From left to right, these 30 x 24 paintings will be called BAIT STAND, BEACH TREE, BOAT DOCK, and BUOYS.
Here’s a photo of the four pictures I took in Cedar Key, Florida which are the inspiration for my newest series called “vacation!” (It really was this beautiful there in Cedar Key… you should visit, if you ever get the chance.) The next painting I’m starting is called “BOAT RAMP.”
DAY ONE: Here's my studio before I begin working on BOAT DOCK (Do you see the truck in the left window? They are building another house just up the street from us--Very distracting to have my windows facing all the commotion in this direction!!)
The first thing I did was start with the sky...
...THEN it started snowing. Greenville County Schools are closing at noon. DRATS. My fun/work is over... time to go pick up Nathan.
DAY TWO: I got a very late start today. Schools were on a two-hour delay, so I didn't get into my studio until close to 11 am (I was sidetracked in my kitchen when I got home at 10:15, as I had to remove the neck/giblets from a turkey I was roasting.) My realistic goal for the shortened amount of time I have left to paint today, is simply to paint the water in BOAT RAMP.
I painted lots of different blue lines on the angle the waves were lapping against the dock...
More blue strokes, then I start to blend them all together with a super soft large brush. I put tape on the area where the posts are so that I could blend the water better. It actually worked pretty slick. Why didn't I think of this trick years ago?
I'm done for the day. I'm pretty happy with the water. I'll probably go back and add some more waves once this layer is dry. Blue dries fairly quickly, which is nice!
Hello Marie
I have been following your painting blog for several weeks now and I always enjoy your posts, especially when you start a new painting. I have noticed that you always start with a sketch on your canvas to get going. Can you please tell me how you transfer your image? Do you sketch free hand or do you have a way to trace the image?
Thanks
Carla
Hi Carla,
Thanks for following my blog! When I first started painting, I sketched all my compositions onto the canvas by hand. But as you can imagine, that takes quite a bit of time. Since painting (and not drawing) is my first love, I now use an “artograph projector” to project a the image I’m going to paint right onto the canvas. I use either photos I take myself, or sometimes I simplify my photo into a small line drawing and then project that onto the canvas. The projector saves a great amount of time, but it basically just gets the basic composition onto the canvas–I then go back and fine-tune the drawing. It works well for my style which isn’t more contemporary and stylized. (Sometimes if I’m doing a landscape with a fairly simple composition, I do think it’s faster to do my sketch free hand so then I don’t use the artograph at all. It all just depends on how complicate the subject matter is.) You can get an “artograph” at http://www.dickblick.com
Hope this helps!
Marie Scott