"Half Lit II"
16" x 20"
Oil on RayMar Canvas

A while back I attempted a painting of the liquor store and neon clown that advertises Circus Liquor, a store in the middle of the San Fernando Valley.  (See previous painting HERE.) I liked what I had done, but I wasn't really satisfied with it and decided to try it again.

I painted a slightly different view and made it larger.  My goal was to keep the interesting sky but enhance it a bit with really thick paint (see detail) and to try to better achieve the look of evening descending with lights shining out from the liquor store and the buildings behind.  I'm still not sure whether I should further darken the foreground areas..... or add more paint to the sky areas.   Does anyone have an opinion???

As before, I liked the idea that the iconic clown sign was only partially fun