Lisbon Street Scene - finished painting

Pretty much what it says on the tin: -

Acrylic: Lisbon Tram

Lisbon Street Scene - 9:00 this morning

Lisbon Street Scene - 4:30 pm this afternoon

Yes, I'm back to the acrylics - and back to the trams for that matter. Why? I'll tell you.

Afan Nedd Artists Group, of which I am a proud member, are probably going to enter the Leisure Painter/Artist Magazine competition for Artists Group of the Year. What's involved is sending digital images of five paintings produced by members of the group. All members of our group have been invited to submit a painting for inclusion, and we'll decide which we want to enter from these.

One of the stipulations is that you have to have express permission from any photographer upon whose image your painting is based. So I decided that my best bet would be to start from scratch on a new painting - Steve from the group had recently been on holiday in Lisbon, and he knew that the photo he took on which this painting is based would really appeal as a subject to me. He knows me too well.

The top painting shows how far I'd got after two Art Group meetings, the first of which began with photograph and blank canvas. That was the state of play when I set up to paint at just after 9 this morning. I stopped at about half past 4, and the second photo was taken a little before this. Alright, I stopped for lunch for a good hour or so. Still, it does show some real progress from this morning, and I dare say it'll be close to a finish by the end of Wednesday evening.

Finished Painting - Lisbon Streetcar

Here it is: -

This is the painting which has taken me the longest time to complete, and it's certainly the most complicated since my Amsterdam commission. The art group like it, and though I say it as shouldn't, I don't think it's bad at all. 

Project Update: Lisbon Tram

I'm coming towards the end of the tram painting now. You can see how far I am now after a two hour Wednesday evening Art Group session.

I added more details to the buildings on the right hand side. I've started painting in the end of the street, and also finished painting the land on the far side of the bay. I've darkened the shadows on the road, and added some highlights to the paving in the foreground.

I plan to finish it at the weekend, and then leave well alone.

Project Update: Lisbon Tram

I spent most of yesterday evening's session painting the Vivian Park Hotel on a small canvas board, but managed to put in another hours into the tram. Here's where we are: -

So - a very little bit of work done to the buildings on  the left. I've painted in more of the tramlines, and darkened the furthest shadows. I've started painting in details of some of the buildings at the end of the street, and done a little more work on the buildings on the right.

Project Update - Lisbon Tram

I haven't kept count before, so I don't know what is the highest number of sessions that I've had to put into one painting. I think I probably used 5 sessions to do the second commission. Well, I've just completed what I think is my 4th session on the Lisbon tram, and I'm nowhere near finished with it. Here's the latest photo: -

Lisbon Tram project - after 4 sessions

I've darkened the front of the tram a little bit more, although it isn't necessarily that obvious from this photo. I've painted in quite a bit more of the street on the left side, I've put the shadow onto the steps, although there's still some bits and pieces I want to do with them. I've darkened the closest buildings on the right side of the street. Put like that it sounds like a decent two hours' work - here's the comparison between the photo I took at the end of Saturday's session, and the photo I took at the end of tonight's: -

Comparison - before tonight and after the session

How long will it take to finish this? At least two sessions. If I work on it this weekend, I won't finish it, because this is one I'd like the Artists Group to look at and tell me their opinions.

Project Update Lisbon Tram

So this is where are with the tram: -

So, you can see that I've done a lot of work on the side of the tram, and also some work on darkening the front as well. I've darkened the ground in front of the tram, and I think the tram is starting to look the way I'd like it to look. I've started painting in both sides of the street. I've also started painting the paving as well. Here's a comparison - the picture on the left is how the painting is now, while the picture on the right is the way it was after I left off on Wednesday

Project Update: Lisbon Tram

After finishing the Glasgow Tram tonight, I carried on working on the Lisbon Tram. This is as far as I've got now: -

Apart from one blue window on the top right I've been just working on the tram car itself. I lightened the orange of the front end, and started painting the interior of the car and the windows. There's hours and hours of work ahead, but that's fine, as it's the only project I have at the moment. That will change though . . .

You can see the difference in this comparison photo. Lightening the orange and painting in shadows, in particular inside the tram life it a little more off the canvas, and it should look even less flat when I start to paint in the side of the tram. The plan is to get the tram to a state where I'm satisfied with it before working seriously on the background. 

Project update - Lisbon Tram

I took two photos, one about halfway through this morning's session, and the other at the end. Here's the original sketch on the canvas: -

Actually I forgot how hard it is to see the sketch on this photo. Sorry. Here's the photo after an hour or so: -

Here's what has been achieved so far. The sky, the other shore and the sea are all pretty hazy, so I painted them in first. Then I applied a creamy yellow base to the street and the buildings. Hopefully this will come through and give warmth to the buildings and street. I painted the tram a deeper yellow, which I hope will give it more substance than the rather ethereal quality of the buildings which I will be trying to achieve.

Here's the painting when I finished the session this morning: -

It doesn't look like I've done a great deal in the interim. I've finished the figure of the girl, and I'm very pleased with her, and the hair effect. I've begin trying out shade variations for some of the buildings. I painted the window frames of the end of the tram, and have started painting what we see inside it. The orange of the end of the tram is fairly even, but it's too far to the red end of the spectrum, and in the next session - maybe tomorrow, but otherwise Wednesday evening - I will try to rectify this. This is still at that early,early stage where everything looks wrong to me, but I know that if I have faith, and keep going, then, sometimes, it all will come good. 

Project: Lisbon Tram

You know how it is. You make plans to spend a whole day painting, and then life gets in the way. My wife was late getting up to go to a car boot sale this morning, and then while we're there, she takes forever in the supermarket while I'm waiting, and then my son rings up out of the blue and we all decide to go out for lunch. Good food, terrible service, and by the time we got home the best part of the day had gone. I don't want to rush the tram painting, and so I decided to sketch out a larger canvas, which I'm probably going to start on Wednesday in the Artists' Group.

It's not very clear on this scan I'm afraid, but if you click on it then it should become slightly clearer and larger.