Duxbury Bay from the Cove

Warm Up - Grey Morning

The Cove is a small boat launch location in Duxbury.   It is a little known spot except for local kayakers, fishermen, and painters.   Tropical storm Andrea was exiting but its cloud-cover hung tough for most of the morning.   The first painting was the gray day; the second was the sparkling, bright, rain cleansed day that replaced it.   I'm showing the gray day painting, featuring a greenhead fly box, but it is no winner.   This canvas has been overpainted several times and the textural build up was not a good fit for this subject.   Here it is to the right, but it will soon get overpainted with a subject that can benefit from the bumps.



Storm Clouds Moving Away - Stage 1

The second painting was more successful.   The cobalt blue sky and puffy white clouds were fresh and clear.   The storm clouds were still visible sitting just over the horizon.   Broken lavender clouds dotted the clearing scars closer in the sky.   A bright strip of sunlit marsh can be seen just in front of the island and beachhouses in the distance.   A single motorized boat was moored nearby, and a private dock enters the painting on the left.

Storm Clouds Moving Away - Stage 2

The photo on the right shows the first pass version of the painting.   Nice color, accurate drawing, decent composition, nice but .....boring!  


A week after the paint out, back in the studio, I take another critical look....again... boring!





Storm Clouds Moving Away - Stage 3

I decided to mix up some matching piles of  juicy paint and apply a thick impressionistic type of overpainting.  I also added some rich red accents in the shadows of the dock pilings and the foreground grasses.   I repainted the motorboat and improved the reflections.   Better, but still a little boring, or should I say, tranquil.





Storm Clouds Moving Away - Final