Pennsylvania Avenue at Freedom Plaza

Pennsylvania Avenue at Freedom Plaza, 24x30 oil on linen panel

     This summer was a challenge.  Family events prevented me from spending the amount of time in the studio that I would have liked.  I made up for that by doing small, plein air studies from my home and some of them were posted to this site. 
     
      I had started this painting in June with the intention of completing it quickly as it was flowing along nicely.  I wanted to work wet into wet when creating the sky and the wet pavement. I was able to get the sky in at once and a good start on the rest when work ground to a halt. By the time I got back to it there was no choice but to work wet on dry and this time it might have worked in my favor.

      Painting wet roads for me means keeping it loose. To get back into it I just started applying paint with a palette knife and then dragging it around with a credit card, rolling through it with an interesting inch wide wooden roller I found at the hardware store and leaving marks or pulling it around with a squeegee. I ran a brush through the paint to create the marks made by the cars or the flow of water. It was a lot of fun!

     The most fun, however, was adding the lights!  That is why most of my cityscapes are evening or night scenes. I LOVE, the reflections and refractions. It is interesting when I study the roads during and after a rain that the reflections don't always show up where you think they will. There are so many fascinating dimensions!
      I hope you enjoy viewing this one as much as I enjoyed painting it.