Quiet Night at Guilford Harbor, Guilford, CT
11 x 14" oil on canvas panel
framed in a natural wood frame
Our second night out painting a nocturne at the Guilford Harbor.
I switched over from acrylics to oil to see if I like the medium better for a nocturne painting. There are some advantages like drying slower that acrylics but one big disadvantage I could find is that with the lamp light or over head street light a very hard glare happens when a layer of oil paint is on the canvas. I had to keep moving left to right to see if I could dodge the glare. But once I got use to it, I didn't even notice that it was there.
Our second night was a little quieter than the first night. Although a few folks would drive by and yell out their car window "nice painting" - I was so slow to respond, I don't even think they heard me say "Thanks" as they drove off into the night.
One thing I do love about painting a nocturne is that the light source, usually a street lamp doesn't change like the way the sunlight changes throughout the day.
I was thankful that Eileen had an extra clip on light for my easel but it still was a challenge to see the true colors that you were mixing. It wasn't until the next day in daylight I could truly assess whether the colors looked correct or were totally off!
Now that the winter is approaching and the days are getting shorter, I've been scoping out new places to paint a nocturne painting. I found the Branford Green with the tall white church and red doors a definite on my list of places to paint.
