
In September, 2007, I took my sister and two 82 year old friends (who had been sorority sisters in college and were great fun) on a week sailing trip complete with a skipper who cooked our meals. We sailed through the San Juan Islands and Gulf Islands off of Washington and British Columbia.
We anchored in this pristine cove and I fell in love with its quiet serenity.
I played with the photo for awhile and finally felt the composition worked best in a narrower format that would draw your attention to the dramatic light on the rocks.
We anchored in this pristine cove and I fell in love with its quiet serenity.
I played with the photo for awhile and finally felt the composition worked best in a narrower format that would draw your attention to the dramatic light on the rocks.
Starting the painting with a watercolor underpainting, I enjoyed playing with the serendipitous drips and runs. Then I blocked in the colors in pastel, working at setting the values (lights and darks) since it is all about dramatic contrast.
I struggled with the rocks, redoing them several times because they kept wanting to look like gray hotdogs! It is tricky to get the rock overhang to feel like it is coming out of the page towards you. I hope you like it!