Come Inside

(c) Lesley Powell 2019

As the weather has grown cooler, my attention has turned indoors, and I have been working on paintings of interior spaces. Something about the early nightfall and the chill in the air draws me inward, and fosters a desire to snuggle down in a cozy room. Preferably one with a fire glowing in the hearth!

"Parisian Salon"
Oil on Linen, 10 x 10
(c) Lesley Powell 2019

True confessions: I find interiors very difficult to paint well. So much perspective, so many angles. I have been told that the human eye is very ready to perceive the elements of a landscape--it is simply in our DNA. We are hard wired to understand the land. But if the viewer is to perceive and understand an interior, an architectural space, it must be well drawn and carefully color tuned. Easier said than done!

(c) Lesley Powell 2019

One issue in painting interiors (for me, at least) is that my subjects of choice are rarely places that allow me to set up and easel and work on location with oil paints and solvents. Too much risk of spillage. Photos are not great resources either, because most camera lenses cause a lot of distortion when it comes to interiors. I can, however, make pen and ink sketches, or charcoal drawings, on location. I use these as a springboard for the oil paintings. Sometimes I work exclusively from the sketches and don't even refer to my photos.

"Living Room at Night"
Oil on Linen, 12 x 7.5
(c) Lesley Powell 2019

In this post, I'm sharing some sketches I have done recently on location, as well as paintings based on them. The rooms range from an elegant Parisian apartment we rented on vacation, to my own living room. 

(c) Lesley Powell 2019

I'm concluding with a work in progress. I really like the "bones" of this one, but the hard part comes in taking it from here to the finish line. Wish me luck!