"Rackliff Island's View"  5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  250$ Framed and Shipped!  I reworked this painting and now the blues are very cool.  The Art Mentor was right.  When I got home, I saw the water looked too tropical!

     Today I drove to Rackliff Island to paint with The Art Mentor and two of his painter friends.  I learned a lot today as usual!  This was a beautiful place.  On the Rackliff Island itself, there is no access for an painter unless a wealthy home owner would allow a painter access!  Too bad!  There are a lot of great views there!  There is a causeway over to Rackliff Island with a dirt parking area.  This is where we decided to paint.  The owner of this land came over to me angry.   We were on his property.  We all didn't think it was private land.  The owner allowed us to stay and turned out to be a nice fellow.  He gave me a copy of an old map so that I may see the island's names I was painting.  He even offered the use of his restroom and water!  How nice.  We worked all day!

  One of the smaller island's in the distance I was painting was called Eagle 1.  This is the smaller island on the left in the painting. 

     The Art Mentor looked at my finished painting and suggested a few things.  He said to put more reddish blues in my water.  Maine is known for it's cool blue water.  So I did put in more cobalt blue and ultramarine blue in the water.  He suggested leaving the warmer blues under these cooler blues.  Then he suggested I still needed to put a cool color in the shadows of the rocks and a warm color for the rock's highlights.  I had used a diox purple for the shadows thinking this was a cool purple.  Wrong I was!  Diox purple is a warmer purple.  Ah ha!  I asked him if I used a mixture of Permanent Alizarin and Ultramarine Blue for the rock's shadows, would that work?  He said yes.  The problem with that mixture is I dislike the color it produces.  It is very opaque.  It looks like a mud.  I have to figure out a cool purple that looks realisic and translucent.  I asked The Art Mentor why I don't see this cool purple in the rocks shadows?  He suggested if I don't see it then I shouldn't paint it.  Hmmm.  Now what.  I guess I will think about this.  I like realistic paintings.  I think painters push colors in order to make the painting look sunny.  There needs to be a dramatic color difference to look like the sun is shining.  I know he is right!  I just need to work on this.  

  "Sea Horses"  5x7 Oil on copper panel.  SOLD!  To a famous Rock Star!  Amazing!

     Next I painted this scene.  It was so beautiful here today.  Perfect temperatures of 70s.  The sun was shining with no clouds to make the light go in and out.  We were very happy working away!  Beautiful paintings were being created here today!  Amazing to watch!  I really enjoyed myself.  I was happy to be invited.  I liked how this painting turned out.  The actual white house is only an inch by an inch.  Really small.  It is difficult to paint this small!  I like to do this.  There are two horses in the backyard overlooking the sea!  What a life!  What a life I have too.  

     I showed The Art Mentor this painting when I was finished.  He told me the same thing, cool the water, cool the rock's shadows.  I need to work on this.  I did cool off the water in this painting.  He was right again!  His painting was turning out terrific.  

  Here is the view from the causeway going to Ratcliff Island.  Beautiful!  See how much green there is in the water?  But in order to make it look like Maine, I need to paint it cool! 

Get out and paint!  Be brave!  If the painting doesn't turn out well, you can wipe it off!