I blew up the reference image for this one and lo and behold, the plain street surface broke into tiny fragments of color that mixed optically to form the grey color. So I fell into the trap of believing that I could use tiny dabs (1/4") of blue, blue-green, green and purple to create the same effect on the canvas. It would be wonderful! It would add dimension to the color! I would be working in the tradition of the Impressionists!
Unfortunately, the theory did not survive in practice. It just made everything more chaotic, and not just in terms of color but also the visible brush marks. So I had to smooth everything out, and settle for lightening the dark lines as they receded in space.
Straight Ahead, detail, © 2022, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
There's enough going on in the painting with all of the building details. I worked on the skin tones for a while and then decided to pack it in for the day.
Straight Ahead, © 2022, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
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