Disembarking Steamship

This is for Virtual Paintout January 2014 Cape Cod. It's oil on F3 canvas panel.

Every summer when we go to Martha's Vineyard, we come to Steamship Authority in Falmouth to take a ferry with our car over to the island. The Google Street Map itself  is a typical scene at the ferry terminal, people and cars getting on and off. It's getting late in the afternoon and lights started to come on.

I decided to have some fun with lighting for this painting. I wanted to give more emphasis on the three big round lights, so I made everything else around them darker in tone, in addition, I added more contrast with light and shadows on the ground. A lot of the work, especially the lower half of the painting, we're done with palette knife. I also kept the details inside the steamship, including the two attendants who were directing traffic off the boat.