I mentioned in last week’s post that I was about a quarter of a way through a painting that I’d reluctantly had to take a pause on.
Well, this is the same painting but with the other three quarters finished, and what feels like my first interior for quite some time!
The view is of the cafe area of the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA) at the University of Sussex.
It’s a fabulous building, inside and out. It was designed by the brilliant modernist architect, Basil Spence, who designed the ACCA along with many of the university’s original buildings.
I particularly love this space. When the sun comes round in the morning the light floods into the space, bouncing off the wooden table tops, chairs and the terracotta coloured floor tiles. The floor to ceiling window frames, and angular legs of the tables and chairs send shadows strafing across the floor in all directions creating wonderfully strong geometric patterns.
This scene was early in the morning, well before the morning rush when there were just a few early birds getting their morning caffeine hit.
As a painting, I’m not sure that it stands up to the closest scrutiny, for a lot of reasons, but I think that it does capture that sense of light and scattering shadows that I really associate with this space.