Turkey Lane is a shortcut home after a walk in the beach with the dogs. I have travelled it many times and have often been struck by the contrast of light and shadows when the sun is in the right place. I had a clear vision of what I wanted to achieve with the painting. It is based on a photo merice took through the car windscreen and a sketch I made shortly after. To paint it I followed my mantra - observe, simplify and exaggerate. Let's have a look at the original photo.
Clearly, it is a good photograph and illustrates my point about the light effects at certain times. Now let's apply the mantra. Observation - the whole point of the scene is the dark shadows on the lane. They are coming from the left hand side. Because of our vantage point, we are looking up at the trees on the right which makes good shapes. The dark right hand foreground tree makes a nice frame. Next is simplification. This can be the hardest part of the process. I always bear in mind that I already have every single detail of the scene already captured on the photo, so I don't need all of it the painting. The Church can be suggested instead of an accurate representation as my main focus is the shadows. The foliage and plants on the ridge are not essential either so I toned them down too. You can see for yourself other little changes I made to achieve my aim. This leaves 'exaggeration'. For me the emphasis on the painting was always going to be the contrast between light and darks, so I simply strengthened these for dramatic effect. There you have it then in three easy stages.
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