Boboli

The last two monochromes based around my underpainting mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet are now finished, the other one, "Waiting" will be posted tomorrow. These monochromes are completely out of step with what is the current Look du Jour of thick paint loosely applied but I need to get to the end of these trial paintings to see if anything good comes out of them. All these monochromes are layers of glazes producing no mark making, another current obsession that I seem to be ignoring. The thing is I like the quality of light that they have and just want to see where they go. They are influenced by the black and white photography from the early years of the last century, photographers like Steichen who worked on the print to such an extent that they are half painting-half photograph. I am realising that only certain situations can be painted this way so I can see the limitations of what I can produce; I am changing the colours I am using after these and eventually will probably try using thicker paint too as the photographic quality they have worries me as much as I like them.
"Boboli" refers to the Boboli Gardens that overlook Florence where this picture is located but referring back to one of my mantras from last year "It's The Painting Not The Place", I am much more concerned with the look of the picture and not looking to merely reproduce a well-known view.
20" x 16" oil on linen.