Cafe Colours (acrylic on board)

I'm a bit weird and when I see complimenting colours I take photos of them and store them in a directory called "CC" on my computer. They might dwell in a poster, dress, rug, billboard, garden, window display, etc. I’ve got loads of them. Once I was about to take a photo of a stern-looking elderly woman on a bench as her coat, blouse and skirt made an effective combination (she looked like Betty Boothroyd). I didn’t get the photo though as she opened her handbag, took out a small bottle of gin and took two healthy swigs. I felt mean when she caught me looking at her with my camera in clutches. I followed her into a shopping precinct and before entering a shop she placed something in a nearly-full bin. It was a tiny bottle with “Gordon’s Gin” on the label. I wondered how many people up and down the country are keeping Gordon a secret.

Sometimes a palette of complimenting colours come from a happy accident. Their united look enters my brain and marks it. Here is a café scene and I’m not sure why but I just liked the collection of colours. They seemed to sit together nicely and get on. Making colours compliment each another is nothing new - when Van Gogh went out in the fields to paint he packed different balls of wool in his bag. He’d mesh strands together in different combinations to see if there was a harmonious union.

I thought I’d quickly commit the café colours to a bit of board. I started it one evening and finished it the next morning. It turned out okay but a five year old with a Pokemon balloon in one hand and paintbrush in the other could make it turn out okay. It’s about eight inches long so call it £8,000. I liked those cafe colours somehow. I told you I was weird.

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The cafe colours which I thought blended well. I thought I'd deck them down on a bit of board...