Chinatown Painting: Session 3

After a week hiatus from being away in North Carolina, I returned to my painting lessons with Dean today. It was my third session working on the Chinatown painting.

His first suggestion today was to have me mix several colors, matching them carefully to the originally photograph. I mixed about 8 different colors before putting them to canvas. I think it helped me tremendously, as the colors were the correct tone and value, and the whole painting seemed more cohesive by the end of the session.

One of my favorite parts of the painting right now is the darker color blue, which is a shadow in the alley street towards the bottom right. I think it's a great color, and transitions well with the colors nearby. :)

I told Dean today that I realized recently that my sense and understanding of color is getting better. Color has always been a challenge for me, and I feel like I'm starting to have a better handle of it, or at least, I'm not nearly as intimidated by color as I used to be. Progress!

I really like the looser style of this painting so far. I find that I'm not worried about being as exact on this one, which is a little freeing. Dean told me that this is very common on night-scenes, as the lights in the darkness gives it more of a mysterious quality.


Chinatown: 3rd Session


detail of center of painting


detail of bottom right area