Madeira Coast - Work in Progress

This image will be familiar to regular readers in that it is a result of 'sound practice'. No, I'm not being boastful but making reference to the sort of process that most of us should go through prior to committing to a studio piece. The sound practice that I refer to is providing oneself with the best bank of information on which to base the ensuing effort. The first and most important stage for me is creating in the field sketch information that reflects observation on the day and the watercolour sketch that I made on site was published in previous post. The other thing I did was to photograph the scene and the shot is published below.

Getting into what I laughingly call a studio, the back kitchen at home, my first job is to create a 'block in'. Here I attempt to establish relationships between the various elements in the picture that reflect the relative values and colour hints for later detailed work. Therefore what you see here is a Work in Progress. I posted it as such on Wet Canvas, hoping that colleagues there would make suggestions as to how to approach the detailing. One comment that emerged was from a very helpful artist, who has made many positive contributions to my development, Michael McGuire. He spotted that the value shift between light and shadow sides of the rear rock are not great enough. So when I start work tomorrow the first thing I will do is try to darken slightly the shadow side. This will be a delicate task as it will be easy to overdo it and ruin the effect. After that the detailing can begin. I will post the results when they are nearer completion.


Madeira Coast WIP - Oil on canvas board 20" x 16"