Description

Mailbox – Suffolk Square is an expressive Birmingham cityscape painting, capturing the drama and atmosphere of a wild, wet evening in the city.

Another wild purply blue night in Birmingham, by the Mailbox, with cars whizzing over the flyover of Suffolk Street Queensway. Three figures are climbing the stairs up to the Mailbox shopping centre, whilst others are disappearing under the illuminated flyover. They are heading to the station and the city centre.

The distant skyscrapers hang heavy in the night sky, with the skeletal ironwork of the bright red car park glowing in front. I have deliberately used more expressive brushstrokes throughout. This adds to the atmosphere of the wild, windy and wet night. Acrylic dries quicker and allows me to paint with more momentum. I rarely wait for any part to dry.

Inspiration:

Another amazing blue and purple sky painted in a more open space where the sky can dominate, and the necessary movement within my work comes from the people climbing the stairs in the foreground.

Techniques and media used on Mailbox – Suffolk Square:

Starting with a thin, but bold layer of bright orange acrylic, I denote the primary architectural forms with darker lines. I then progressed, using large brushes. By adding the acrylic often directly to the brush, using more than one colour, I make sweeping and dramatic strokes. I leave them to dry whilst tackling another part. Working in complementary colours is key from background to foreground.

The highlights came last, thin glazes, or impasto in areas, especially where the glowing lights were, to lift the key of the colour scheme and make it shimmer.