Finished, for the moment at least

Well, here's the finished painting. Thank you to my fantastic hubby who was there to keep me free of distractions while I worked on this.

The last few hours I managed to work on it in my back garden on the lightweight easel I have, so I was in daylight, and not under striplights. Now I want to rip off the roof of the garage and cover it in clear corrigated PVC stuff, to let the light in. In my dreams I think. Actually, in my dreams I'm in an airy attic studio at the back of a hugh victorian terraced house, with the windows open, and the sounds of the kids playing in the garden filtering through a massive cherry tree, the smell of coffee on a hotplate, hubby in the kitchen preparing the fish for dinner....... I have some great dreams.

But don't knock the reality; I have a room of my own, time to paint, money to buy paint, I have my health, so I can paint. Life is good.

I've started so I'll finish......

I didn't want to start another project, with two already on the go, so I'm working again on La Mothe, and it's coming on well.

Today I started work on the hotel facade, to get that cracked, defining the roof, balconies and metal work detail. Then I moved to the pavement and shadows there, and lastly I've gone over the tree branches, as they're key to tie it all in.

Next I'll finish the foliage and highlights to the foreground, and I think I'll be done.

It's started to take on a life of it's own, and I'm finding myself looking more at the painting than the photo I'm working from. I'm also checking it out with my eyes unfocused, to see if I'm achieving a sense of depth.

Now I see it on screen I don't like the roof, and the house on the left is too bright. I also think the sky is too dark, too 'blue' but I don't want to have to over paint it, or it'll fudge the branches. Damn. We live and learn. Maybe I could add a wash to the sky to make it even darker, so the house really stands out!

Any suggestions anyone?

Tidying Up

I've spent some time this morning in the studio having a bit of a clear out, stacking primed canvases, and having a look at the painting I'm working on of hotel in New Orleans. I started it in July, and I got stuck on the foliage. This morning I added some more shadows and some more foliage, and have set it aside as I wasn't happy with it. But viewing it on the blog I can see that I have achieved an amount of depth, and the foliage is starting to hang together. Now I want to work from far to near; to look again at the colours in the sky, then get to grips with the hotel facade and the house beside it and the pavement. Then block in the foliage in the background and the shadows on the road. And lastly, get some strength in the tree trunks and add the last of the foliage highlights, and touches of overhead wires.

I think my problem has been that I have only looked at the canvas close to, and have not spent any time viewing it as a whole, which is what the small image on the blog lets me do.

So here it is so far.

I have no idea what I'll be working on next, but I intend to keep my sketch book with me this week and see what pops up for me to draw.

The funkiest little hotel in New Orleans

Some years ago my husband & I got the chance to visit New Orleans. Repeatedly. In fact we went 4 times in 3 years.
Anyway, I took some great photos, some in colour & some in black & white. I cam across them this morning while sorting through an old box, and was struck by the blues & pinks & greens.
So here's the start of a new painting. It'll probably end up quite impressionistic, but I don't want it to be too pretty. Actually, I have no idea how it'll turn out, as it already seems to have a life of it's own. I like the way the view is obscured, with trees, and shadows from trees. I wonder how it'll turn out?