I decided to transpose the watercolor composition I did last week onto a panel so that I could try out an expansive harbor painting. It took two en plein air sessions to come up with this.

The challenges: large cargo boats coming and going, obstructing or enhancing the view, what to include what to dismiss?; also the buildings on the left provided strong shifts from early morning to midday, make a choice and stick with it.

Mostly I wanted the composition to enhance the small white buildings in the distance. In order to get them to read, I needed an interesting foreground. Luckily there was a ship on the right during my first session, while the tall, sharply illumined buildings on the left provided balance. A windless day during the second session offered fantastic liquid reflections. (Take the money and run!) Later, I could include traces of its dance along the large, open channel, leaving the sky too, open and clear – as it was.

Oh yes, the session also included (for me) a sweet recognition my penchant for industrial harbors. I originally discovered my passion for landscape painting back in the 1970’s when I lived in New Haven Connecticut. I did a series of landscapes then of its harbor. Oil tanks. Industrial chimneys. Geometric shapes. So, the subject matter is quite similar, the color scheme, too. Yummm….

If you are interested in hanging this on your wall, please contact me.