PROCESS

I don't have a formula but this is a fairly typical start to a painting. I've blocked in most of the areas with the exception of the roof of the building. I started by placing the main shapes on the panel with diluted warm reddish brown and then scumbled in the darks in the shadow of the boat shed, the boat on the bank and the undersides of the docks and foreground boats. I laid in the red sail as it is the focal area followed by the greens.  It is basically a composition made up of horizontals (the greens and the blue-greys of the sky and water) broken by the verticals of the masts. 

This is not the best photo - it came out a bit dark but it gives a suggestion of the finished painting.  I wish I had photographed it in between the two stages.  I think I would have liked it better one stage before this one......

TWO STAGES

This is fairly typical of the way I block in a painting.  I usually start with a bit of line done with a bristle brush and diluted Transparent Oxide Red.  Then I scumble in the dark areas.  With this painting, I laid in the foreground in broad washes hoping to leave a lot of it showing in the final version.

HORSES   14x24

The finished painting -  as usual I find I prefer much of the loose block in with it's vigorous energy.

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

LANDSCAPE COMPETITION

'Pasture' oil 9x12

Finalist in the International Artist Magazine Landscape Competition and now featured in a one page article in the Dec/Jan issue of the magazine. It is available at the West End Gallery in Victoria  http://www.westendgalleryltd.com/

RAYMAR COMPETITION

I am pleased to learn that my painting, Spring is Coming, is a finalist in the Raymar Competition:  http://raymarartcontest.com/winner/75475

Spring is Coming, oil, 18x24

I first painted this subject in watercolour and wanted to see what I could do with it in oil.  It has been
 through several stages. At first I had decided to leave out the hedge and fence which were in the original watercolour and just allow the road to lead the eye into the painting but after awhile I felt it really did
need the stronger foreground.  I also had much more red in the mud but toned it down feeling it was
 fighting with the reds in the focal area. Available at Gallery 8, Salt Spring Island  

FROM WATER TO OIL

I painted in watercolour for over 30 years and once in awhile I decide that one of my old watercolour compositions might work well in oil.  The original watercolour for the oil below was painted in the mid 1980's.  The subject is a group of rowboats pulled up on the beach in St. Ives, Cornwall.  I have always loved painting old boats and enjoyed trying to capture the transition between dry and wet sand. It worked very well in watercolour and I think I managed to get the same effect with oil. 

Five Small Boats, oil, 18x18

OUT OF THE MIST

Last week I met with friends to paint at a local beach.  A lovely sunny autumn morning.  Or so we thought.  A few hundred yards from the sea, we hit a wall of fog.  Not quite what we expected but it was very beautiful.  The friend who picked the spot insisted that there were several islands and a shoreline with houses out there in the mist but we couldn't see a thing when we first arrived. 

It was interesting to see what emerged from the mist over the next few hours