MARKET PLACE 17 feet by 7 feet. This is not the finished painting. There is still the dome of the mosque in the background to be attached on the top. I have tried to make this a colourful scene inferring the heat - lots of oranges and reds offset by the greens of the palm trees and dark mauve shadows. Stairs on left hints there's more to this village which the audience can't see. Square dominated by the mosque in background. I "misted" over this building so it receeds and is not prominent. (I "knock back" elements of a painting by scrubbing a layer of white over the artwork with a dry brush. I keep a damp cloth handy whilst doing this in case the white becomes too opaque.)
Several oil jars lying about the square to hint at the plot to come. I am hampered when painting on this wall by a batten which runs right across the scene which I have to paint over every time as I am not allowed to take it away. One dark night when no-one is looking I will take a wrecking bar to that beam and remove it!