Admittedly my painting style is tight and controlled. For this painting I set out with the intention of 'loosening up'. Now that it's finished, it's only slightly looser than usual but at least I managed to reduce some of the detail. I'm happy enough with the result, anyway. Let me put a load of strong red into any painting and I'm happy!
My wife and I spent a week in London last year. Coming out of the Seven Dials area one afternoon, we wandered into the Borough of Camden. Two young men who looked like students walked by, chatting to each other. I took a snapshot as a London bus passed them, slowing to a stop just ahead. When I finally got a good look at the photo, I felt that I could make a decent composition out of it. I widened the space between the boys and gave the boy on the left a red jacket instead of the tan jacket he had worn in real life. This provided a nice rhythm of red and black shapes across the width of the painting.
