From Idea to Juried Show

A Step by Step Record...
Artistic Concept to Finished Painting

End of Day
30x40"
Oil on Canvas

An ongoing fascination with water, boats and the ocean lead me to Morro Bay, California in the spring of 2007 for a couple of days. I did a watercolor sketch the first evening.

The next morning we got up early to catch the sunrise. Took a lot of pictures and did two more sketches.
The sketches are important. When I look at them I remember the hour or so sitting on the beach, the waves
breaking, the sea gulls, the smell of the salt air, the sun, the temperature. The one of the boat it was cold and
windy, I nearly froze.

Upon returning home I looked through all the photos, did some cropping and so on...

These all seemed like possible paintings. Then I noticed the photo below. The highlight from the setting sun
on the side of the boat and the reflection, could that make for a good painting? How beautiful the sky was.

I did some thumbnail sketches...

Thumbnail Sketches about one inch wide.

In Paint Shop Pro I cropped the photo and put a frame around it
to visualize the final painting. Not too bad. I applied the oil painting filter
as another visualizing aid.

It could work. Must check out the other idea. I've carefully cropped the photo
placing the boat in what feels like the best spot, removing the other boat.

First decreasing the brightness and increasing the contrast I then apply the Posterizing filter
to reduce the photo to black and white and the main shapes.
This makes it much easier to quickly try variations.

The boat feels trapped by the headland. I add a break and a way out.
I also suggest a female form to the top of the headland. The highlight is added
and the horizon line raised. All this just takes a few minutes.

I like this a lot and more than the first idea. I decide to transfer this to the 30x40" canvas and
see how it looks there. Here's the first few stages.

The boat and the water are coming along. The headland and the horizon line don't feel right. I try
variations.

I eliminate the horizon line completely and add more interest to the sky to balance the boat visually.
Still not happy with the headland. Better, but not quite right yet. I add a frame digitally to get a fresh
look at it. And a detail showing the boat which is nearly done. The top of the headland still bothers me.
I add more interest there.

Getting close now. The boat/sky dialog is interesting. I add more color variation to the sky. The
reflection of the headland is darkened and made bluer. The texture of the headland is modified
and the high spots are catching the setting sun. Wow! I think that's it. The dramatic sky adds a lot.

You can compare with the original photo. Mainly I used the photo for details of the boat.
I changed the headland a lot and completely made up the sky. A reflection was
added for the headland and the color of the water was changed and intensified. The final painting
communicates how I felt about Morro Bay more than the photo. That's what guided the changes.