Arms for Arms' Sake

I didn't take any photos on the route into town. I hadn't taken my camera. But I did have my phone! And we'd arrived at the plaza area in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool. The 'We' were people marching in protest against the so=called Arms Fair, booked for October. I could take some photos of the scenes here and paint them later. The light had gone on!

There is an awful lot of people there in this scene. And a dog, a fire appliance with scaffolding, not to mention a cathedral! I consulted Vibrant Acrylics by Hashim Akib for clues. There is a lot to take in for my little brain, anyway. I picked some things from it but started to worry I was following a formula. It was Saturday, normally a busy day, but I found myself quiet, wanting to paint. Some ideas I took from Hamid. I may have misapplied some of his suggestions but the main thing was to have fun, experiment (what happens if I mix burnt umber with process cyan...that's interesting!).

A friend who had been at the meeting told me that she saw poppies in a field, appropriate for the subject. Another bemoaned what had happened to the red bus or fire engine! Use the imagination, I countered! To be fair, it does need to stand out more. That said, there was scaffolding on top with speakers. There were people in front and to the sides, wearing colours, carrying placards and flags, so the vehicle was semi-obscured. 

It was my first go at painting a crowd. I was tentative and didn't go far enough with the use of tones to show off the people. There are two men, one with a dog on a lead, in the foreground. They don't stand out either. I need to think how to do this. And it is great to find this out.

I took a few other photos of the crowd and the cathedral from different angles and plan to paint at least one, maybe, three more paintings from this unexpected source of light and treasure.