In Summer of 2009 an advert came out in The Artist magazine for an oil painting to be submitted no larger than 36" x 24" for a winning place in ROI exhibition of that year and for a mini profile in the November Issue of The Artist Magazine. I gave it a go and I really thank God, I won!
Summerlight Clapham Common, Oil on Canvas, 24" x 18", 2009
This painting took me almost a week working on the figures from left to right, making sure each section was finished as I worked mainly focusing on the shapes, drawing and values. My mission was to make sure the figures retained a glowing play of summerlight on them and also that the whole piece showed a vibrant, lively, sketchy feel of the excitement and childlike drama that scenes like this invoke on our memories of childhood and those great times.
Below are pictures of the set up and how it looked when I was half way through.
The set up with the photo references, palette and all that
Half way through progress
This work didn't sell in the ROI exhibition but sold by Enid Lawson Gallery at the Affordable Art Fair in 2010 at Battersea. The Lady who bought it said it reminded her of times she used to take her children out to splash parks. It's always great to find out why people buy paintings!
SPECIAL QUOTE
"Because a painting didn't sell in one exhibition, is no reason why it won't sell in another....the right buyer sometimes wasn't in the one where it didn't sell. It sounds quite straight forward but how many times have we given up as artists on a work and hid it behind in the dark stacks because it didn't sell...But another secret maybe the Framing and where it was positioned!"-Adebanji Alade