Painting Chronicles - Overcast

9am Sunday morning I cycled down to the beach. The sky was overcast, its not that I have anything against a blue sky its just that for the purposes of my paintings, I would like a bit of drama. Normally I would be in the ocean with my surfboard however the husband had to take the car as he hadn't been able to replace the spark plug that he had taken out of the 1962 bug. I can't believe that my weekend plans rest on the road readiness of that vehicle. It's pretty, that fact cannot be denied but its almost 50 years old so it needs regular nursing. So I was on the bike and there was no room for the board, sadly. The waves were in the 3-4ft + region by Huntington Beach Pier and I started snapping away. Much easier to see through the viewfinder when its overcast. I have a waterproof camera but I haven't tested it in the ocean as I need some sort of mechanism to attach it to me. Otherwise one big wave and Poof, there goes $300 which wouldn't be good. When I got home I was surprised to find that I had taken 283 photos, the great thing about digital is that you can take pictures at whim and its instant, the bad, you don't spend as much time thinking about the shot. I can still remember waiting for the postman every day to see my holiday photos and it seemed like such a long wait. Now its plug in and ta da. I once picked up a pack of photos years back at the local chemist as I walked home I tore open the envelope and found someone elses photos. What was most disturbing was the content, the man was dressed in women's clothing, I only looked at a couple before the images indelibly marked themselves in my memory bank and duly marched back to the chemist. "These are not my photos!" I said. Fortunately, I got my own photos back but I shudder just thinking about it. The man needed his own darkroom for those sorts of pictures.

But back to the painting. Here are two more I've been working on, I went out and bought some more oil paints so I'm raring to go this weekend with my manganese blue and viridian. There are two more in the pipeline but I'm waiting for them to dry a bit. I liked the effect I got in the very first painting for the sky and can't seem to replicate it but still trying.