Monday 1 June 2009

The Train Starts



Train at Soller (work in progress)

I was conscious of the fact that in submitting a painting that hadn't even been started, I was taking a risk, so I figured the sooner I start on it the better. Yesterday I drew it out on the canvas, after toning it with burnt sienna acrylic. Today I began the actual painting. Although there are things wrong with it - the buildings at the back aren't yet in their proper spatial relationship to the train - I think I was right to be optimistic about it.

You should ignore the cast shadow at the bottom right, by the way. That's actually the shadow of the pyracantha in the garden rather than part of the painting. Although ..... having said that, I'm tempted to include it now.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's a fun fact about pyracantha: the berries ferment and birds eat them and sometimes then they get drunk. Which, unfortunately, can cause them problems flying afterwards.

--
Bruce T.

harry bell said...

Thank you Bruce. Here's another pyracantha fact - my pyracantha's berries are orange and the birds aren't interested in them, so they mostly go to waste.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful. It takes bravery to start a new creative project.

Janet

harry bell said...

Thank you, Janet. I believe the gamble is paying off.