New England Waterfront

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. I found a photograph of these fishing shacks along the shore in New England and decided to paint it with a few changes. First I look for what is unnecessary and should be left out. There was a third fishing shack and I liked the composition better with just these two. Photo's show the dark values darker than reality and the area under the shacks and along the shore was to dark. There was a barely visible large rock which I lightened and then added a couple more. Next I lightened the shore with yellow ochre, olive and perylene green. These steps made that whole area lighter in value and full of texture.

The two fishing shacks had boring white roofs and the smaller shack was white and I knew that would compete with the sails on the ship. I added metal roofs so I could add burnt sienna and cool grays. For the shingles on the shacks I did the dry brush technique and even added a few marks with conte crayon. The rock formation that leads out into the ocean was also to dark so I added lighter values and more texture. I also added French ultramarine blue and cerulean blue. You can see how the cerulean blue keeps the eye from wandering out of the left hand border. That same rock formation also leads the eye into the painting and the cerulean blue slows down the eye and adds color interest to that area.

The sky in the photo was a simple blue gray so I added a misty cloud formation and softened in the distant trees. The water is cerulean blue and I added a little green here and there to get an aqua color. The lighter horizontal streaks in the water add interest and texture. Finally, where the reflections darken the water, I added just a few lighter reflections from the supporting poles. This repetition added rhythm and there was no reason to reflect all the poles. My idea was to create the mood of a misty overcast day and I think the changes I made accomplished this.

The distant trees were painted with olive, perylene green and cerulean blue and the rocks are mixtures of burnt sienna, French ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, cobalt violet and yellow ochre. The smaller shack is a mixture of burnt sienna, burnt umber, and raw sienna and the sales on the ship, which balances the painting, are yellow ochre. This summer in June I will be teaching an in person class at the Art Students League of Denver titled New England Waterfronts and this painting has me excited about the class. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton