This is a painting of North Main Street on the courthouse square in Martinsville, Indiana. Note the combination of both organic and geometric shapes – the tree is organic and the buildings are geometric. The tree frames the buildings. Their contrast makes the picture pleasing to the eye. I have also used atmospheric and linear perspective; atmospheric because some items are larger than others, and linear because the sidewalk is wider at the bottom of the painting than at the top. Both of these types of perspective give the appearance of depth.

I have used complementary colors. Orange is the complement of blue. This gives a visually exciting feeling. Look at the blue building next to the orange one. I have always been  more interested in painting buildings with a few trees than a whole painting of a field or forest. The use of cars or people add interest to the picture.

When I start a painting like this, I don’t think about doing trees, buildings, or cars. Instead, I look for shapes, then draw them in. After the shapes are on the canvas, I fill them with the actual color or values of colors until the painting is finished.