Today's painting of a small port in New England was inspired by a painting on the front cover of a recent L.L. Bean catalog and was originally painted by Scott Moore represented by Bayview Galleries.

I must admit, two years ago I would have thrown in the towel and stopped painting about 1/2 the way through this piece. Not only was I frustrated by the complexity of it but also unhappy with so much of what I'd done. Too many obviously mistakes that I almost didn't want to put this up for viewing. But since artists are their own worst critics I elected to bare my soul and go ahead and let you take a look.

Where do I start with an analysis of the faults of this painting? Honestly, it comes down to my poor sketching skills. I was unable to convey from the original painting the 'feel' of the little harbour. If you'll notice closely I've placed the anchored sailboat on the same plane as the dock. The dock in reality is actually behind the sailboat. Sketching prior to painting, I didn't pick up on this obvious mistake and proceeded.

Also, I've been harping on the importance of shadows in my paintings and the ripples on the water in front of the sailboat and at the dock aren't in the same direction. Could I argue that the land mass has changed the air pattern and it's different near the dock? I don't think that argument will work in painting!

Let's chalk this painting up as a 'primitive' and see if I can't learn something and apply it the next time I paint such a scene.