PIC FOR THE OPA SHOW

I entered the Oil Painters of America Exhibition this year for the first time.  I only joined last January and missed the deadline for 2014 but I made sure to enter this year.  And I'm really pleased to learn that I had a painting accepted.  They allow two submissions from each painter but only one will be accepted.  This is the one they chose.  This painting also was awarded FIRST PLACEin the OPA Spring Showcase.  It is available at the West End Gallery in Victoria  http://www.westendgalleryltd.com/

Twelve Small Boats, oil, 26x36

I often think I will take photos of a painting at various stages along the way but get so involved in what I'm doing that I forget to take more than one or two.  With this painting, I did take one shot right after the layout stage when I had just started to block in the darks and shadows.  Later on I made a few compositional changes so you can play 'spot the difference'.  And you can decide if I might have been well advised to leave the composition as I had it in the initial block in.

Initial Block In

I also took a close up of some of the small boats showing the sort of brushwork I used:

Detail  showing some of the boats