Bait Shop Morning, 8 x 16, oil on panel, L. Daniel © 2020
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This plein air painting has been sitting in my studio for a couple of years... just waiting for some attention. It depicts a long-standing bait shop out in the middle of a marsh in the Golden Isles of Georgia. I love the dancing trees along the road that leads to it, and I have painted it several times from various angles and in different lighting. When I painted this one on location, I just didn't quite "get" the light and ambience of the day...
So, years later, here are some fixes...
BEFORE
AFTER
CHANGES
Problem 1 - The horizon line and row of trees was smack-dab in the middle of the picture plane and divides the painting into halves.
Fix 1 - Dropped the horizon line, the base of bait shop, and the roots of the tree trunks.
Problem 2 - The light lacked commitment and its source was undefined.
Fix 1 - Added color to morning sky.
Fix 2 - Darkened cloud bank.
Fix 3 - Added highlights to bait shop and trees to indicate light source.
Fix 4 - Darkened foreground marsh to focus light on the subject (the bait shop and road).
Fix 5 - Darkened distance uprights to help highlights in subject to pop.
OBSERVATIONS:
When painting the landscape, it's important to leave some of the details out. That can be hard because there is so much going on, and everything seems important. But we have to choose what is MOST important. It helps to keep asking myself, "what is the painting about?" I always do better when I stay "on message".
Notice everything, and then choose.
