Having always painted photo realistic images for advertising and publishing, I now prefer to use a simpler approach to my painting, avoiding getting bogged down with detail, especially at the start of a composition. I enjoy painting street scenes as they exude atmosphere and life and, cropped in unusual ways, can give a dramatic feel, lending themselves to this graphic, almost abstract approach
The versatility of Winsor & Newton Professional Acrylics makes them ideal for this type of work. Available in translucent and opaque colours, they can be used without having to mix with water and dry very hard, giving you the freedom to build texture, dry brush or create a softer feathered finish. This was painted on the Winsor & Newton Deep Edge Cotton Canvas which I thoroughly enjoyed using. The surface was firm and tight thanks to the innovative pro-stretcher device, and the texture had a nice bite taking the paint well.
The first step is to paint a light wash over the pristine white canvas. I usually use a bright orangey red, but it can be any bright contrasting colour that will show through in places in the final painting. Once dry draw in your chosen image from a photo. I chose this one of South Kensington High Street as the contrasting tones will give the painting a strength. I tend to use a square rather than rectangular format as it adds a different quality. When roughly drawing (with a thin dark acrylic wash) look at the basic shapes of the shadows and the negative areas, avoiding the detail of windows and architecture. I concentrate on the main perspective lines of the buildings and traffic. The lights and windscreens on the taxis and bus are just ‘ticked’ in at this stage. With the same wash I then brush in the darker areas.
The colour goes in with broad sweeps of the brush creating a colour bleed which helps with the illusion of detail. I use a firmer haired brush and at this stage opt for my size 40 Flat with a thin edge. This stops the temptation to put in detail at the beginning stages. I now turn my canvas and my photo upside down as it encourages me to keep my strokes loose as well as helping me to view the light and shade areas as simple shapes. I never use a palette to mix my paints, preferring to charge the brush with three to four dabs of colour straight from the tubes! I block in with a mixture of firm and soft strokes of colour to completely cover the canvas. There is no need to clean the brush out during this stage – just wipe away any unwanted colour. You will find that the background colour is still there in random places. If you want your paint to slide more easily you can use a little ordinary fabric conditioner! It is very important to leave this stage to dry thoroughly. If you carry on painting onto drying paint, it will become sticky and the colour muddy and you will loose all the strokes you have already made.
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After about ten minutes it will be dry enough to push on to the next stage. Put all the tops on your paints and put them aside, you will need them again later. Place the work the right way up and mix a thicker version of your original dark wash (washing up
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