AFTERNOON SUN IV

This painting is the second or third version that I did of a window that I used to pass every day on my way to the island ferry while living on Lamma in Hong Kong. One day in the afternoon, I noticed how the sun created these exciting shadows against the wall and I knew that I had to paint what I saw. A few drawings were done on site then a larger watercolor study. I did the first version using acrylic on board that sold soon after I had painted it. Then quite a few years later did this one on gessoed watercolor paper. I made the window slightly less rectangular than in the original and kept the work relatively small but still hope to do a large version someday. The painting has hung over our bed since then and is still one of my favorite. I feel that I came as close to saying what I wanted to say with this work than with any other that I have painted. Recently I took it out of the frame as there were a few areas that I wanted to work on. Washes of acrylic had settled into the texture of the paper creating an even mottling effect that I didn't like so I carefully painted over this making it much less noticeable. I also slightly darkened the area surrounding the window so there was less of a contrast then slightly lightened some areas on the wall. The shadows were made slightly warmer and the bars slightly more grey-blue than they had before. Finally happy with the update, I re-photographed the painting then put it back in the frame. The area that this window came from has seen many changes and this building has long since been destroyed. I am really glad that I took the time and effort so many years ago to document the many architectural details of the surrounding buildings as most all of these old Chinese houses are gone.