Back Way

This is a painting which I completed last year, and is probably the most difficult image I have had to photograph. Modern digital cameras do not enjoy being persuaded into dealing with the colour orange, especially when it is so strongly represented as in this painting, flanked by equally powerful reds and bright yellows. The image that I have presented here is the result of considerable digital manipulation, and as such is a compromise, lacking some of the clarity of contrast and resonnance of the painting. It is, however, a reasonable representation of colour palette.
I had been taking my dog for a Sunday afternoon stroll around my village, when I came accross an ancient back-way which I had previously been unaware of. As I explored the route, I suddenly found myself having to shield my eyes from the glare of the sunlight as it was reflected from the brightly painted yellow wall on one of the old stone cottages. The passage-way was otherwise quite a dark place, but in this one particular spot all was illuminated by the reflection from that wall. The cottages and walls are constructed from a locally quarried crystalline red granite, upon which that golden light literally danced as one progressed along the route.
As always, my camera was ready, and the resulting painting is what you see here.
Of course, I could not resist the temptation to make as much of colour as possible, though in so doing this was not an easy one to paint.

The Back Way (20x24") Acrylic painted on stretched canvas.