What happened to all the boats?

 As you can see in my previous post one of my reference photos shows the masts of a lot of boats in the harbor.

My painting will not.

 

It's not that I can't paint 30 boats, but they aren't part of the story I want to tell. A jumble of boats from different boat building eras says more about the harbor than about the boats.

 

There were three wooden boats which grabbed my attention and they are my subjects.

 

Painting Water 

Many painters don't list painting water as one of their favorite aspects of painting. I find it not only one of the most challenging elements but also one of the most satisfying. 

 

My first step is to identify what type of water it is, besides being wet.

Is it calm? reflective? fresh or salty?

Is the day windy, slight breeze, or dead calm?

What color is the sky?

 

In this piece I have saltwater, a slight breeze, a light cloudy sky, and a good deal of distance between the horizon to the most foreground section of water. All of this comes in to play.

 

 

 

 

 To capture the distance, the color of the water has to change from the far distance (cool) to the foreground (warmer and more saturated.) 

With the slight breeze the "ripples" will go from barely anything to larger wavy water. The breeze will also mean I do not have detailed reflections of the boats but rather broken less defined shadows.

 

The photo above shows how I am building this water. Below the breakwater and above the hull of the background boat the water is "filled in." Below that I am leaving gaps in the paint and will come back in with additional colors after this blocking is done. 

Note: Just below the breakwater on the right side of the painting I am leaving the water lighter as a subtle nod to the lighter clouds above it. 

 

This is a big board, 32" x 44", so there are a lot of brushstrokes to cover it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakwater

The camera is no substitute for a painter's eye.

 

This breakwater is a perfect example.

 

photo reference

  Even if I had every foot of the breakwater visible I do not want to paint it that dark. Colors like that create a strong focal element which draws one's eye and decreases the depth of the painting.

 

That leaves two issues to resolve: building a breakwater for which there is limited information and coming up with colors which read as dark but aren't.

 

For the "building the breakwater" I know the rocks are not rounded but rather angular.

For the colors I mix lighter colors, leaning toward the cool end of the scale, but also include some browns for the weathering rocks.

 

 

 

 painting

 

The breakwater in my painting looks incredibly light compared to the one in the photo at the top of the post. I may darken some areas after the rest of the painting is completed, but the goal is to suggest a breakwater and not chop up the painting with a harsh dividing line.

 

 

 

 

Making it up

 There are times when photo reference can aid in paintings and times when it is less than helpful.

 

This is one of those times. Unless I am purposely focused on a uniquely beautiful sky, in many of my reference photos the sky is unremarkable or just dull. While few paintings require a stunning sunrise or sunset, an interesting sky can be an important feature in a piece.

 

 

This is the upper part of one of my reference photos for my current painting.

The sky is "eh."

 

 

Fortunately, this is a place I have spent many days. When I refer to "making it up" that presumes a knowledge of the subject and an inherent perception of what could be possible if you had the "perfect" reference.

 

Current upper part of the painting. (quick phone photo)

 

The painting's setting is in Vineyard Haven harbor on the island of Martha's Vineyard. I have often watched banks of clouds develop over Cape Cod (which is the land in the background.)

 

I've used a technique I often employ for skies. As you've seen from my other paintings, once my drawing is complete, I use a light yellow ochre turpentine wash over the entire painting. This not only "locks" in my pencil drawing but also adds warmth to the white gessoed board. (Since I knew I would be winging it for the sky I didn't draw anything above the horizon land line.)

 

When I start painting the sky I mix several colors on my palette. Between the upper most color of the sky and the warmer color below it I left a small gap. With a very soft blending brush I blended most of the two colors together but left gaps where the wash underneath is visible or shows through the thinner layer of paint.

 

As I worked my way down the painting I kept in mind how clouds can form in this coastal area. After blocking in most of the colors (making sure the uppermost cool color appeared in long streaks in the warmer bank of clouds) it was time to use the blending brush again to soften any rough edges.

 

I wanted the clouds to be more interesting than any of my reference photos for this day but didn't want them to take center stage in the painting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finished

 

Buoyant

18" X 11"

Original oil by Linda Besse  

 

 

 

 

More color

 Almost all the "non- white" color is in at this point. Why won't each buoy have color? It would be too much, a cacophony of color. And, not all buoys have a color other than white.

 

While this might seem like a jumble, it's an ordered disorder. 

 

 

 

Buoys

 Usually I paint background to foreground, top to bottom. Not here. I'll skip around the piece, choosing the next buoy whose color I feel like mixing.

  

 

 

 

 

In the Meantime...

 While waiting for the darker grasses to dry before adding the lightest layer of grasses on my leopard painting (see previous post), I am working on my summer Sea, Sand, & Shore collection for the Louisa Gould Gallery on Martha's Vineyard.

 

So, something completely different!

 

 I thought a window reflection would add a different twist to the piece.

 

 

 

 

The colors of the buoys will give me a chance to mix colors I don't often use in my wildlife paintings. While tempted to start playing with them right away I want to finish the shingles first.

 

 For the shingles I have three main colors mixed. Using strokes of cool and warm and playing with the shadows on the shingles will give the buoys a more 3-D look on the wall.