24 x 24 oil on panel
This scene is definitely out of my comfort zone. Too many orange buildings, too much sun and a very busy composition. It started out as a painting for a client who wanted all of the Toronto iconic images: CN Tower, Streetcar, and a sunny day. I painted it about a year ago and didn't like it. It sat, with so many of my "disappointments" at the back of the studio on the floor. I decided to do a repaint. I am trying to work out a colour palette that works with a sunny scene. I approached it like a plein air painting, painting more freehand and loosely over the original painting. I'm still deciding if I like it or not.
4 comments:
I think it's great. It is complicated and you've captured it all. Beautiful.
XOXOXOXOXO Barbara
My very first reaction upon seeing this painting was a resounding "WOW"!!!
Sometimes... unifying the color scheme... around the red... or the orange... allowing one to play with the complementaries... takes away the queasy feeling one gets when one tries to make a painting follow the rules of a photograph. Paintings are for you to manipulate everything... until it works.
Regarding Spring Sun on Spadina... I had to come back and suggest... somehow... the wide area of blue... continually pulls the eye away from the focus of your image. I found my eye continually rocking back and forth from the sky to the street car and back to the sky. I'm feeling the blue of the sky needs to be toned down or even tinted down to a faint brownish red or even a tint of purple. I'm feeling the title is shoe horning you into a place that forces you to keep the brilliant blue sky in the painting. I would suggest changing the title... and thus free your imagination to re-colorize the sky. This way... the street car would become a much stronger focal point of this painting.
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