The Importance of Values

In recent years I've become a colorist.  But today I felt the need to eliminate most color to express the mood of an old Maine dock.  So values became a key element in the painting.  I tried to keep most of the darker values under the dock.  The large roof area was left in relatively higher values to keep the biggest contrasts at the edge of the dock house and in the lower half of the painting. I threw in some warmer tones there, too, and confined the textures to that same area, leaving the perimeter fairly flat and smooth.  The right side of the painting provides some aerial perspective using lighter values, and the simple shape balances the composition .

I also invented the chimney to break up the straight roofline.