NUMBER 40-RAIN, RAIN and RUSH HOUR
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| Rain, Rain and Rush Hour, 24" x 20", Oil on Canvas, 2011 |
And finally at last, The 40th work that has made my career is this painting- I was inspired to take this one on because it was a had crowded figures, reflections and rain-three elements I really love in urbanscapes!
To really get into the mood of this piece I visited the venue at Cannon Street in the morning during the height of rush hour on a week day and the spirit of the whole place was just buzzing! You could see city workers all determined to get to work with their umbrellas, soaked and fizzing through the station to the streets adjacent to the station. I just stood their for almost 2 hours observing, making mental notes and taking loads of pictures, close to 700!
When I got back to the studio I had a hard time looking through to see the one that really resonated with my spirit! It was difficult to find the one that really had a balanced composition and a good focal point. I thought, if I didn't get the right one I would need to start editing the pictures to make it work. This process of selection is really part of the creative process, even before the main painting starts. Actually the painting starts when the idea and scene is viewed and conceived.
I painted this piece for the Affordable Art Fair last year at Battersea, and I was pleased that just before the exhibition started, a couple saw in on the the gallery website and showed so much interest but waited till they saw it in the flesh. Once they saw it in the flesh they fell in love and carted it away to Canada!
SPECIAL QUOTE
I find it hard to understand after all these years of painting, I still go through a struggle and the climbing of a great mountain of doubt, before I embark on a new painting-the worries, the fear, the procrastination......then everything dispels once the work begins..."-Adebanji Alade