Overlapping and Receding Values

                       "Ocean Point Marina"

For this painting I decided to take the color factor out and concentrate on values.  After painting the sky and ground, I worked from far distance to near foreground.  Each step forward, the values got a little darker. The shadowed sides of the white boats were the exception.

Overlapping shapes also helped bring things forward.  The closest sailboat with its rudder overlaps the lobster boat in the back, and the foreground figures and scaffolding are darker than the shapes behind them.

Notice, too, how the shapes are connected without  stopping for hard edges.  The underside of the boat doesn't start with a hard edge, and the cast shadow melts into the hull to form one shape.

Every once in a while, it helps to eliminate the color problem and just paint the value of things.