Central Drug Store

This is a photo I took on our honeymoon of the Central Drug Store in Belize City.  The town is a bit of a dump.  So was the store, but it always makes me smile.  The sign above the door says, "licensed to sell drugs and poisons."  Hmm...  Better look carefully at what you put in your bag.

 

This photo isn't great.  In fact it is pretty bad.  The sun was just setting over the roof of the store and it threw the lighting off.  It is also a bit busy.  Too many people.  I like the table selling orange juice on the left side and the boys leaning on the window on the right.  I like the unnatural minty green color of the building and the bright red in the Coca Cola sign and the shirts.  So I cropped it and painted my version.

 

 

First a little sketch.

 

Here is the finished painting.  It is a lot brighter than the photo, but more true to life.  I like the little curl of orange peel hanging off the edge of the table and the colorful Christmas lights. 

We were there at the end of November and the holiday stuff was in the stores and Christmas carols were playing.  We bought our favorite Christmas CD in a little shop across the street from here, Reggae Christmas.  It has a great Rudolph the Red Rose Reindeer (no that's not a typo) and two versions of Little Drummer Boy. 

I changed a couple of things.  I lowered the window and had the woman with the bag face the other direction.  She was walking out of the picture before.  This is better. 

Did I mention I'm having a lot of fun in my painting class?