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The trouble with shooting street scenes is that the images are usually bad and the composition weak. I found if I zoomed in one one small area I would find what interested me in the first place. I shoot a lot of urban scenes, but always when waiting at a light, I suppose that's what gives me all the brake lights to the right of the image. I will definitely be exploring this more.

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Daft Daffodils

"Daft Daffodils" herald springtime. So I suppose it's a little early for their season but I love them all the same. I painted this a while ago and forgot about it. Just found it in a stack of little painting. "So that's where you've got to - daft daffodils."

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Gritty City

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 I painted this to capture the atmosphere of city bustle. I wasn't interested in the details other than the little bits of light that glimmer around people on the move and reflections of cars and lights in traffic. 

Artists' tidbits:
When painting this kind of scene from photos, as this one was, it's best to use a really low res image. Or use photoshop to throw it out of focus or merely resize it. Details are the enemy of impressionistic painting, or at least too many details can kill the atmosphere. This painting was painted for a challenge from DailyPaintWorks. My DPW gallery is here

Waiting on Table 10

I love to watch waiters in action, but sometimes the moments in between can be quite intriguing. Here, our waiter is wondering if the guests at table 10 are going to be much longer and hoping the tip is generous. 
Painted using a limited palette and it was done from life - in the studio. There was a time when I would actually go to restaurants and hire waiters and waitresses to pose. What was I thinking??? Needless to say it didn't go well, modeling is a job too, and we are not all cut out for it. After a few waitress problems I invested in a white apron. From then on, I costumed models to pose, and that was a lot more successful.

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Kit's Kitty

I'm not a cat person. We are all allergic to cats in my house so we don't own one. But aren't they so pretty? I called this 'Kit's Kitty" because I painted it and cats make a sweet subject to paint.

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Lucy's Sky

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"Lucy's  Sky" was painted as a challenge from my Daily Painters group which was to paint the sky and nothing else. My inspiration was color and the colors found in the clouds. Reminded me about eating ice cream, was as much fun to paint and no brain freeze.

Rainy Day Blues

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If it's going to rain, I like a really good downpour. It's really inspiring to an artist to see a wet street with brilliant reflections of lights, viewed to the sounds of splashing? However, it's probably best viewed from the comfort of a warm dry studio with good cup of tea for one thing.

(painting is 6 x 6 inches, oil on archival board)