The Start of A Rainy Day in Paris

Dark/light pattern is the visual approach that I will document progress on over the next several weeks. I started this painting just blocking in the dark pattern which is the large shape. I did several sketches beforehand trying to figure out some areas where I was not sure if I wanted it to be part of the light group or the dark group. I still have a few small areas where I will decide which pattern they will go into as I get further along for better eye flow. The story will be told in the dark group/pattern for this painting. That means I will be putting more information or detail and color shifts in that big shape and the light group will be very simple. I don’t often paint this visual approach, but it is very striking when it is successfully done.

 name TBD, Oil on Linen, 30"x20"

In this first block in above, I was testing the red of the bus and umbrella as part of the dark group where I had put it in my sketch as that was my inclination and it seems a good fit. The part that made me unsure is the red bus being dark and the windows of the bus being dark. I decided to break that large bus shape up by using a light rim around the windows and adding light text to the side of the bus.

In the next phase, color has been added still keeping the value of the color in the dark or light group. You can see between the two images how I am doing that by distinguishing the shapes or pulling the smaller shapes out of the larger overall dark pattern, yet keeping them in that pattern. The pale yellow of the buildings in teh background still read as part of the light group.

It helps me to see these side by side as I "see" things that I lost to one group or another that I am not sure I want to do. If you can spot those areas, let me know...as you may see something different from me that I should pay attention to!