Repos en terrasse - Watercolor Painting

I hold before me a splendid menagerie of mottled strokes and a rich spray of colour. There is a sensibility and refinement in the composition of the painting that hints rather than yelps, to imagine a varied assemblage of scenarios.

The pair that stand aloof from the customers and gaze wistfully at the diner beg us to ask: who are they; and what is their story? A stern gaze from the waiter in the doorway and those seated shews their mind, but refuses to manifest beyond tacit communication.

Or are they more than mere vagrants? Do they and not those lounging, judge the mass of mediocrity? Or are they searching for the signs of a neighbourhood they once inhabited?

The peaceful scene depicted here, its numerous characters and the quiet bustle of restaurant-goers is a penchant after my own heart. Long gone are calm evenings in the warmth of summer; today instead we are left with the ruckus of city-life. The bleeding colours and their harmonious intermingling edges plead - the very least to me - for a vision of paradise, in the midst of solemn modernity.