Scallion Sun

"Scallion Sun" acrylic on canvas 12" x 9" SOLD
(colour is as close as scanning and monitor will allow, but never as good as the original painting)

Another painting in the En Plein Air phase of the Open Air III: Art & Architecture that I painted Tuesday July 18, 2006. So far the weather has been either too hot to paint or threatening rain, I painted this bistro called Scallions because I particularly liked the lighting and bright colours. It offered good solid shadow as well as reflected shadow, and also very bright sunlight. This was painted between 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm and it was very gusty, my thumbnail study blew away, with no hope of it being retrieved. There is a large office building in the background that looks for all intents and purposes like the sky with panel dividers, (almost a continuation of the sky which was interesting both visually, as well as to paint).

I hope you enjoy this urban landscape.

Here is a detail of the brushwork, there were a great number of tables and chairs in the patio area which I used a series of simple straight lines to achieve. I painted them all in dark strokes, and then with a bit smaller round brush, I added some highlights. As well, there were two people sitting in the sun and I wanted them in the painting. I always carry a digital camera and shoot reference shots, which came in handy here, because I had to add the people in back in my studio, and again, just a couple of well placed strokes put them in. If you click on the small insets, you'll see a bit bigger view of the detail.

This is my reference shot, I dropped in a yellow frame to show you the area I was painting. You can see the large building in the background in this shot, and now how I chose to crop the painting to include it as well as the beauty of the resturant and patio which was my main painting goal. The building was way too tall to include even if I turned the canvas to portrait --but it is a beautiful building especially under certain lighting conditions, and would be a great subject for a painting all on it's own. Again, click on it to view it larger.

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