Sunlight and Storm Clouds (Oil Bar Painting as of July 5, 2013)

Sunlight and Storm Clouds (Oil Bar Painting as of July 5, 2013), a photo by randubnick on Flickr.

Here is the oil bar painting I have been working on as it looked on July 5, 2013. I am using one of my photos as a reference, a picture I took in June at Obear Park here in Beverly, MA, (posted here June 19). The light was so beautiful and strange (which is why I took the photo). It was just before sunset (the "golden hour") and there were stormclouds over Salem, across the water. Capturing that light in a painting is quite a challenge. On July 5, I did more work on the trees, adding shadows, and trying to show that the sunlight was hitting some of the trees from the side, and the trees seen from across the water (the back) were mostly in shadow, as if back-lit. So I struggled with that problem while I painted. I painted for an hour and was pretty happy when I was finished. But then I realized that the streaks of reflected light in the water would need a bit of an adjustment. To be continued. . . .