Getting into refining stage

I basically touched all areas on canvas and now I'm going to refine colors and edges each section. From here there is not much difference I could make so this might be the last update. Unless I find something significant.

Main part of Ocean is done

I spent some time in this Sat morning and finished the main part of the ocean. I probably won't have to tough a while until the end. I'll go back to the trees to get feeling of volumes or depth. Currently the left side is completely flat.

Filling ripple with darker colors

After adjusting shapes of rocks, I started filling ripples on water with darker colors. I know they're too dark now but I'm sure I need to paint them over again and again between the dark part and light part before getting to the final values/colors.

Tackle with Trees

Although colors are still not right, or undecided, I started pushing values and adding smaller shapes and adjusting their relative positions. Then moved toward midground.

Roughly placed bigger shapes

I think bigger shapes are defined and placed properly. Now I can start refining the shapes and colors gradually. The key shapes/colors are ripples of water. They should be rounded since winds were calm inside of the harbor at La Push. Probably that part would decide if this painting is success or not.

Book touching Japanese American History in Seattle

 No direct relation to my art works. But this book "Hotel on the Corner Between Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford that I recently finished reading is about genuine love between Chinese- and Japanese-American teens in Seattle in the 1940s, which was torn by the war. The Japanese-American girl, Keiko, was talented and apparently became an artist as Kay Hatsune, which makes legit for this blog, I guess.

 I'm not going to reveal key plots here but what attracted me most was actually the scene setting in Nihonmachi (Japantown) in 40s. The focal point of the scene was Panama Hotel on the corner of 6th Ave S and S Main in International District, where Japanese immigrants used to stay long time after getting off the boats. I went to the tea/coffee shop at the hotel a couple of times after started reading this book, as well as Kobe Terrace Park located on a steep slope inbetween the hotel and I-5. From there I could see all the way down to Elliott Bay and Bainbridge Island. While standing there in sunny Saturday afternoon my mind was drifting to the past when Henry (the Chinese-American boy) and Keiko were in their childhood 70 years ago.

Suddenly Getting Better

Once I got the larger shapes right, it suddenly started showing completeness in this quadrant. I know I need to come back and adjust more values and smaller shapes and edges, I should at this moment move on to the other areas.

New Painting: Seagulls

Started a new animal painting. Technically birds are not animals. I guess I'm expanding my subject matters to bird kingdom. When I finished this, I would need to update my web site to be proper.
Anyhow, I drew this tonight. But I needed to adjust the size of birds more than a couple of times (sigh).

Still can't get shapes right

I'm still struggling with larger shapes even on one corner of this painting. The relative sizes of those rocks/cliffs weren't right, which was causing shapes unnaturally leaning left. I'm gradually correcting those mistakes at this stage. It's maybe a time to start another painting before pushing this further.

Came back to Cape Flettery painting finally

Last a couple of weeks, I kept working on "Aiming a Sharp Turn" because I wanted to finish it within last month so that I can say I'm finishing one piece a month still. After it's done over the weekend I worked on framing the cat painting then were preparing for several small canvas for plein air and another canvas for the next studio painting. Then finally came back to this piece tonight. The stage is still covering up the entire canvas with proper values for proper shapes. I'm still measuring those shapes relative relations gradually.