My north facing balcony overlooks an intersection which sees traffic throughout the day. Every now and then, a person on the street catches my eye – especially in the morning, when they turn the corner and walk towards the east. Ordinary people are swathed in glorious, some would argue harsh, light. Stark contrasts, bleached colours and streaming shadows make these solitary figures appear heroic. Denizens going about their preoccupations – oblivious to the voyeur on the balcony, who christens them with names, places them in fictional life stories, peppered with imagined struggles and personal victories.
I have a collection of these pictures on my phone waiting to find expression in watercolour. Here are some of those renditions:
Some more paintings in a similar style, but of people I’ve seen during my travels:
