Capt James N Revisited | 6×8 | Oil on Panel
Inspiration for Capt James N Revisited
Beautiful March weather here on the Florida Gulf Coast prompted me to start Capt James N Revisited en plein air. I genuinely wish I had more time to head out and paint on days like that! Of course, in the end it probably comes down to planning—but life sure gets busy, doesn’t it?
In this scene, I particularly enjoyed finding that hint of warm afternoon sunlight that played over everything. The lightest we can go as artists is white straight out of the tube…but that white generally doesn’t have the “warmth” that I wanted to convey here. So to capture that feeling, I first brought in just a touch of yellow-orange in the lightest areas—and then, equally as important, I painted the shadows very blue and blue-green. (Which is the way they actually appear in real life, by the by!) This “coolness” of blue in the shadows makes those slightly “warm” whites look even warmer by way of contrast: pretty slick, huh? 🙂 I also enjoyed playing with the light reflecting from the waves and onto the hull. This area definitely a challenge, because if those reflections went too light, the shadow wouldn’t look quite right. It was a delicate balance to achieve!