Small Reference Source.......

When I was starting out to paint in my early years I would find the oddest things to inspire me.  This was a small photograph in a National Geographic Magazine. I really liked the composition with the three boats moored while the tide was out.  The two guys in the photo and the seagulls helped to show the size of the fishing boats in the scene in comparison. The whole scene was a great photograph taken by a magazine contributor.

I did try to duplicate all of the colors with the water and shoreline of rocks and clay.   I bet I could paint better seagulls now than back when I did this painting. I liked seeing the poles that helped to stay the boats and all the rigging was fun to portray.  I did name the one boat after my wife.

Two Geese......

This was painted a long time ago when I was young.  I really am not a wildlife painter but I took a stab at it. I really did get into the real and not so real foliage.  I a not sure if I was doing real things but at the time I probably thought that I was.   The black and white shown below the colored painting has no purpose other than to show the value contrast in the painting.

The Minnesota shoreline of some lake is pretty much authentic looking as I have painted many times the shores of the lakes in the state. The sky also seems to be one that I have studied for many different kinds of paintings.  I think I have done more watercolor paintings as well as pastel paintings creating this same sky.

Artists sometimes says that they will return to a painting but it really is not a good idea..  Maybe a newer pose of some Canada geese on the water would be worth a try instead.