Working Bigger

This weekends project (well, Sunday and Monday) was to try and paint one of my dream travel destinations, and to once again go up in the size paper I painted on.

I have been fascinated with the thought of sailing the Caribbean or the Med since friends of mine took a Windjammer trip back in the late 90's. The stories of their nights sleeping on the deck while anchored exotic lagoons have stuck in my head ever since. I still have 16 year old brochures in a box in my closet somewhere.

I am even more enamored with the Mediterranean than I am the tropics. There is something about the French Riviera, the Ligurian Sea and the Amalfi Coast of Italy that gets me fired up. The amazing hue of the waters and the beautiful structures built into the seaside cliffs seem to leap out of the photographs and pull me in.

I cannot paint from imagination, I pretty much have to have a photo to guide me. I could not find a good shot of a clipper ship (sadly the Windjammer company is out of business) on the Med with a good background, but I did find an oil painting of a sailboat off the walls of Amalfi. So I figured what the heck, why not paint a painting!

I used a 12x16 watercolor block for this one. This is the biggest watercolor I have ever attempted, as well as the first time I have tried a boat. I used masking fluid to block out the space for the boat, but unfortunately misjudged the space needed for the reflection.

The buildings were HARD. I could not find a balance between being loose and detailed, or get the relationship between light and shadow that I wanted. Those are things I know I am going to continue to struggle with mightily, but I have to learn.

It was a good exercise. I learned a few things about using masking fluid and perspective, as well as developed a little further my interpretation of how light plays with the surface of water. The large size of the paper was a challenge as I expected, but at the same time more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I predict that I am always going to prefer smaller paintings, but I will not shy away from larger ones to the extent I have in the past.

But the best part of the exercise was putting myself in my mind, however briefly, on the deck of that sailboat in one of the most beautiful spots on the planet, feeling the warm breeze and the gentle rocking of the boat, breathing the salty air, while taking in the wonder of the awe-inspiring view.

Art is pretty cool!