April's Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge was "white". I submitted the painting "White House", (to the right) a charming bungalow in a Quincy neighborhood, which I painted from the car while the late afternoon life in the small neighborhood unfolded. There were joggers, and children on bikes, and commuters walking the few blocks from the bus, and at least two pizza deliveries, and dog walkers, and after-work gardeners. It was charming. However, the painting needed some tweaking once I got it home.
Shown to the left are the original and then the tweaked painting. The original painting was too cool, and wasn't conveying the late afternoon light. The tree was too heavy and its branches stopped arbitrarily along the roof edge, creating unintended geometry. I spent 20 minutes making a few modifications, simplifying the tree, extending its branches beyond the roof, softening the tree shadow, and warming the sunlit pieces of the house including the brick foundation. I added some blue to the roof above the porch and added a warm indication of a window or door under the porch, made a few of the houses edges more crisp, and squared off. Finished. It reads better, conveys more of a sense of time of day. Thanks for looking.
The theme for Girls Just Wanna Paint in April was "white". I debated setting up a white still life, painting boats, clouds, laundry.... or something or one named "White". Each Tuesday I take my teen daughter to an evening college class, and spend my time in the nearby library grading my math students' tests and quizzes or lesson planning for the 3 hours. This past week, I decided to paint. As we drove to the college-class destination, I had her look up "white" in the vicinity of the college. She found White Road, White Street, Grumpy White's Bar.. intriguing. I the end, I decided to do a little exploring after I dropped her off. I found lovely neighborhoods I had never seen, and decided to plant myself next to an interesting intersection where this lovely bungalow sat across the street, caught in the late afternoon sun. I painted from my car, amid the hubbub of the neighborhood, children on bikes, commuters walking home, joggers, walkers, mailboxes being opened, pizza delivery men coming and going... and I listened to NPR while I painted. Great way to spend some time. I love evenings in the spring. Thanks for looking.
