I began this painting a few weeks ago. I had been stalking this area, or rather perusing it with my little Chihuahua on early morning walks at the Dana Point Harbor. This area where the boats are docked kept grabbing my attention. The setting proved to be a complicated one, so I worked out the composition in a burnt sienna sketch on the canvas. By then the lighting changed so I packed up and went home. I show the first sketch and the setting in two images.
The next time I came out on a similar type weather day I began to paint in the oil colors. Only this time, I brought my Chihuahua in her pet carrier to watch the scenery and get fresh air. I have this ideal that I can train her to be with me while I paint. I'm dreaming. Well, she barked at the other dogs going on walks and whined to be let out. So, I painted far less than I wanted to and the light changed. I took enough images with my Canon SLR and felt I had stared long enough at the specifics on location. It would have to be finished in the studio.
Here's how far I got and notice the red acetate sheet I attached to the side of my easel lid under the canvas. That's so I can check values and not apply color that is too dark or too light. There were so many of both values in this scene that it felt difficult to work with my bare eyes.
I really liked this location and how the water in the channel contains so many patterns of moving ripples and reflections of the sunlight and the boats. The buildings behind with the eucalyptus trees beyond them provided a wonderful backdrop. The dark wood posts made for curvy reflections down the water and great contrasts. Although the boats where white, they actually had the sun behind them and picked up colors from the water. I painted the boats in shades of blue, blue-violet, green and grey. I added some of the background buttery highlights to create a dancing light effect on the boats forefronts and across the water in front of the Dana Pride. Here's the final image and I liked the 'feel' of the water on this one.
