Wild Scarlet, Queen Street, Bath.

When registering to enter the Bath Prize Painting Competition, one  is first allocated  a particular place in the city to paint, however one can submit other paintings as well. A coincidence - the first place I ever painted plein air in Bath, in April this year, was very near the same allocated place of Queen Street, but viewed from the other side of the arch in Trimbridge (see below).
A prominent detail above is a 'manikin' in the LH corner which had displayed a blue dress. Here is an earlier stage of the work ....

 The thoughtful woman in the shop even left it out for me to paint a while longer when closing up at 5.30. However 2 weeks later ...... returning to finish the work, she had placed an eye-catching RED dress outside. Making a rather instant decision, I decided to quickly paint red opaquely over the Blue dress before she took the red one back in - I think the red works well and have given the painting the quirky title  "Wild Scarlet, in Queen Street, Bath" - referring to the two shop notices of the 'Wild Cafe', and 'Scarlet Vintage' dress shop.
I always felt hungry whilst painting outside the cafe, seeing people enjoying their tuck, thinking "Later I'll get 10mins to have a nice rest and a coffee" -  but I never did manage it, parking time always ran out, etc. I  recommend the Scarlet Vintage dress shop with the helpful proprietor woman, displaying the most elegant colourful dresses I've seen for a long time (I don't usually take much notice of such shops).
Having been to the site to work 4 times trying to get the right light, etc, I felt there was a danger of loosing freshness and spontaneity so it is good to finish the work; hopefully I can loosen up do something more lively.
Below is the first painting in Trimbridge done in April. a it is lot smaller and so executed more quickly. I think I'm pleased with the sense of light in this one.