Have been working with scenes from Shaw Island for the last year. This reef netter is part of the history of Shaw and is located in front of the library. The temperatures on the day I was there last were too cold to move my paint around much less my feet and hands so I took the photo and worked this painting in the studio. 

The spring rains continue in western Washington but there are now days where the sun is out in all its glory. When I look out the window and the options are poor to be outside, I start setting up another still life for a small painting. I am enjoying the color and reflections of novelty glass like these bottles. Creating a composition that has energy can be challenging but here are some rules about composition: variation of intervals is critical and nothing should "kiss" in the painting. Meaning the items should either overlap or should be separate in space and  items in the scene can be painted off the canvas on 3 sides. 

More time behind the brush helps so much to understand color choices and composition. This set up started without the daffodil but after it was complete I knew something was missing. Out in my garden was this grouping of sweet little daffodils, the perfect complement to the bold blue. 6x6