Two more oil paintings for the 'urban scene' exhibition starting next week at Lincoln Joyce Fine art

Detail from "Flower Stall", Nottingham.
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2013 - #AB 021402

I've walked past this flower stall, close to the market square in Nottingham, many times and thought it had 'possible' subject for painting... then on this day the light was spot on and thankfully not that busy with the people passing although the stall holder moved out of view.

It was a real joy painting the flowers, or bunches of flowers in their different coloured wrappers but as per normal the lighting was my main attraction as it cast a hazy warm light with wonderful shadows... although being early winter not all that warm.

Detail from "Paella for lunch", Covent Garden, London.
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2013 - #AB 021404

Moving south and back down to London... this time looking down into the lower section of Covert Garden Market. The market has been the source of many a painting over the years, what's really nice is that it's constantly changing - always lots to see and do. A few years ago, it was just the pub (top of painting) with a the few small but unique shops, year or so of a man doing caricatures, then the paella stall started beside the stairs (to right) that lead down to the lower section, before moving to the current position.

Always interesting trying to capture scenes like this, thankfully some people were still long enough to sketch although I was very lucky with my timing as the people around the lower right hand table were told to move as they hadn't purchased any food - 'tables for customers only'.

From the Lake District to the streets of London....

As a complete contrast to the last few posts, which have all come from the Lake District, the next few oil paintings are for an exhibition in Feb 'The Urban Scene'.

Detail from "Warm Summer Afternoon", New Row, London.
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2013 - #AB 021401

Having done the usual handing-in of paintings at the Mall Galleries, it's then a case of going and exploring the city of London for subjects. Trips that in the past have taken me to all over, some fruitful while others not so, even having done some research before hand.

I enjoy being alongside the River Thames, the many canals, indoor and outdoor markets or street views, like the above all are possible starting points and in the end it's the light that makes the subject for me. Software (apps etc) that shows the precise angle of the sun, for any day or time helps although over time you also build up the knowledge of which streets are better at certain times of the day.

For the above, the warm late summer afternoon sunlight added the much needed contrast and being a busy afternoon a constant stream of people passed by, not always that easy to gather the require information.

Detail from "Before Theatre", London.
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2013 - #AB 021403

The 'meal before theatre' is advertised by many of the food establishments in the area. The establishment on the left couldn't get any closer with the Noel Coward Theatre to the right and in the background (behind the man in the white trousers) is the Wyndham's Theatre.

Again it was the light that attracted me in the first instance to this subject, this time in late spring, thankfully less people and most were less mobile than the first painting

Street reference...

 The flower seller... nice light and shadows at this time.

 Red lights...

 Glass reflections... a challenging subject but some really work very well.

 Indoor colour...

What was ment to be a 'quick' diversion into Nottingham, the reason was to purchase some very urgent supplies of Winsor & Newton Oil Paint and Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache (bit of traditional airbrush work to do) - Daler Rowney also make a range but not stocked at the place I visited.

A very interesting light, bright but hazy with some foggy patches produced some really good urban subjects, something I really enjoy painting. Standing and sketching in these places is fine so long at you are not in the way of people and really most take little or no interest.

Regents Canal, London

Detail from "View along the towpath", London.
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2009.

Reference for this was gathered on a warm late September day last year. I'd walked for a number of miles along the canal before coming across this view. During the time I was there... mid to late afternoon, the sun began to sink in the sky and in doing so, provided some interesting cast shadows across the canal. The cast shadows combined with the reflections required some concentration with regards to both colour and tone shifts.

The painting was produced along the lines of those demonstrated elsewhere on this blog. A quick but considered under painting, tending towards the darker colours in an area, then, working from the background forwards, the details were added. This oil painting was produced in one sitting. This allowed the areas of the trees and likewise the water to be done wet against wet (very little wet on wet). By doing this, some blending takes places so 'slightly' softening the edges between the two mixes.

Watercolour Painting of street in York looking towards York Minster

"Looking towards the Minster", York, Yorkshire.
Watercolour. Alistair Butt © 2008.

Apart from the superb view looking towards York Minster, what really attracted me to this view was all the interaction of light and therefore also shadow.

The 'direct' sun light on the right hand building and those at the bend in the street, the 'reflected' light on the left hand buildings and the 'bounced' patches of light on the road from the windows above on the right. The people walking up and down the street were catching both reflected and bounced light and broke up what would have been boring patch of tarmac. Although, thinking about it, it could or would make an interesting subject if the road was wet and lots of reflections.

Painting - shop window with reflections, Covent Garden, London

"Outside, Inside - Inside, Outside", Covent Garden, London.
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2008.

Painting Demonstration - Covent Garden, London

For this oil painting, I wanted to try or experiment with a different painting technique to my usual mix.

This subject is looking out from inside Covent Garden (London) past some of the craft stalls in what was the old Apple Market to St Paul's Church (the building with the pillars). Covent Garden has always attracted me and lots of paintings have come from this small area of London. The contrast between building/shops and the movement of the people, sometimes to many people, add to that the light that fills the space or as in this painting some light from both inside (glass roof) and out. It was the sun light, both on the stone pavement and around the outer edges of the people walking around the market stalls, that first caught my attention.

