A few years ago my wife and I met my sister and her husband in Chicago. I remember walking down the street and having this view open up to us. I was overwhelmed by it’s grandeur.

I’ve tried to paint the feeling I had that day. I put the buildings high on the canvas with people below to give the appearance of how immense the buildings were. If you look to the right you see yellow light flowing over the city from the afternoon sun. The left sides of the buildings are purpled in shadow. I have used atmospheric perspective. The people closest are larger than the ones that are further away. There are small cars in the center. I’ve used linear perspective as the road is wide at the front and narrows as it goes to the rear. These things make it feel like there is depth in the painting.

I just finished painting this picture. It really shows my artistic personality. It really flowed when I painted it because it is MY type of painting.

This is in Greek Town in Detroit. I have tried to show the intensity of the afternoon sunlight. With the sun nearly overhead the road and the sidewalk both appear almost white. The woman is backlit. Notice the highlights on the back of her legs and on the man’s arms. There are shadows from the people, the truck, and the flags that are hung over the road. Sunlight highlights the yellow vest on the man. The painting is done with strong one-point perspective, giving the impression of depth – you can walk into the picture and down the street.