New Watercolor Cityscape: Sunday Walk (Bielefeld)

In Germany, people like to get together on a Sunday for Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake or pastries), either at someone’s home or at one of the bakeries that are open on Sundays for this purpose. Our favorite in Bielefeld was Knigge. Weather permitting, it’s always nice to go for a walk around the neighborhood afterwards to get a little exercise and fresh air. This scene brought those memories back to me…

I took a few liberties with the subject, as in reality there were some ugly bits of concrete and metal partially obstructing the view, but such is the artist’s prerogative:) When I sketch on location, I tend to record pretty faithfully what I see in front of me, but in the studio it’s a different matter, and I have no compunction about altering elements of the subject to make a stronger painting.

If you’re a painter: do you change elements of the subject to suit your composition or do you stay true to reality?

If you’re a collector or art lover, does it bother you when an artist changes things around?

Watercolor on Millford, 25×35 cm
Available through gallery