ESCAPE-ELM GROVE AND THE MILKY WAY

 iPad Procreate aids in sorting out a colour strategy, as well as cropping the sketch, adding distortions, and trying out squirrel v.s. sparrows as punctuation.

I worked on this composition over a year ago. After reducing my colours to 2 or 3, a split complimentary group of yellow, teal, and violet seems to work, to get the transparency in the shadows and the glimmer in the highlights. Exaggerating the angles of vertical posts to a four-dimensional distortion makes the sky a more interesting shape and the space inside the balcony more angular and more interesting. The pink underpainting will contrast well with the teal.

More Gouache Thumbnails

 I have had a larger canvas in mind for a while now- I captured a night photo of a cleaners in the east end. the colourful signs and other lights against dark warm and cool neutrals should do it. I have a sketch on iPad, along with some colour notes as shown here.

I have spent an hour doing gouache studies now that I have a colour palette worked out. I am experimenting with a dark blue ground - like a Prussian - and a muted orange ground. Underpainting is often complimentary but in a nocturnal I have no experience.

The larger watercolour to the right is a Nathan Foukes exercise, which dries much more slowly because of the washes. Two gouache studies at once is effective as time spent  remixing colours is reduced.