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I love the atmosphere of the Parisian Cafés and wanted to paint one in the 1900’s. They were places for literati, philosophers and the artistic to meet and share ideas. The guy lighting his cigarette under the lamplight is a mysterious ‘flâneur’ type figure. This painting was done on white watercolour paper, using two watercolours: permanent magenta and pthalo blue – first I created the black background by glazing these colours alternating them. Once the page was black enough I washed out my shapes, creating the pink and bluish accents, finally adding permanent white.
– Jenny Bleackley