Reading the Paper by Sea

This is my second submission for Virtual Paintout Slovenia Challenge, March 2014. It's oil on F0 canvas panel.

After being stuck on the first painting for days, I decided to go back to smaller character studies. I was traveling virtually around the Adriatic coastline of the country, and came upon this person reading the paper. (ref) The lighting was good, and I thought I would continue with the blue and orange theme, but with less loud of a blue. Foreground rocks were done with a palette knife to give more interest and texture.

Three Boats and Two Ladies

This is for Virtual Paintout Slovenia Challenge, March 2014. It's oil on 10x14 canvas panel.

One of the first places I visited was a place called Bled, and there was a nice beautiful lake there. There were many scenes that were quite beautiful. I decided on this scene (ref) because I thought I would have some fun with the composition with the three boats and the two ladies sun bathing and chatting. The boats were orange in tone, and would be fun to contrast with blue from the lake, with all the colors kicked up a few notches from real life.

After the initial painting, I was stuck for a while because the blue was lacking something. After many days, I decided going to the palette knives and put in some high lights.