Eliminating Background Elements

Sorry for the absence.  Travelling home, unpacking the car, and breathing problems have kept me from painting.

But here is the last painting I did in Florida.  A boatyard is a crowded, busy place.  In order to focus attention on one boat and the man cleaning its hull, I opted to leave out much of the busy elements in the background.  Instead, I chose a wet-in-wet approach to keep the attention on the boat.  I did include a second boat that juts partially into the focal subject in order to stop your eye.  The third boat is only hinted at because I needed a horizontal element.  Sky, clouds, shrubs and other boats were all eliminated.  As I said in the last post, the rights of the painting come first.

This coming Wednesday I'll be doing a demonstration at the St. Louis Watercolor Society.  That lesson will be on painting trees---what to do and what to avoid.  So look for that painting very soon!