Beijing Street Vendor

I went out painting one night to do a nocturne and forgot my brushes, and so I had some fun with a knife and my fingers doing this abstract painting. It was actually based on the real scene: a street vendor selling some food on a Beijing street at night. Although abstract I followed all the general principles of design: contrast of texture, contrast of thick and thin paint, dark/light/gray, contrast of saturation, notan structure with dominant value, point/line/mass, shape distinction, amongst others. The values of the shapes were also accurate in comparison with the actual scene, even though the shapes were highly abstracted.

Beijing Street Vendor 6" x 8", oil on linen

This is the actual scene that inspired the above painting.