Waiting Patiently

Some days a painting as much as paints itself and other days nothing works.  Often the days that I don't feel like painting at all produce my best work.  More often than not I start with a subject that I love and a great attitude and it all heads south.  I often love the composition and draw it out quite well and then when I start to paint I forget to look at my subject.  That was the case on Monday.  I was excited about all the shapes of the many boats on cradles waiting their turn to get lifted into the water.  No masts or rigging just the various curves of all the hulls.

I drew this painting out and was really excited about it.  The problem is that by the time I got all the shapes drawn in I was mentally pretty tired.  I should have gone for a walk and munched on my apple but instead I pushed on.  By the time I had blocked in all the shapes of the boats I was in no shape to focus on the many shapes in the buildings and I just threw them in.  When I got to the highlights, reflections in the hull and details I had nothing left and totally lost it.

It was a good day to be outside and I was painting with friends so the day wasn't a total loss.  One artist was half way through her painting when a crane came along and removed her subject.  Oh to have that excuse.