Daily Painting Practice - Day 7 -Maine Seascapes

Day 7 - not everything works the first time

I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday and considering the type of weather we have been having that's saying something. We have gone from -20 to +50 above and now back down to 15 degrees. 
Outdoors wasn't the only place that experienced ups and downs yesterday.  Here in my studio I was going through some artistic ups and downs as well.

Here's what I ended up with...

Sea Shacks near owls Head Maine
6"x6" o/c

But I started here,  painting of some rocks on the coast. 

Not feeling the love

I wasn't feeling the love in this  arrangement. Perhaps if it was on a larger canvas and included more of the area surrounding the rocks it would have given it a better sense of place and scale. Anyway, I stopped just after adding the lights. Very abstract looking sketch.

Step 1 - arrangement

I felt better with this stronger composition. I am actually using a new canvas this time.

Step 2 - block in darks and lights

The trick here was to be able to bring forward the small shack and make the larger house feel farther back even though they were standing so close to each other. This is done with warmer colors in the foreground and  cooler colors in the  background. But the edges of the background also needed to be soft.

After a shaky start I was pleased with this quick little painting.