The Shift is in the Details

This painting I'm considering is loaded with details that make a boat his boat, a house, their house. They have to be noted, but they also have to be ignored, for they could mess up the painting. Simplicity and flow of the composition is the first consideration. Details should go in last. Determining which ones are important and which to ignore is the chore.

Since my cataract surgeries, details often get in the way when I'm painting. I like them, (I'm a architectural designer; details are what I do). The boat is loaded with them. The house is too. And no longer near sighted, I'm noticing them all. No longer blessed with eyesight that blurred out the pesky things, I have to constantly keep them from distracting me and downloading more than I need.

In the featured drawing today, I'm ignoring the safety rail that goes around the bow of the boat for now. I'm working from the background forward and will put that in as a suggestion last. Yesterday's featured drawing pointed out that the zig-zagging planes and roof lines of the side of the house needed a closer look. I took one last night and will probably take another for those details do make the house the house. Technically, this painting would be a portrait, not a landscape. It's a specific boat and a specific house on a specific piece of land. Details may be painted in last,but they really must be considered very carefully first to achieve the accurate likeness that the client is paying for.