Hoylake Mudflats

I have put an "on hold" caution on this one; it may have to go to Bob for his collection.  It IS a scene from where he grew up, on the Wirral Peninsula, across the Mersey River from Liverpool, England.  From his reaction, I gather that it turned out fairly well.  I like it, too !

I have worked from a photo, with permission from the photographer, Christian Smith.  I saw his photo in a Wirral Nature Guide that a friend sent to us, and the publisher has very helpfully traced him for me.  I have had exceptionally good results from asking for permission to use others' work in my paintings, which is very gratifying.  Now that it could actually be sold, it seems very unlikely to happen.  Bob gets first dibs on anything that I paint !  We'll see how he feels about the next one that I have in mind....  

Using my favourite Golden Heavy Body Acrylics on Strathmore linen-finish Acrylic Paper usually works well for me.  I like the linen texture as a change from the traditional cold-press watercolour paper that I use most of the time.  (I also have a new pad that is big enough to fit in the frame that I wanted to use, always an important consideration.)  This scene needed to have opaque areas with the clarity of the sky for contrast.  Putting the pink glow from the setting sun on the "wet" areas was great fun; I was dreading working on the boat, but convinced myself that surely I could paint a mast vertical to the top of the windshield and the rest was in silhouette, so what was I worrying about anyway ?  There can easily be more talking to myself than there is painting, some days.

The excitement from a successful finish is amazing and delightful.  Maybe I should paint another !