Progress Report

It's progressing slowly, but I'm happy with it so far. I like the way the domes are standing out against the new dark sky, even in their unfinished state. (That's not the sun appearing at the top edge. It's the studio light reflecting.)

I've filled out the pillar in the theatre portico on the right and the column of the Monument is taking form. There's a lot to do sorting out the intricacies of the architecture on the right, where the shadows are very complicated. I think I need to simplify them somewhat to get them to make sense.

I've straightened up the various verticals a bit. I have a natural tendency to make my verticals lean to the left, especially on the left of a picture, because I'm right-handed.

But I still need to address the curves running round the main building. Because they disappear into shadow, the curves tend to dip prematurely. I must remember that they continue into the the shadow, even if they can't be seen.

Two figures have wandered into the picture near the NatWest Bank on the left, and I expect I'll let them linger there. They complement, and almost set up a conversation with, the singleton taking form in the foreground.

It would be better if I could devote more uninterrupted time to this painting, but I had to leave off today to take care of business. A couple of punters are coming up from Oxford this weekend and want to see one of my pictures "in the flesh" before they make up their minds about buying it. This is all being done through a gallery in town, so I had to take the painting over to the gallery today.

Never mind. On the way home, I called into HMV and found a sale copy of Shostakovich's complete concertos. I'm particularly looking forward to hearing David Oistrakh playing the 1st Violin Concerto.

Surge

The Rat Man came again yesterday to inspect the state of the Rat Insurgency. It's definitely fighting back. There were signs of extra digging and the bag of poison had been covered up - out of sight, out of mind.

Dropping a couple more bags of blue poison - rats must be colour blind - down the holes, the Rat Man was away again. He'll be back next Tuesday, but I note today that a new tunnel entrance has been opened up further along from the original hole.

I put a stone over the hole and went back to work.

I'm currently working on a picture of Grey's Monument (see above). I repainted the sky recently and that's thrown up several areas that need looking at again.

I'd say the painting is about half-way finished. The Monument needs completion, of course, and I think it, and the buildings behind, need cooling down and pushing back just a little with aerial perspective. The whole paint surface needs a degree of complexity not yet evident - I like a painting to show the history of its development, including the complex build up and scraping away that goes into getting it right.

There's a client who's expressed an interest in a painting of this area of town, so I guess I'd better get on with it.