My paintings at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition 2014

It's that time of the year again! The Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters is currently on and will run from the 10th of December to the 21st of December at the Mall Galleries, London.

This year I am really pleased to have had four paintings selected for the show.

All my paintings this year focus on the effect of light in urban spaces. I decided to explore the mystery of shadows and radiant light.

Rupert Street, Soho, 18" x 9", Oil on Board, 2014

 This is a scene from Rupert Street Soho at Night.  I was working on a commission when I got the idea for this painting. This is typical Soho at night. Rupert Street has many night clubs and the neon lights at night are just explosive. I exaggerated the colour to have a saturated warmth and included two main figures to balance the abstracted crowds in the background. I really love painting night scenes as they are mainly about tones and very little about temperature.

Summer Heat, Edinburgh, 16" x 20", Oil on canvas, 2014

This is a scene from an Edinburgh Street in the blazing afternoon in Summer. I tried my best to move totally from the normal local colours of a scene like this to a warm blazed colour scheme. I was drawn to the scene because of the reflective wall on the right. It almost seemed like a scene with in the scene. I thought it added a lot of drama to what would have been an ordinary street scene.

Morning Light, Sloane Square, 20" x 30", Oil on canvas, 2014

This is a scene from Sloane Square. For those of you conversant with my blog, you'll know I love Sloane Square! I can paint this area all year through. This time I was totally mesmerized by the powerful radiant morning light from the right side of  Sloane Square Station. It was the abstract shape and it's effect on the few figures emerging from the Station in the morning that made it irresistible for me!

Summer Shadows, Marylebone, 8" x 20", Oil on board, 2014

And the last painting I have in the show is a scene from Marylebone. The one thing that drew me in here was the back lighting! Everything was in pure silhouette apart from the sky and the effect of light on the foreground. I just love when light explodes in the background of an urban space in this fashion!

Adebanji with "Summer Heat, Edinburgh" at the ROI Annual Exhibition 2014

The whole exhibition is a visual feast! If you are in London or around London and you love oil paintings, take a trip down to the Mall Galleries for this great show, you'll enjoy it! But if you can't make it you can see some of the works online by clicking HERE.