"Silent Evening, Currituck Sound"

"Silent Evening, Currituck Sound" 24x30 oil on canvas

     It's finished.  Well, except for one tiny thing I noticed as I uploaded this image.  I forgot to paint one of the supports for the pavilion.  The one on the right is missing, although you can hardly tell.  I am pleased enough with the painting that I have ordered a frame for it and will enter it in some shows this spring/summer.
      I know this place so well and it is winter evenings like this that have kept my husband and I returning over and over for the last twenty plus years.  It can get a little crazy in the summer but in the off season it is meditative.  At this point on the Outer Banks the Atlantic Ocean is separated from Currituck Sound by a scant quarter of a mile of land.  Our house is located on that narrow spit.  Yes, it is brinksmanship.  It is also a little piece of heaven. Being surrounded by those two magnificent bodies of water and the vast sky putting on one light show after another it is easy to forget the stress and turmoil of life.  You will be seeing more Outer Banks paintings coming from me this spring!

       Coming up next, however, is another painting of Lake Cayuga in Ithaca New York.  I have primed an 18x24 inch gessoboard panel and toned it with a wash of alizarin crimson.  Below is the small sketch and color study I will be using for the painting.  This painting is inspired by the same day depicted in "Above Cayuga's Waters".  We were out on a launch at dawn heading from the inlet to the lake and the first painting was based on a photograph taken just as dawn was breaking.  The painting I will start tomorrow is based on a photograph I took just as we were about to leave the inlet and the sky had brightened considerably. There are times when there is no other option but to work from photos and I enjoy doing that.  I do however find that it is best to first do a drawing and a color study to create a couple of degrees of separation from the photo.  I can edit things, add things, manipulate the image to suit my needs and I can almost guarantee that I will make more changes once I start to paint. 

Title to be determined and the size will be 18x24