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Funny how things start off. Was in Paris a while ago and took quite a few pictures of the streets and buildings which interest me and as always when I got home I looked at these and decided what sort of Art I could manage from them.
This particular one is a typical multi-road junction that you so often encounter in Paris and from the photo I decided to produce a color sketch.
On a canvas background but with the photo specific lens aberrations mostly removed and the buildings straightened up. I also slightly cropped the scene to what I wanted (the original was more wide angle and had part of the next street showing). I decided that two sets of buildings would be a good balance and with only the one main street showing, but with the inference that others are there to the left and right. The eye will assume this interpretation by having just a hint showing either side and assists in this perception.
Enough detail is shown in the foreground to make the picture quite interesting and the viewer may find themselves scanning along the foot of the scene as they pick up the activity of the picture.
Happy with that I then decided to do more and produce a full blown painting of the same scene. And as the buildings in Paris are quite often nicely colored and not shown to any particular advantage in the color sketch, I wanted to add much more color and give a much bolder interpretation of the picture, taking it away from the “illustrative” style of the sketch.
The result here is a far more powerful picture and I’ve also painted in a sky and cloud to balance the heavier mid and foreground of the scene. Accentuated the stonework tones but not the detail of the buildings and where there are stronger colors in the original photograph I’ve highlighted these with block color brush stokes. This can be seen in the slate roofs, the building walls and the sky reflections in the windows and so on.
You may ask which one I prefer and of course I’m going to say both are equally viable. If pushed however I might just go along with the painting as it is definitely more impressionist and allows the viewer a measure of interpretation which doesn’t occur in the sketch. The sketch illustration is very slightly flat even though more detailed perhaps, whereas the painting has such vitality, life and movement under that sky.
Great fun to do and whilst I’m quite pleased with both I’m especially pleased that with my eye trouble and the rest I managed these at all! Roll on Summer. . .
