Cedar Island Shores-SOLD

Here's a fast and loose one from Cedar Island, NC. i had a few days free when i got a commission done early so i decided to gypsy around the Outer Banks for a few days since they're calling for good weather all the way thru sunday. when i got to the ferry to get over to Ocracoke i had an hour wait, so i whipped out the paint box and tripod and banged this one out right around the beach a little from the dock.

i like the looseness of it because i was really painting intuitively, so worried about missing the ferry. i think when we have too long to work on a piece we overthink it to fill in the time allowed. kinda like..... how come when the road crew has four guys there's only one working and they get the same amount of work done as they would if they had one or two? but we have to pay for all four regardless dont we?well paintings the same. we sense that we have all this time to work on it (especially if you work in the studio) and we use all the time after its "really done" to add a bunch of detail that wasnt needed anyway, and just kills the spontaneity we loved about it before killing it. the definition of TOO much detail is- anything that isnt ABSOLUTELY needed to tell the story.

when people see my paintings alot of them comment on how i edit a scene into the basics needed and nothing more. well there's the secret. dont put anything into the painting that isnt absolutely necessary. as in -- if you didnt paint it, folks would have a hard time figuring out whats going on. like the shadow lines on a clapboard house. if you squint and dont see them when youre out there painting, why paint them in.... thats unnecessary detail. you dont need to paint in every window for people to know its a house, right? do away with that stuff and the painting will be fresh, and not overworked.