paoli station

(7x10)
In October, when Robin and I were heading to Chicago, we went down to the train platform and there was this couple waiting for the train: another perfect ready-made subject.
I put off attempting to paint the scene mostly because--and this is usually the case with photos for me (but not when painting plein air)--there were things in the distant middle and background that I couldn't quite make out ... I didn't know what they were or if they were connected.
Not knowing what's back there has the benefit of keeping me from becoming overly focused on nonessentials, after all, it's about the couple waiting for the train.

But then the problem is how to treat that space. I made two decisions: to try to paint general shapes and to keep it neutral.
This is one of those rare paintings of mine that actually looks better from far away: the background ceases to be any kind of an issue and you can't see how I fudged the train tracks. I do wish I had been a bit more careful with the ties ... but it doesn't seem to matter so much if you're farther away.

ps I got an email from art supplier Dick Blick about an online workshop with Nita Leland; I followed the links to ArtistsNetwork.TV where you can view video previews by various art teachers and authors like Charles Reid and Linda Kemp. Here's a link to the Kemp preview where she demonstrates an exercise from her book.