Sunlight and Storm Clouds (Oil Bar Painting as of July 9, 2013)

Sunlight and Storm Clouds (Oil Bar Painting as of July 9, 2013), a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

This is my oil bar painting in progress, a view of Salem on a stormy summer. This is based on a photo that I took last month from Obear Park, here in Beverly, MA. I didn't work on this painting on July 8, not just because I was busy but because I thought the painting was pretty close to finished. I decided that I was wrong about that, and I did work on it yesterday. This is how the painting looked when my painting session was over. I had noticed that one of the long yellow reflections in the water was not straight, so I decided to fix it. I had also decided that the water needed more work, especially in the foreground. I am not going for photorealism here, but I do want to bring the painting a bit closer to the reference photo (posted here June 19). I am pretty happy with the painting so far, so it is getting a little scarier to change things because I don't want to lose what is already there (and that is easy to do). So yesterday, as I had my morning coffee, I studied the reference photo, especially the water. I looked at the photo right-side-up, and then I turned it upside-down and studied it some more. Then I began to paint. I straightened out the reflection, and then concentrating on the water in the foreground. I added to the streaks of light on the water, and began to break up the long horizontal lines in the water, to add to the perspective and to make the water look a bit more realistic. I added some short strokes to suggest movement in the water. I think I am on the right track and plan to do a little more. I also changed the foliage of one of the trees to eliminate a bit of confusion. Life was crazy today and I couldn't paint (July 10), so today's post is the latest version. But I plan to paint tomorrow.