This was the last of the rainy day paintings I worked on in Vermont, and the hardest. The whole surface is close to the same value; the bright and dark spots are tiny, found in details. I often find that a piece of art works best when I have a clear idea—not only of what I want it to look like— but of how I plan to get there. Here I wasn’t even sure what the painting was about. The different greens of the windows? The wet surface of the pavement? The DONT WALK sign in the distance? The two figures?
I’m thinking of working on it some more, bringing up the light on the figure, ordarkening the pole in the foreground, maybe adding a tree to the left to soften that edge. What do you think?
Karin | 30-Oct-09 at 5:48 am | Permalink
I think it’s really great. But at the same time… a bit sad. Maybe that’s the way it should be though, in the rain..
Leon Barnard | 30-Oct-09 at 9:07 am | Permalink
Kathy,
Very nice work. I really like the feel of this one, I’d say most of it is “just right”. I think the only thing that maybe I’d change would be the figure in the foreground. What is his purpose? He is situated dead center, so I think he’s fairly prominent, but it’s a little mysterious what he’s doing. Is he waiting to cross the street? Deep in thought? What is his raison d’etre? I think his body language doesn’t match his prominence in the painting.