"Summer Marina" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 16") sold

sold

The original state

Lately I have been busy reworking old paintings, trusting that I have become better and can spot and improve troubled aspects of unsatisfactory paintings. "Summer Marina" is one such example.  I never liked the chalkiness of the background trees, although I was happy with the composition of the colorful boats and their sails all grouped together and sandwiched between the dark shapes of the trees and reflections.  So I tackled the background chalkiness and, at the same time, jazzed up the water and boats with dots.  How do you like the new and improved painting?

"Sunset Harbor" (oil on linen; 12" x 12")

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A small working harbor at Newport, OR is one of the most charming harbors I have ever seen.  At sunset, it is even more beautiful.  I have painted the subject four times in different mediums and styles.  What can I say?  I am enchanted by Newport, OR!

"Red Sails" (watercolor on Yupo, 20" x 26"; sold)

"At Ease" (acrylic, 18" x 24"; sold)

"Red Sails" (oil, 18" x 18"; sold)

"Red Boat" (watercolor on Yupo; 8" x 8") sold

sold

The scene depicts a small charming marina at Luce Creek in Annapolis, MD.  The red boat sings in this green, blue, and purple landscape, doesn't it?  Its actual color was dark blue!  I had a lot of trouble with this painting.  I wiped out and repainted the sky and water.  Still something bothered me.  But I liked the middle section with the boats so much that I couldn't give up.  So I redid the water one more time.  More disappointment.

I was about to toss it into the waste basket, because one cannot mess with a painting forever.  Suddenly a light bulb went off.  Why not crop it and get rid of the offending bottom portion?  I am raising the attitude of "Never give up, never surrender" to an art form!

Reference photo

"After Independence Day" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 16") sold

sold

The day after the Independence Day in 2002, I visited a marina along the Potomac River and saw the scene.  The contrast between the brilliant sun-lit boats and those in the shadow made an indelible impression.  Full of enthusiasm, I painted a full-sheet watercolor painting, also titled "After Independence Day."

The painting won the Potomac Valley Watercolorists Award (something like the second-place award) in the prestigious American Landscape Show at the Art League Gallery in August 2002!  It was before the age of the digital camera; I wasn't much of a photographer either.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to get the painting photographed properly in slides before the show.

When the painting got sold on the last day of the show, I didn't know whether I should be happy or sad.  Dang!  All I have left of the entire exhilarating experience is a snapshot.  I took a picture of the picture to prove that I didn't make up the story!

"After Independence Day" (watercolor, 22" x 30"; sold)

I cropped the scene for the new, much smaller, oil painting.  Unlike the original watercolor version, for which I did a lot of careful pencil drawing, the new version was done with a minimal pre-drawing.  The background is barely suggested in the watercolor painting; in the new painting the background is treated more boldly.  The result is that the sun-lit boats are highlighted between the darker values of the background landscape and the foreground boats.  So, which painting do you prefer?

"Sunny Marina" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 16")

"Sunny Marina" getting block in, next to the reference photo

A couple of weeks ago, two friends and I went to the Washington Sailing Marina on Daingerfield Island in Alexandria, VA. Believe it or not, it is right next to the Washington National Airport.  It can be noisy there and the weather forecast was HOT. But one doesn't hear anything when absorbed in painting boats.  It was actually quite nice in the breeze too.

A small plein air painting I did on that day turned out so so.  Although there were good things about it, I scraped it instead of sweating out to make it work.  Why not a fresh start?  Why torment myself and the world with a mediocre painting?

"Sunny Marina" is a bigger and more complicated painting than the destroyed painting.  I give a standing ovation to the artists who can paint good boat paintings on location.  Boats have got to be the hardest subject to paint--as hard as portraits. Even with the optimal studio painting conditions, it was taxing to paint the boats all stacked together, like sardines in a can!  By the way, I made one important change from the reference photo.  Can you tell what it is?

"Peaceful Marina" (oil on linen, 9" x 12") sold

sold

On Saturday afternoon, Bobbi Pratte's plein-air workshop students painted a marina at Solomons Island, MD.  Water is hard to paint; boats are even harder to paint.  Two of them combined make a fabulous, but challenging subject for a plein-air painter. 

The reason why water is difficult to paint is that it's hard to tell what colors a body of water happens to be at a particular moment because it reflects sky and many other things all around.  Added to that are the currents, breeze, and the ripples caused by boats going by, which keep shifting the shapes of reflections.  Boats come in so many different shapes and sizes that drawing them in perspective is always a big headache.  I tried them last year en plein air and was not happy with what I produced.  So I challenged myself again this year.

As you can see from the photo above, I moved the boat on the right so that it would be within my picture to balance what's going on on the left side of the painting.  You cannot see in the photo the colors inside the boat shed.  There was a lot of reflected light bouncing into the wall, poles, and the boat.  That's why we paint outside, to really see.  It was chilly in the shade; the ducks in their mating season made quite a bit of noise; and sea gulls hovered in the air as the fishing boats returned.  Whenever I look at the painting, I will always remember these things.

"Drum Point Lighthouse" (oil on linen, 10" x 8") sold

sold

Hi, I am back.  Having lived in this country for 27 years, last week I took a solemn oath to become a citizen.  The event called for a major celebration, so I took a weekend plein-air workshop with Bobbi Pratte in  Solomons Island, MD, about 90 minutes of driving from where I live.  This was my first out-of-town workshop.

The weather forecast was grim.  The teacher emailed us about the rain jacket, umbrella, duck tape, etc.  Why duck tape?  To strap the umbrella onto the easel since not everybody has a plein-air umbrella.  It rained all week, but the sky began to clear by Friday.  By Saturday it was the most glorious late spring weather one could hope for in the mid-Atlantic region!

We stayed at Comfort Inn that owns a marina and also happens to be right next door to the Calvert Marine Museum, home to the picturesque Drum Point Lighthouse.  My memory isn't what it used to be; Solomons Island sounds so exotic that I didn't know I've been to the place many years ago until I saw the famous lighthouse.  Many artists had painted this iconic regional landmark.  Now I got to try my hand.  For next few days, I will share more of my paintings from the workshop.  Stay tuned.