Nocturnes, Night Plein Air Painting in London (No 3 & 4)

These are two more night plein air paintings I have done of London. These are both based around Sloane Square, one of my favourite spots in London.

 A very good reference to read alongside this post is in this months Edition of The Artists Magazine  it has a full 3- paged article on Urban Nocturnes. In this article I share some demos and tips, methods and everything I do to get myself geared to painting at night. It's The April Edition, the one currently in the shops.

This is a cut out of the first page of the article in The Artist's Magazine (April)

On both these occasions I did my best to focus on the things that interest me most, working with a bit of speed but also making sure the scenes had that special feel that the night lights in London always have.

Number 3-Royal Court, Sloane Sqaure

Royal Court Theatre at Night, 10" x 8", Oil on Board

At certain intervals there's always a bus in front of the Royal Court Theatre at Sloane Square, I somehow didn't want to put it in but then it kept on parking there so I ended up having it being part of the painting. I think I should have titled the painting, "The Bus in front of Royal Court Theatre at Night".

Royal Court Theatre at Night- The set up

Number 4-  Lights and Shadows towards Sloane Square Station at Night

Lights and Shadows towards Sloane Square Station, 10" x 8", Oil on Board

 This one was finished under one sitting, I really wanted to capture those artificial lights from the stores, they had a way of bringing life to the pathway. The few figures that  where waiting for the night buses added a bit of drama to the scene.

Lights and Shadows towards Sloane Square Station, The set up

SPECIAL QUOTE
"I managed to stop myself painting over  the thinned paint I used to 'render' this in the dimness. You don't really know what you are doing when painting in the dark or under orange light. The effect is quite grim, which I like."-Peter Browns commentary on his painting 'Night, Cleveland Bridge'"