I Believe I Can Fly II

This post may look similar to my last post, 

but this week the turtle dreams are even bigger :)

After completing the 8x8 version of I Believe I Can Fly, I set to work on a 20x20 canvas, using the smaller painting as my study.  

Here's my initial sketch:

I used basically the same steps as with the smaller painting, but I had to work harder to achieve some of the effects that require laying wet paint into wet paint because it started to dry before I got to the second layer.

The smaller painting is now sold, but here's a bigger turtle with a bigger dream:

I Believe I Can Fly II, 20x20 Oil (available)

Two Views: Safe Harbor and Red Boat Reflections

Often, there are several different paintings that can come from one photograph.  This particular view of Vernazza, Italy, inspired two paintings for me, focusing on different aspects of the same scene.

In Safe Harbor, I cropped the original photograph to emphasize movement.  I liked the diagonal lines that start with the reflection near the bottom right and zigzag through the boats, up to the walkway on the top right, and across the plaza to the left.

My challenge with this composition was to gently bring the viewer's eye back to the foreground.  My solution was to emphasize the reflections of the buildings and umbrellas to vertically connect back to the boats.  Here is Safe Harbor, 20x20 Oil:

After the first painting, I decided I liked the reflections so much that I wanted to paint the scene again, but with the focus primarily on the boat reflections.  I chose a long, horizontal format and cropped the image for my 18x36 canvas like this:

Here's the result ...another point of view.  Red Boat Reflections, 18x36 Oil

Both of these paintings are currently available at The Little Art Gallery.