic climes could fit in very well.