What's Your Sign - Urban Art - Street View Oil Painting - Cityscape - Freeway Art - Bridge Painting

"What's Your Sign" | 16" x 20 | Oil on panel

Available at www.KimVanDerHoek.com

©2015 by Kim VanDerHoek

I've been working quietly in my studio lately, painting small studies, working on more urban and architectural subjects, trying out new ways of applying paint and removing paint. During this process I've fallen hard for night scenes. It started last year when I painted a nocturne during Sonoma Plein Air (click here to see that post).

Since then I've realized that I love the muted color at night and I enjoy making my own choices as to what colors I want to keep or change instead of faithfully trying to record what is actually there. Color is very seductive. When I paint a landscape there is so much color and there are many choices I must make in the painting process related to hue and chroma (as well as value) that it's easy to be overwhelmed and to let color overwhelm the painting itself.

With a night scene the dark dominant value structure makes a strong graphic statement. Also, I am finding that by keeping the color simplified and harmonized I have more control over the mood and focal point.

It's been quite a learning process with a long road ahead still, however, I feel that I'm heading in a new, exciting direction. Not that I'm going to abandon landscape painting anytime in the near future, this is just an added enhancement to what I do.