Oil painting - Tianjin Old Town

This week I have been painting a street scene of Tianjin, the port town closest to Beijing. It wasn't a particularity nice place but had a picturesque old town. I thought that a busy street scene would contrast with the Bradford street scenes I have already painted, so this is quite a different composition to those. I thought it must be strange coming from the bustling streets of Indian and Chinese cities to Bradford's comparatively, erm, sparse town centre.

This scene is also peculiar to my usual in that it is taken from quite a low angle so has quite a lot of sky. Perhaps I was crouching? I started with the sky which in China, and Tianjin in particular is heavy with smog. I wanted it to look like a heavy lair below the blue sky, it really is unpleasant.

I then started on the buildings in the foreground in a particularity loose style. These shops are crammed with gift shop tat and coupled with the painted red and green building exteriors, it's quite an assault on the senses. Bradford looks so monochrome in comparison.

With the left hand side completed, fading into the smoggy background, I started on the right hand side of the street, which is a little lighter. All done using a palette knife as usual.

With the buildings completed, I populated the scene. Most of these people are taken from my photograph, although I added certain elements such as the dog because there was too much blank space. My friend Dan can be seen rifling through his bag. I also smogged up the background a bit more, notice it is lighter than above.

A few finishing touches - the string of lanterns was used to break the sky up a bit and I added more details to the building front left. I'd started in a looser style than when I finished and it stood out a bit. Looking at it now I think the foreground is a bit light, so I think I'll add a bit of texture and then it's done!

Oil painting - Talinn side street

After a bit of a break doing boring stuff like paid work I started (and finished) a painting yesterday of a street in Talinn, capital of Estonia. The old town of Talinn is remarkably intact and feels like you've gone back to the 14th century. And don't they just know it with daily Medieval duels in the town hall and crossbow lessons at 10 Euros a pop. My painting ops for a more atmospheric twilight scene with the peculiarly emaciated town hall tower rising like a minaret behind a row of shops and cafes.

After drawing the vague outlines in, I started with the sky. I like painting skies and because this one was a clear night it was pretty simple.

After doing some of the rooftops, I then filled in the building to the right. I didn't see it at the time but it was too lemony.

It's a shame I didn't notice as I filled in the details making it much harder to change the shade of the building later. I added the tables and parasol too.

Then  came the fun bit, the building in the background and the big sea of brown cobbles in the foreground. The background building is closer to the shade I want and contrasts with the cold palette of the building on the right. It would never do.

I then did the building on the left which proved to be simpler than the one on the right, although it has a more varied palette. Sometimes it's just how it goes. The light shining on the cobbles were vital in breaking up the brown so I had to get it right. Which I nearly did.

With a lot more detail on the windows and a figure walking on the cobbles, I could have called it a day. But I was still annoyed by the coldness of the building on the right. I could really only correct it while the paint was still wet so I stayed up last night carefully making it more orangey. I think the result is much more satisfactory. All in all not a bad composition, but I think I could have done a better job.

Riga oil painting

I've been working on another street painting (not the impressive chalk variety), this time Riga in Latvia. The street struck me as puzzling and oddly British when I saw it which is why I took the photo. It's in many ways a simpler composition than my last one but I've struggled with this one.

First I did and re-did the outlines several time. The perspective turned out to be a bitch to get right, particularly on the car in the foreground. I hate cars. (but I seem to have a masochistic desire to carry on painting them):

Then I painted the building lit by the bright Baltic sun. This took me bloody ages because I once again struggled with the perspective.

I didn't like the cleanness of the windows though, they were a return to my more detailed approach of old. So I went a bit crazy the following evening by slapping paint on to Sonic Youth which really freed up my style. I then spent the rest of the evening researching into Kool Thing, a song based on a particularly awkward interview between Kim Gordon and LL Cool J. Evening WELL SPENT.

Then I did the sky because it's fun and easy before starting on the building to the right. I STILL wasn't happy with the car though and spent about a month painting it again and again. It was too light to be in the shadow and too deformed to be roadworthy.

Here's the finished painting. I added a couple walking in the sun. The perspective on those pesky windows still ain't right, I may just have to tinker with them a bit. At least the car's better.