The shoe painting continues. This is not so much one painting as each shoe is a painting in itself. Whilst this shoe is silver, its interior is black with a silver streak delineating the sole inner from the side. The sandal next to that is white which, because I never use white paint, has to be rendered by leaving the white paper and adding subtle washes to indicate form.

This was one of my favourite shoes to paint. I like the colours and the textures which resemble snake skin but very unlike snakeskin in colour. This is in contrast to the shoe to the left shown from the back, yet to be painted.

I have added the shadow on the pink shoe and made a start on the next one by adding the inside colour colour. I shall build up the texture on the outside of this shoe in stages but the sole will give a clue as to the colours i will use.

The top pink shoe is well under way. This shoe has two tones of pink, one with a blue bias on the     in sole and a warmer pink on the body of the shoe. One of the colours, of course, would not be visible when worn. I like to combination of the pinks with the orange shades of the cork platform sole. The shoe next to it will provide the greatest challenge to me. It is a shoe in purples and blues with a few traces of pink in a snake skin pattern with reflected highlights of light. It golden yellow sections on the inside and outside of the shoe. Of course the designers will have been aware that little traces of the complementary colour to purple make for a pleasing combination.

I have added the suggestion of a male figure in the top right corner background but you may need to enlarge the picture to see it.  There may be other suggestions of figures, as it adds to the 'human' element of the work. There is no point in having a retail display with no customers! (Though the customers are not important in this case!)
I will not paint more today, as I have been asked to officially open an exhibition by three artists at the Percolator Gallery in Paddington, Brisbane this evening. The exhibition is called 'Obsession" which is quite apt, as most artists have an 'obsession' with their subjects.

When I start a new row of shoes, I need to think about the whole row and how the colours, shapes and the position of the shoes are in relation to the composition. I want to paint while I am thinking, so have started the first shoe by painting the cork platform sole. I am not yet ready to paint the shoe, so I have added some more of the background. Whilst I 'suffer' when I'm painting, that is I am sometimes a bit tense about colour choice etc, this painting is still exciting for me to do. It is so different a subject than my usual topic of flora and fauna it is a tonic.

I decided to change the last shoe on the bottom row to a black sandal similar to the brown one above.
I had intended to paint another orange coloured shoe but felt that the shoe would not have been the best balance for the composition. I think that the original shoe lead the composition off to the left and I wanted it to 'arrest' the eye of the viewer and bring it back across the painting.