Urban Shadow Highlights VI & VII (Bath Marathon Plein Air)

These are the final two paintings from my retrospective series of 7 paintings that emphasize the beauty of shadows and raking highlights in an urban setting. All the paintings in this series were done en plein air (outdoor) in Bath.  Because it was a great task of finishing these 212 paintings under a short period of time I called it my Bath Marathon, because it stretched me to the limits but I learned so much about myself, my style and and how I go about my work in many different ways that I would never have known if I didn't embark on this project. It was a life changing project!

Number 6

I remember painting this piece and a guy told me he owned a Peter Brown drawing of the street. He advised me not to put cars in this painting. He said if I didn't put cars in this one, the piece could look like a painting done in any period of time in Bath. I bought his idea and  for once I didn't put the cars. But I love cars and I think they give the scene as sense of contrast between the organic and inorganic and it also makes the paintings very much contemporary in nature.

The guy also gave me a nice cup of coffee and I still have the mug he gave me till this day. It's one of my souvenirs from Bath.

Urban Shadow Highlights VI (Upper Church Street without the cars), 6" x 8", Oil on Board SOLD

The painting with the street ahead

Picture of the scene

Number 7
 One of my best streets in Bath! It's a bit "sloppy/hilly" and has very interesting parts that make it a treat to paint on a Saturday afternoon with people constantly walking back and forth.

Urban Shadow Highlights VII -Bartlett Street, 6" x 8", Oil on board- this was one of my best pieces during the whole series because I just went out with such boldness to capture the light and I just loved the different parts and pieces of architecture and shop fittings and boards- which made the piece very abstract in nature. Another reason why I like it had to do with my paint application, it just seemed to bounce on this particular day!

 

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This picture was taken by one of the women who works in the residential lettings on the other side of the road, she said she had watched all the way through from beginning to end and just couldn't wait to come out and have a chat with me about the process.- I had to start using these safety gloves because of some internal joint aches I started having.

The pic of the scene

SPECIAL QUOTE
" Work as hard as you can on learning something that takes you out of your comfort zone while doing plein air pieces. It could be as simple as doing a test painting in 30 minutes just based on the light and shadows with no details. It could be real warm up exercise for your development.-Adebanji Alade"