What is the creative process? For me it is seeing items, scenes, commonplace and unusual. Yesterday it was paint peeling from the base of a lamp post: it resembled peeling bark from an Acer tree. I like self-seeded plants in city pavements.
In the ancient walled city of Trogir in Croatia, I took several photos: some showed distressed lime wash on an old building; others fairly standard townscapes [as the case here]. But I liked the simple perspective; the warmth and brightness of this courtyard. It seemed a reasonable subject for a quick painting.
I don’t paint, per se. I generally apply mixed paint to the “canvas” [in this case lightweight card, with a primer undercoat] and scrape it back. Pushing and pulling to create a reasonable composition and reasonable depiction of the scene. As I go, I see errors and make corrections. I also see places where I should leave the early coat of acrylic alone. I can’t and thus don’t want to paint realism. I can only interpret and present a likeness.
