plein air: schellenger's lane

11x15

I joined a plein air painting group and when I met them at the Cape May Harbor I was not sure what to paint. Settled on these work boats. I couldn't see them very well--they were far away and backlit, so I thought that would be the challenge: painting something I could barely see with enough detail to make it recognizable.

After I got home, I darkened the lower left a bit because I thought it didn't register as water. Also, I got some advice to that effect--to darken the water or to crop the bottom; both good suggestions--from a Facebook group I recently joined, The Accidental Watercolorist.

The first painting I put on the page was the one below. I like the subject so much, and was pretty happy with the blue-grays, but I was just dissatisfied and couldn't put my finger on what was wrong. I posted it to The Accidental Watercolorist and gota lot of 1) encouragement and 2) good practical advice--about color, atmospheric perspective, etc.--that I will definitely follow when I re-do this one!

8x10