Fresh fried fish, Essaouira

Fresh fried fish, Essaouira
Oils 30 x 40 cms

'Tis finished! I am over the moon with this because I now have another studio painting which actually beats it's plein-air brother, in my opinion, hands down!

This is exciting progress as, for a long time now, I have believed that all my best work is painted plein air. If I can now take plein air paintings and make a studio version based on them which changes and improves on my original vision this is a huge step for me!

I am now looking forward to doing the same thing with some of the plein air paintings I will bring back from Florida in a little over a fortnight's time.

Here's the original plein air painting so you can compare which was done in less than an hour to be fair...

And here is a detail from the studio version...

I absolutely love the depiction of the guy on the right and especially his cigarette! He became really friendly with me during the week as I was often painting in the area and he always called out to me as I passed. I wish I'd asked his name now! His job is looking after the toilets and he is sitting next to the entrance which is just around the corner.

I had to be so careful to keep the brushwork loose but descriptive, and when you are painting figures in a setting you must treat them just the same as you would any other part of the painting if you want them to look as though they belong there.