This weekend I was in Chelsea taking part in ‘Pintar Rapido’. It was an excellent event and great to meet up with friends/fellow artists for some plein air fun. I haven’t painted in London for quite some time and it’s as demanding as I remember….physically challenging with the humidity/heat and all the kit required for the event (I seem to have pulled back muscles from carrying all my clobber), plus the general mayhem of the London streets! Still, you go with it and there is actually quite a buzz to draw from which can feed into the work.
My first effort was done down by the Albert Bridge at Cadogen Pier, looking across the Thames with a nice variety of boats moored up for some sort of event. The light was generally flat with the odd glimpses of brief sunshine but at least that meant the conditions were reasonably steady. Certainly no sign of the torrential thunderstorms that were forecast on Saturday.
I enjoyed painting the reflections and paid particular attention to the tones and how they related to each other. Some nice notes of colour came from the boats with their flags, painted hulls and buoys. I tried to keep the distant trees and towers pushed back to give a bit of depth. This ended up being the painting I put into the exhibition which was held the following day (Sunday) at Chelsea Old Town Hall.
