New Series - Cabanas

Starting a new series loosely inspired by a photo I took several years ago.  This is a photo of Bakers Beach in Westport Ma., it is on Horseneck beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, of course I am a bit bias since I grew up there.  Getting ready for the Left Bank Holiday Show at the gallery in Orleans, Ma on the Cape, the show opens on Dec. 8, 5:00 to 8:00

Next step, sat down and started to make some sketches, I exagerated the shapes, just thinking of the snowfences and the cabanas.  Cant wait to add some paint and color.

 

I wanted to take some pics of the painting as it progressed but forgot all about it, anyway this is the final painting, 16x16.  Working on a smaller version of this, 12x12 will post soon.

 

 

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Here are the sketches I used for the painting, I usually just start quickly sketching with a subject matter in mind.  I am working on a sea bird series and had an idea to title a painting Beach Bums, so I wanted to give the birds some charactoristics of old men you see in the park. 

 

 

 

 





These are two close ups of a larger  painting, the painting is almost finished.

Finished painting 24x24







The Stalkers

Stage 3 - Here is the finished painting, once I started painting the birds I thought they looked like they were stalking and also a play on their long legs, so I titled the painting  The Stalkers.  18x24

Stage 2, I brought the sketches into my iPad and added some color etc, I will use this for a reference for the painting.

 

 





 

Stage 1 - Here are some sketches that I will use for the paintings. 



Quiet Waters

Starting a new painting, trying for more quieter waters and to create some interest with the pilings and dingy shapes, will try to have the shapes create a pathway into the painting and the water. My mantra to keep in mind - simplfy - , not so easy.  Square format will use a  24x24 canvas

Initial Sketch - pen and paper - 3 inches by 3 inches

Drawing edited a bit in Photoshop - like the birds on the pilings

Below is the first pass at the painting, not all the elements in yet.

Worked more on the paintings, chenged things around a bit, not a good photo, color looks a bit harsh.  Need to work on the water some more add some lines to help pull it together?

Below is the finished painting, I changed the pier colors, the orange looked too cartooney, added a boat and changed the direction of the middle boat and worked on some reflections and softened the water color. 24x24

Painting - Choppy Waters

This is a very rough sketch for a new painting, will  bring it into photoshop and fool around with the composistion, dont like the position of the four boats and I want to keep with the movement pictured in the boat in the right foreground.

This is the photoshop version of my sketch. Changed the square format and added more boats and movements with boats and lines, will try to keep with the energy in the water and boats.

This is the painting in progress, forgot to take a picture of the painting after I sketched it in and less complete. Have not painted the sails or the body of the some of the boats yet, and may use more lines and color variation, might add a mooring bouy in the foreground.  The blue in the water is darker and more navy than in the photo. This is on a 18x24 canvas.


Almost finished painting below.

More Waders

This painting is another in the waders series, used the bird sketches that I did awhile ago. Having fun with the colors and design.

Wader Close up

Finshed Painting - This is using one of the birds from the Wader, love the shape of this guy.  I had some stencils that I wanted to play with, I  liked the circles in foreground.  The support is board, so some of the texture shows through.  The paints used are Thalo blue and Indian yellow and Cad yellow.



Wader Continued - Step 4

Spent an hour or so working on the painting, mostly on the foreground and the weeds.  Dont like the weeds, will try to make them more blocky and colorful, maybe tie in some of the color I will use for the background and foreground.  I want to incorporate some red into the painting, it really helps to pop the other colors.

Took a picture of the painting at this stage and brought it into photoshop.  I added some red, worked on the weeds a bit, have to vary the  bottom of the weeds, so they are not all growing in a line, also tried out making them blocky and more color, did a few bucket dumps of various colors for the background. The blue in the middle ground is too faded, have to keep to the original, just fade out at the top.  Hope to get to work on this today.

Wader Continued......

Finished Painting, 24 x 24

Step 3- I have painted the whole canvas loosely in greens and blue and began to draw with a paint brush some of the shapes and elements over the background color.

Step 4 -Image above. Now the real painting begins, sometimes I work on the main focus of the painting, I find once the colors and shape is established on the center of interest it helps me gauge the rest of the painting.

This is a close up of what will be the focus of the painting.

The Wader -

This is description of the painting process of the piece I am currently working on.I have the idea to use seabird shapes with the emphasis on the leggy look of the birds to use as the design element.

First Step: Sketching some bird shapes and exagerate some of the features, legs, bills and

squaring off the body of the birds, keeping the angular look.

2nd Step -The next step( image on left below) is to bring the sketches into Photoshop and move around the shapes to get a good composition and to play around with some colors. Image on right is the 24x24 canvas that I am going to use, I have put a red undercolor, I think this will compliment the greens and yellows when some of it shows through.

Boat House Row - The Process

This picture was taken from my small boston whaler on the Westport River, in Ma . The area is called BoatHouse Row and is at the mouth of the river with views to the ocean, dunes and river, one of the most beautiful locations in New England, my opinion anyway. I love the shapes of houses and want to experiment with perspective and simplicity in this painting.

This is a sketch I did from the photo, taking some creative liberties, I like the lines and marks and will try to keep them in the painting. I also will try to play around with perspective.

Image on left - Now I brought the sketch into Photoshop to play around with the colors to see if the design and composition will work.

The final painting, like it, but would like to do another one with more colors on the houses and more depth. Painting is 30x30.

An Idea For A Painting

Here is my first post, I did these painting awhile ago but wanted to show the process.

I had an idea for a painting of sailboats, I want it to be about the shapes, the triangles and the chunky boat shapes and summer colors. Here is a sketch I did.

Sometimes I bring the sketch into photoshop to play around with color.

I then did a 12x12 study of the painting.

And then a larger 24x24, I think the larger one lost some oth the whimsey and looseness of the 12x12. I need to not tighten up and be stingy with the paint when working on a larger piece but I am still happy with the results.