The Street, Hartlip

This is a scene from The Street, Hartlip.  I chose this scene because it had multiple overlapping shapes and  a mixture of straight and curved edges.  I also quite liked how the tree, the flowers, the house and the two road signs made an interesting set of five subjects clustered closely together that contrasted with what were going to be some big foliage shapes.   In planning the painting I found that there were too many overlapping shapes, so I simplified it down so that only three different foliage values were required.  I also deliberately chose a sky colour that complemented the greenery.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a sky that colour but that’s not the point.

Only three colours again: transparent yellow, Prussian blue and Winsor red, so this time it’s in the key of green warm.

In places the execution hasn’t quite worked.  The conifer on the right, while dark valued like the band of foliage in front of the house, is too distinct from that band.  Edges between similarly valued areas shouldn’t be as hard/distinct as this.  And the shadow across the street is too muddy.  At one point I had a lovely neutral colour there with red, blue and yellow tones within it but I’ve lost this and it all looks quite black.  The shapes work, though.  And That road sign is so important.  The red in it is repeated on other places and the triangular shape is repeated in the house.  It’s subtle but these things bring a painting together.

This was up for sale for a while but has since been removed in a quality purge.