Additions

This is my annual workshop week here in Boothbay Harbor.  The weather hasn't been very cooperative, so we've been painting in the studio.  One of my students brought some photos she had taken of rowboats.  I was particularly drawn to one with a dark cast shadow on the beach.  Since I had just given a lecture about clearly stating dark values, I chose to paint that rowboat.  But, I invented the rest of the scene: the bottom of a fish shack, rocks, the two buoys, and the schooner out in the bay.

After years of painting the Maine coast, I have a repertoire of items that I can draw upon to add to a scene that needs a little jazzing up for compositional reasons.  Keeping a sketchbook to record objects and lighting effects has helped.  Practice your drawing!