Plein Air to Studio

 A street in Newport that I drive by all the time. The storefronts are very attractive, but I'm attracted to the light in the alley as well as the shadows on the back wall.

Here's the block in. It took a while, as I wanted to get the focal point in the right position . The canvas was toned with cadmium red light which served as my middle ground. I added the darks, then the lights.

Back in the studio, I went bold with yellow for the light. I began to add a pink sky, by then it was time to call it a night.

I wasn't in love with the yellow, so I changed it all to pink. I know I could have played with color in Photoshop, but I liked the layering aspect of working a little slower and having time to look and get my gut reaction before taking the next step.

I saw that the pink was overpowering, also that the building on the right had too much emphasis. I balanced it by adding a lot of neutrals to the right side and also finding more middle values on the left side. I want my viewer to go down that alley!
I'm not sure this is done, so I will let it sit for a while. I've already started a larger painting based on the left side of this one. I will show you more in my next post.