"City Reflections I", 14" X 40" watercolor

City Reflections, 14" X 40" image, watercolor

My city paintings are frequently about pattern and color.  Like many artists, I am drawn to the reflections in city windows.  This building had sixteen panes reflecting back surrounding buildings.  Since I wanted the details of the patterns to be more visible I cropped down to the four panes shown here.  Distortions in the windows cause the reflections to look more like a Picasso painting where the buildings are melting instead of a picture perfect image of the surrounds.  To me the distortions were the charm I wanted to emphasize.  Having the straight vertical window muntin bars that hold the panes in place seems to emphasize the fluid, melting reflections.  If you squint at the painting, which helps emphasize value rather than color, I used the darker values as pathways to connect one part of the buildings to another. Quiet blue sky reflections provide occasional relief to the jumble of the reflections.

Taking a Break

I used a triad color scheme focused on orange as the primary, blue the secondary with hints of greens.  Including the light pole surrounded by flowers that was in front of the building allowed me to add in a few touches of green.   I have found this triad very dynamic in other paintings I have done.  Taking a Break, shown at right, is the same color plan but with slightly redder oranges.

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