The Colourful Street Sellers in Saigon - Story of a painting

The Colourful Street Sellers in Saigon

This painting evolved, over the period we were travelling in Asia through the Winter of 2011/12 and I guess was influenced by street sellers everywhere we went.
The photographs and reference sketches were cobbled together to give this finished work.
Whilst in Malaysia and then Bali I was influenced by an artist called Chang Fee Ming, who I hope to meet in May. I discovered that Chang Fee Ming had painted, very beautifully in Watercolour, many of the scenes and subjects I was working on at the time of my own Asian painting journey. His book 'The Visible Trail of Chang Fee Ming' is now a constant companion and source of comparison. The influence of his paintings including those of colourful Sarongs can be seen in this painting, and the more detailed rendering I now include in hopefully all of my paintings to follow. 

My Original Sketch

 
WHAT DID I WANT TO RECORD IN THIS PAINTING ?
I started with a yellow base coat covering all of the paper except for the main character and her baskets, as I didn't want anything to dull the colours of the fruit or her bright clothes. I overworked the sky area on purpose because I wanted to emphasise the poor air quality in Saigon, due to the 5 million motorcycles found there. 

I was amazed at the weights that these sellers (mainly woman) could carry, and exaggerated this by the bend in the bamboo pole over her shoulder.

In contrast to the pessimistic atmosphere I created, I wanted the fruit, the flowers and the people who sold them to be bright and cheerful; adding distance to the finished painting, with the under painted city scape in the middle and background.

I hope you like the painting which, all being well will be featured in my forthcoming "Asia Experience" Exhibition in July 2012 in Burgas, Bulgaria.