Back To The Market

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. Last Sunday I talked about The Market that used to be in Larimar Square in downtown Denver and this is another painting that I just finished from old photo's. The sunlight coming through the two windows and the glass door plus the overhead lighting created interesting examples of light and shadow which you can see on the figures and table tops. Every time I added something to the painting I considered how it was effected by this lighting. For example look at the man wearing the hat and sunglasses. His shirt is painted in three values, his hat is painted in three values and his skin tones in two values.

We have all heard "what you leave out is just as important as what you leave in" and I left out a lot from the original photo's. The ceiling was cluttered with different angles, more lamps, and heating pipes. There was another figure at the table that I thought added nothing to the composition and I simplified the stuff on the racks by leaving out a lot of details. In the upper right corner you can see how everything is simplified into a jumble of abstract shapes. You cannot see anything outside through the windows and door because I left this as unpainted white paper to express the light coming through. The emphasis is on the figures but I couldn't resist adding a few shots of color like the little American flag in the box along the left border.

The awnings are cerulean blue and the wall and ceiling are a warm gray mixed with cerulean blue, brilliant orange and yellow ochre. The table tops and chairs are burnt sienna and raw umber and the darkest darks are French ultramarine blue mixed with burnt sienna. The pink shirt is a mixture of cobalt violet and rose dore and the yellow shirt is lemon yellow and cobalt violet. The shirt on the lady facing the windows was painted with French ultramarine blue and cobalt violet. These paintings of The Market have inspired me to search Denver for cafe's and markets for more interesting subjects to paint so if you have any suggestions let me know. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton