I took the reference for this painting as I passed Beacon Marina in Gloucester, MA, completing my favorite walk around the Back Shore. From the sidewalk I saw the sun hitting this red shack, and just had to capture some photo reference. The calm water made for a clean composition of flat blue, messy dock in the background, and that red shack. It's a simple image, but like my insightful brother Jarod said, "the red gets you at first, but then you explore..."
Simplicity is usually just complexity hidden by good proportions however, and painting this little guy was not the joyous flurry of brushstrokes I'd envisioned. As happens so many times I got to a middle point( or as I like to call it in my unhelpful mind the "what a train wreck" stage) and weighed my options. Is this worth finishing? How did I mess this up? And the ever supportive "got a little too confident didn't you?"...
And then - I mixed more red and got to work making it happen.
It usually only takes a coffee break & a few paint strokes until I see just enough light to believe there's a favorable end of the tunnel. And then it's such a nice win.
Whether it's the best painting ever isn't the point. The point is to reflect the inspiration that made me stop for this image in the first place.
