Pilings

A common approach to depicting pilings and stanchions, as well as trees, is to paint them all the same dark value and color.  Look carefully at the actual scene and you will see that there are lighter areas of the logs and darker shadow areas, as well as a variety of colors due to shadows, moss, and bleached surfaces.

In this painting of a dock outside my room here in Eastpoint, Florida, I was drawn to the pelicans roosting on a neighboring dock.  The variety of colors and values were especially attractive to me.

Basically it was a three color study:  cobalt blue, yellow ochre and burnt sienna with a bit of black thrown in.  Staying with three colors has its advantages, the primary one being unity of color.

Gradation of values and changing colors will keep the pilings from being boring.  Also, pay attention to the intervals between the verticals in the structure.  It looks like a fairly simple study until you take into consideration these factors.