Description

Radisson Blu is my interpretation of one of Birmingham’s most striking landmarks. The turquoise glass façade of the Radisson Blu Hotel dominates the skyline. It towers above the Pagoda roundabout, where traffic constantly circles in streams of light.

Because this is such a busy roundabout, my focus was on the taillights of cars heading towards the junction. Meanwhile, the Pagoda sculpture sits in the middle of the roundabout, just to the right of the hotel. In addition, Birmingham is situated on a hill, and the road slopes down on the right-hand side, adding to the sense of depth.

For this painting, my primary colour palette is one of blues, balanced with a bold strip of yellow light shining from a lower floor within Radisson Blu. At the same time, the brooding wintry sky hung heavily above the city, which I exaggerated using thick oil paint and a palette knife.

Inspiration for Radisson Blu:

My aim was to capture not only the architecture, but also the energy and atmosphere of this very blue cityscape. Furthermore, I wanted to show the red taillights shimmering on the wet tarmac. To achieve this, I used the arrows and road markings to highlight both direction and space, guiding the viewer’s eye through the painting.

Techniques and media used:

At first, I worked from an initial thin, darkish layer of oil paint. Then, I gradually built up to thicker, impasto and gestural marks with the palette knife for the sky and buildings. This layering process took time, but it created the depth and texture I wanted.

In the end, playing with the balance of realism and abstraction became a push-and-pull process. As a result, the road signs and cars remain grounded in reality, while the surrounding space carries the energy of abstraction. Finally, by limiting my colours mainly to blues, the complementary highlights of hotter red and orange glows come alive even more vividly.