O.K. I know I promised myself to do all the under painting before I started finishing any section. I kept coming back to the bricks. Layer after layer of colour left a glowing background to the principal subjects in this area: the people. People are always the principal subjects. I enjoy painting portraits. The challenge of creating a colour version from a black and white photograph has interested me not from the point of view of perfection, as every skin tone is individual and unique. Whatever I managed to create out of my experience and the hours of observation over the years has one base necessity: it has to be believable. Usually rendering black and white into colour means the person in the image has long since deceased. It is unlikely that anyone remains with a photo perfect memory of his or her particular skin tones. If I were ever challenged on the subject I think I would hand my contester a paintbrush and suggest that he or she try to do better. It is not that I think I have done a perfect job. No. It is believable. I was well into the portraits when I stepped back and realized something else. My under painting was complete after all. There was nothing left to do but finish each section as I wished bringing the people and the history to life. Resurrection. Love it!
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