Stage One:
Change number one: Instead of the usual flat wash of Raw sienna or Ultramarine Blue a loose background wash following the basic forms using a variety of colours was applied to a white canvas board. It was very quickly applied with turps mixed into the oil paint.

Stage Two:
No change from normal here. This stage was the drawing up the main shapes/markers points with a thin mix of Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue. Some lifting out (returning to an almost white board), using a rag dipped in turps.

Stage Three:
Change number two: Rather than apply the usual loose under painting, the method here was to do a sort of 'mid' finish, somewhere between the loose under painting and the detailed finish. The picture below shows this stage at about mid way through, with the background buildings and the right hand side figures painted. All the background buildings/trees and figures were painted wet against wet or wet into wet but in a controlled manor working from dark to light. Both these areas will have some finer details (stone detailing, lettering for signs etc) applied later.

Stage three completed:
The picture below shows the completed stage from above. A little more involved due to the different shapes/colours on each of the market stalls. Again painting the darker areas/elements first, followed by the mid tones and finally the light areas/elements. The main shapes of the shadows and highlights on the stone floor were also painted.

Stage four:
The background buildings had just dried enough (touch dry) for some dry brushing to create the slight haze.

Starting with the background, the final details were then added... e.g. the stone work on the church pillars, adding more detail in the trees. Then move down and right to the smaller background buildings, before moving to the buildings etc on the right hand side above the figures, here again adding stone work, other small highlights, plus some shop sign lettering and details like the lamp hanging from the wall.

Next came the figures, with only minor additions made, highlights to edges and small details like labels and hair colour adjustments.

Moving on to the pavement the lines of the stones were placed first, followed by some mid and light tones to help create the form of each stone. The edges of the lines were softened slightly so they didn't stand out to much.

The painting now needs a few days to dry before a 'shadow' wash, using retouching varnish and paint, can be applied to the area of the market stalls (avoiding the highlights), along with some shadows and the buildings on the right. This wash will darken the foreground, adding impact to the painting, but will also visually push the lighter background backwards.

Stage Five:
The 'shadow' washes have been applied to the areas mentioned above but also to some areas of the shadows coming from the figures. The difference can be seen when the pictures from previous stage and this one are compared.

"Looking out of Covent Garden", Covent Garden, London.
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2008.

Dancer performing on Embankment, London

"Watching the Dancer", London.
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2008.

I liked the ring of people as they stood watching this young ladies performance on the Embankment in London and the contrast between the busy detailed areas and the open space around the dancer. The bright light from both the afternoon sun and that reflecting off the River Thames (in the background) added to the appeal by adding all the wonderful shadows and contrast.

The painting was produced in a similar manor to that shown in other post on this blog. Though this painting was somewhat less complicated to produce as most of the tones and colours where similar in the more detailed areas requiring less mixing time.

Starting with the background the dark and mid tones (of various colours) of all the figures, railings, barge etc was painted. Moving down, the shadows from the above figures was painted next, before going back and painting in all the highlights - reflected light on the river and on the pavement between the figures and the highlights on those figures requiring it (mainly around the heads). A lot of the above figure painting was done by painting the negative shape (painting the outside of something to create the inner shape).

Painting the dancer and the remaining figures followed the same technique as above, before completing the painting with the foreground shadows and the main highlight.

Painting demonstration - figures, urban, light and shadows - South Bank, London

This view along South Bank towards Big Ben (on the opposite side of the River Thames) attracted my attention due to a couple of things. Firstly the intense light, in places ring lighting some of the figures or parts of them and the interesting mixing of shadows cast by them. Secondly, by chance some children holding some balloons arrived and stood watching one of the buskers that line the South Bank over the weekend.

Stage One:
The picture below shows the quick establishment of the main elements using oil paint mixed with turps while trying to place the main darks ready for over painting. This was painted over a previously prepared board using a light blue/grey wash (seen in the sky and foreground).

 Stage Two:
The background... starting with the area of trees, using a mixture of greens and browns in various tones to establish both form and texture. The buildings that line the far bank of the River Thames were painted next, painting around the tree leaves/trunks etc where required. The buildings were painted slightly darker than required as the plan was to 'dry brush' the bright hazy light on later. Next to be completed was the wonderfully ornate lamp stands that line the South Bank. The final section was the sky (again slightly darker) painted around the buildings, lamps and tree with small areas cut into it.

Stage Three:
The people... the first decision to be made was...
A - paint all of the people as whole group i.e paint all skin areas, all brown cloths, all blue cloths, etc or
B - paint them individually
in the end a sort of mixture of the above two resulted with small groups being completed at a time with the larger figures done indivually - working more or less from left to right. This was the most time consuming stage, the result of the time taken to mix all the different colours/colors. Within each group/figure the painting of the darks (if required on top of the under painting) comes first, followed by the mid tone colours/colors, next the light tones (not that many) before adding the bright highlights.

Stage Four:
The foreground... the area that inspired this painting, the mixture of tones and colours/colors of the shadows cast by the figures against the bright sunlit pavement. All the shadows were painted first using a mixture of colours/colors and tones before the sunlit areas were painted. Some edges required blending/softening while other sections were left sharper. The sky and distant buildings received their dry brushing with an 'off' white colour/color to tone them down and create a hazy feel to the background building/sky. Finally some lines to indicate the slabs on the pavement were painted.

"Strolling Along", South Bank, London.
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2008.