Colorful Life - SOLD

The above image is from another recent plein air event that I participated in. This time in Casa Grande, AZ which is about a half hour south of Phoenix. I sat in the open hatchback of my vehicle to paint. My car provided temporary shade but didn't help much when the day's temperature heated up.

My choice in the subject matter may not always be the most obvious. Something like a note of color, a particular type of light, a pattern of shapes or maybe an object with a touch of humor/personality can catch my eye. Here it was a little mailbox painted magenta that made me say to myself, "Oh, I have to paint that!"   

Because the mailbox was such a unique color within the scene, I had to find ways to sprinkle it about to create a better color harmony overall. I added bits of magenta to areas in the roadway, buildings, and palm tree. If I didn't, the mailbox color would be disconnected from the surrounding color and would attract too much attention.

Color contrast is one of the many ways to create a focal point. However, it's the value contrast of the sun glare reflecting off the back of the stop sign framed by the darker tree shapes that sets up the primary focal point. The stop sign is the tool to get you to discover the colorful mailbox.

This painting now hangs happily inside the house of the magenta mailbox.

Title: Colorful Life

Painted on: RayMar Archival Panel

Medium: Artist Grade Acrylic

Dimensions: 12x12 inches

Composing the Urban Landscape

Occasionally, I like to challenge myself by entering plein air competitions. The painting above titled 'Northview' is a result of a local one-day event that was held in Glendale, AZ. Producing a frame ready painting within a restricted time limit is the actual challenge of these events. In this case a 16x20 inch in about a 3 hour period.

Naturally, the desert has been my main source of inspiration since relocating to the southwest. An urban setting like this was a nice change of pace and reminded me of subject matter that I would frequently paint out on the east coast.

What attracted me to this particular scene is the strong verticals of the lamppost, telephone poles and street sign. Making this an ideal reverse "L" compositional design. Example below:

The elbow of the reverse "L" creates a natural sweet spot to place the focal point. The dark patch of grass to the left of the white structure attracts more attention to the focal area by contrasting values; light against dark. The foreground shadow shapes and property walls create radiating lines pointing directly to the focal point. Example below:

Title: Northview
Painted on: Fredrix Archival Canvas Panel.
Medium: Artist quality oil.
Dimensions: 16x20 inches.
Status: Available.