The Quarterdeck

This is the completed painting. The biggest change was to loosen up my rendering of the driveway, to make the edges uneven and not the very linear way I had first done them. This is a Christmas gift that was commissioned, I hope they like it!

Stage 3 Quarterdeck

Painting is taking shape, now I am refining things. In particular, the garage doors keep looking too white when I squint at them. Looking at painters who use white and see how they handle it.Its never as white as you would think.

Stage 2 Quarterdeck

Now that the painting is laid in with tonal values I can begin to add local color, always looking for shapes rather than thinking "that's a window". Making decisions as what to eliminate, what to emphasize, using the photo only as reference. I want the viewer to feel what its like to go down that long driveway and end up at the house on the water.

1st stage:Quarterdeck

Here is the beginning of my rendition of the home. I chose a linen canvas that measures 12x24 as I wanted there to be some space to show the water to the right of the house. Narragansett Bay looking across to Newport.This is the stage that's really about the composition and establishing the values of the painting.

The Quarterdeck

These images are my reference for a house painting I'm doing for a Christmas gift. The original house was designed and built by Mason Remy for his sister Mary. Still in the family and sporting a beautiful new garage and great room above. Will be posting the painting as it has progressed, step by step.

White Cabbage

Another small flower painting, a close up of the white cabbage, most interesting and challenging to paint!

Winter Flowers

Judy has been bringing in masses of flowers to paint, not my usual thing, but they were so irresistible. Not to mention, quite the challenge. Really a great subject for the winter studio. Another small painting, this one only 6x6.

Dora's Truck

This one was done in the parking lot of the Newport Art Museum, very accessible as we had to "go no further", but the subject matter of the cars was not that predictable. To me it was about making a good painting out of a subject that wasn't particularly pretty or inspiring.

One Way

This painting was a challenge, as I kept wanting to increase color saturation, rather than struggle with value. Would like to revisit the same site, in the museum parking lot, facing east. Every time I back to a previous painting location, I see it through entirely new eyes. How that phenomenon occurs is quite beyond me.