Magic Night

This was originally a plein air painting that I changed into a night picture back in the studio as I felt it could be more interesting. I was going to bring it to Illuxcon but decided to bring all canvas paintings as they are lighter and therefore cheaper to ship to the US. As a plein air it was painted near a village in the East Sussex countryside called Isfield on a warm Spring day a couple of years ago and then subsequently worked on in the studio. Oil on board 18 1/2" x 18 1/2".

Drive Thru - stage 5

Tweaked the values on the upright poles, put in the flag and then worked on the foreground cars and any shadow areas with a further glaze of blue/green. Decided to take out most of the pinks in the ground in foreground areas to ensure that the basic design works; one area of pinks and oranges and one area of blue/greens in unequal proportions. I am linking the foreground to the background with just a few touches of pinks and oranges (toned down) in the blue/green area.

Drive Thru - stage 4

Worked on the left side of street and background buildings at right before starting to resolve all the foreground areas making sure to keep within a fairly narrow range of colour so that the two areas of colour are distinct from each other - the pinks and oranges of the sun and background distinct from the blue/greens of the foreground areas.

Drive Thru - stage 3

Started painting in the setting (or is it rising?) sun and the buildings in the distance and then painted two more glazes of blue/green over the rest of the painting as it I want this area to be unified in tone and colour. This should then best express the pink - green complementary design of the painting as well as making the lighting work.

20,000 Page Views so far!

I am happy to report that this blog has just exceeded 20,000 page views. Well it makes me happy but of course this is probably small beer compared to many other blogs!

Drive Thru - stage 2

I have blocked in some colour into the sky and then washed in some transparent glazes of yellow, orange and pink into the area where the sun is. After that I painted some transparent glazes of blue/green over all the shadow areas; at this stage I am not worrying to paint up to many lines as I want it to look quite "busy" in terms of texture and content. I was able to paint several layers of glazes in one day by using the wonderful Lukas No. 5 painting medium which dries so incredibly quickly.

Drive Thru - stage 1

Another painting where I want to try out this high contrast, high saturation look this time back on canvas (linen) again. I first "drew" it out with a brush using a mix of Sap Green and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and turpentine then went out for lunch (very nice) to give it time to partially dry. On my return to the studio I then washed in a tonal underpainting with a rag using a mix of Burnt Sienna (and a touch of Quinacridone Red) and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and turpentine. The painting's location is the famous rock and roll McDonalds drive-through restaurant at 600 N. Clark Street in Chicago using a reference shot I took there many years ago.