Cavalia big top.
Often the best way to paint an object is not to paint it all but rather paint the shadow shapes that define its form, especially the colossal pure-white Cavalia big top. The shapes and their edges, some sharp and some “lost”, created by cast shadows constantly change as the sun travels its inevitable path across the sky. Cavalia will feature 60 horses, acrobats and performers in the downtown St. Louis run which opens March 22. For now I don’t have plans to attend the show but I do want to sketch this visually intriguing structure again soon.
Cavalia Big Top, 02.17.2012(my birthday); Michael Anderson, Conditions: 55F, sunny. On location sketch time: 1 hour. Watercolor, waterbrush on Canson 140lb cold pressed, 7″ h x 9″ w.
