View of Green Harbor from Brant Rock

Green Harbor from Brant Rock Stage One

It was early November and although many trees had lost their leaves, here along the water, the leaf drop was a bit behind the areas just a little more inland.    I was set up at the marina boat ramp on the Brant Rock side of the Green Harbor River.   Across the river were the houses along Marginal Street where the Green Harbor General Store is located.    It feels wonderful to have the ocean air all around and the water rising as high tide approached.   The seagulls sitting on the dock in front of me were generally hilarious getting vocal when another seagull swooped down making it clear that the gull limit on this dock was three.

Green Harbor from Brant Rock Stage Two

As for the colors, the salt marsh grasses looked to me like yellow ochre out of the tube.    The trees were gold, burnt sienna, sap green, and raw sienna with dark blue/violet shadows.  Most of the fishing boats were at sea judging by the number of dinghies tied to their moorings.   Three boats were visible between me and the far shore. Beyond them, on the far side were houses with traditional gray weathered cedar shingles.  I made the house gray by scraping up the tree, sky and water colors making a harmonious grey color.

At this point the question was, which element(s) should take center stage?   In the Stage Two Photo of the painting, there was general equality of importance.   Which element should be the true center of interest?  I decided that the two closest boats and their moorings would get the brightest, thickest paint.   In fact I brushed a pale blue atmospheric glaze over everything on the far shore to make it sit back more.

Green Harbor from Brant Rock