We visited our son and daughter-in-law this summer and took an early morning walk into the city for coffee where I encountered this scene. I loved the bright colors of the buildings in the warm summer sun in contrast to the cool colors of the roofs and sky. Then, of course, I love those those bright red flowers in the window boxes and their long shadows.
My wife put a bowl full of pears in in the sun the other days and the soft warm tones of the fruit were just beautiful compared to the sharp lines of the bowl. I was also interested in trying to paint the reflections inside the shadow of the bowl.
Beyond the obvious fact that this is a 1967 convertible beetle, I was drawn to this scene by that deep red side of the car in shadow, with the reflection. Then there's the pop of the hubs in shadow - couldn't wait to paint them. Finally, I liked the saturated red in the foreground compared to warm greens in the background.
I encountered this view while walking around a small town in northern Illinois. A low sun at sunset was casting very warm light, just touching the tops of the walls and accentuated by bright orange siding and cream brickwork. I loved the stark contrast between the warm sunlight and the cool blues in shadow.
