Step by Step on "Seven Up"

In the last blog, I promised to demo some of the steps in doing a marine scape. This is one of the last paintings I did called "Seven Up on Johnstone Strait, a 20x24 inch acrylic on deep canvas and this first image is the finished product, presently hanging in Gallery 223 in Nanaimo. During the next few blogs I will show it in its various stages of production and explain how it came about.

The next image shows the very beginning of the painting. I began with a cool colour scheme of blues, typical of summer in the area. I usually begin an acrylic with flat washes of colour in all the shapes that I have used as a composition, making sure that all  are interesting and different in size. This is actually the most important part of the whole process. If your design is not correct, you can use the mostbrilliant technique with a myriad of colours but it will still be weak and uninteresting. At this point, you must check to see if all your shapes within the painting are interesting and different. 
The sky, mountains, hills and ocean are all horizontal and, although different in size, beg to have verticals or diagonals for relief. The beach and cliff provide this interest, with the cliffs being slightly more vertical and forcing your eyes toward the ocean. If the eyes go there, thay must have some entertainment which must come next. (In the next blog!) 

At Last a new Posting on my Blog

I must apologize for my tardiness in keeping this blog up to date. There have been some major changes in our family and in our life but everything is a bit more settled now and I can go on with keeping you informed and up to date. We are still running the gallery on a "by appointment" basis. "By Appointment" sounds so formal but really means give us a call before you waste your gasoline to come out here to make sure we are home.

I am involved with one other commercial but hope to expand to others as well. The gallery I am with at present is in Nanaimo and is called Gallery 223.
I've done some interesting marine scapes and will demonstrate how I've done them on this blog in NEXT BLOG. In the meantime, if you look on my website and click on "Paintings", you'll find at the top of the list a new category called "Small Original Paintings". If you click on this it will present a blog with a number of new, small original paintings for sale. The November rains have come with a vengeance and I am enjoying the warmth of my studio with all sorts of new ideas! Check me out in a few days!