I like this painting very much - its the kind of scene which defines a lot of my work - everyday life in a town which many people could relate to but everyone in Kenilworth will know this Talisman Square scene.
I was walking out as usual and saw the busker playing and thought he would provide an interesting foreground for something I'd wanted to paint for a while. With his permission, and with a contribution to his sax case, he let me take the photos. I'd also taken a few previously while I was planning the painting. The challenge was with composition. There is a lot to fit in and I didn't want too much national chain coverage but also I wanted the space to come across in the painting. Both of these meant quite a bit of playing with elements in the painting and the only things that are actually 'correct' according to the image of the sax player are the sax player himself and the view of Boots - everything else is a composite of other photos and some artistic licence with the size and location of some elements. For example, Joe Richards had their plants on display outside the shop and so Cafe On The Corner was not visible in the original photo.
This is a typical challenge with painting from photos - if its a great image in its own right why convert it into a painting? Nevertheless I want everything in the painting to be believable and properly 'grounded'. Perspective needs to be right, colours need to be balanced, light needs to be on the correct surfaces and shadows and reflections need to make sense - a challenge if the reference photos are on different days, different seasons and different times. Sometimes major problems can be difficult to see - you get just too close.
My wife is a great help with this - she will often spot that something 'looks odd' and I will then look at how I can make it look less odd - even if the original represents the reference photos... but most artists are their own harshest critic and getting to finished can be tortuous. My method for dealing with this is to take regular breaks and take plenty of photographs. I also understand that viewing the painting upside down sometimes helps. A photograph cropped to the finished image size if often very revealing. It amazes me how some parts of the painting suddenly pop unexpectedly (in both good and bad ways) - maybe because the photograph is just one step removed from the image you've spent so much time with close up.
The best method of all for me is to just stand it next to the TV in the lounge and during the course of an evening really study it from a distance, in all lights. It is probably one of my mantras for life. If i'm not sure about something have a good think and the answer will become obvious. In this case there was something wrong with the left hand side and the longer I looked, the more I realised the busker was a giant or the perspective was wonky. This happened because I altered the left hand side and moved the busker back closer to the wall to take out some dull brickwork and to help frame the picture. The problem in my opinion was the strong line at the bottom of the WH Smith sign which was just at the wrong angle.
Watercolour is more forgiving than you might think and so I was able to lift out the offending line and paint it back in at a better angle. I think it is now finished.
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