Central Hotel with Cars

Central Hotel with Cars (oil on canvas, 24 x 24 ins)

You last saw this one back in July. I decided that it would fit reasonably well in the upcoming Red Box show, especially if, as is possible, I need to hang some of my other Transport pictures to make up the numbers, so I pressed on and finished it.

Referring back to my post about passion and the reason for finishing pictures, it became clear to me today that having a reason, an incentive to finish them is very important. A deadline for an exhibition really gets me moving. If there's no great likelihood of a picture being seen on a gallery wall, I'm far less likely to want to push on to the finalisation.

Cars and a G&T

Cars and Central Hotel (work in progress)

One of the good things about a studio in the basement of the house is that, on a hot day like today, it's really cool. So rather than mow the lawn or trim the hedge, I retreated to the welcoming atmosphere of the studio to paint. That's my excuse anyway.

Two or three hours and here we are, much of the car taking better shape and some detail on the buildings done. Obviously the Central Hotel needs more work - I do so hate buildings with lots of windows, but round here that's all you get. I suppose I could leave some or all of them out, but my vision of the building is clouded by the fact that I know it so well that any modification of it just looks wrong.

I was saved from further cursing the wobbly windows by the arrival of Pat and a couple of gin & tonics, so I called it a day and sat in the garden for a while, at least until the next rain shower arrived from across the Valley.

New Painting

Cars and the Central Hotel (work in progress)

Yesterday was a miserable day for weather - rain and fog for most of the day, so I was glad to have another new painting to start.

Don't judge this too soon. It's the work of only about an hour and a half, the colours are only approximated in most cases and the red underpainting is showing through in a lot of places.

Nevertheless, I think this could prove to be a successful addition to my transport works.