Shaftsbury Avenue

Shaftsbury Avenue in Soho, London. I hadn't done oil painting for over four years before I started this painting, and had been using watercolour, acrylic and digital media instead. Oil painting requires a considerably different technique, and that change has been both challenging and useful in terms of making me consider other ways to paint and and effects that can be achieved. I'm not wild about it, but it's good to get back into it.

These are the things that interest me most about the view; the sweeping curve of the road in contrast with the irregular verticality of the buildings. Signs for theatrical productions, lit up architectural features, the noise of street lights, theatre and shop fronts. Reflections in the road. The distinct texture of a London sky. There are contrasts in the geometry of the space, and a sort of 'hierarchy of permanence' of the elements of the piece. There is a peculiar inverse relationship between this hierarchy, and the places which most readily draw the eye - at least at first glace.

One of my first practical considerations was whether to do a portrait of the street, or a panorama. I decided that although portrait would capture the main area of interest, reflections and sky, it would cramp out the surrounding buildings and fail to convey the sense of space as the road curves around. In landscape format, there is a more dynamic tension between the shapes of buildings, and the space of the road and the areas of interest.

Oil on Canvas, 36/24 inches