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Shimmering Town - Step by Step Demonstration - Step 1

Shimmering Town - Step by Step Demonstration - Step 1

When back home from a short trip to Tangier - a constantly and uncontrolled growing harbour town in Northern Morocco - I started this painting with no specific aim in a quite abstract way. But very soon appeared a somehow architectural structure on the canvas. And so I went on to built up "houses" with the palette knife and modeling paste in the "skyline" and middle part. Burnt sienna is used for a wash over the hill and other parts.

Then I prepare on my table collage pieces for the „houses“. I cut out pieces of metal or cardboard and paint them in different colors. I don´t mind if all these pieces are rectangles or crooked, because this architecture doesn´t claim at all to be functional or right. In my memory of the old town of Tangier, that is exactly what it is:  a somewhat growing monster with a beautiful overall aspect.
Some "houses" get windows or doors by cutting out holes and gluing bits of metallic stuff from behind.
Then I lay the painting flat on the table and move the collage pieces on top. After deciding the final arrangement I fix them with impasto gel.
White sand is glued with impasto gel in a horizontal line above the dark sand in the lower part.