"St. Augustine, Bottom of Bridge Street"- 16x20 , oil on linen
I originally posted this painting a couple of weeks ago, but today I decided to revise my painting of "St. Augustine- Bottom of Bridge Street".
I knew the painting had potential, but as usual when I am trying to paint alla prima (in one session), I become tired towards the end of the painting session and things get compromised. In this case, I just threw in the background palm tree without much regard to composition. I knew it was a flaw , but I didn't want to mess with it, since I knew that the overall painting was still quite good and very expressive.
Normally, whenever I try to revise a painting after it has dried, I totally screw the whole thing up. Today I decided that I should take my chances, and that is what I did.
The gesture of the bougainvillea (which is the focal point of the painting) directs the eye towards the palm tree, which leads the eye to the little sailboat. Hence the viewer's eye is led through the composition in a circular fashion. I think I am starting to get the hang of all this! Anyhow, I am quite pleased with the painting now,which is a view of the doorway into the courtyard of The Sanchez House, in St. Augustine, a lovely old historic house that was built by Jose Simeon Sanchez, one of the Spanish colony of Florida's first and foremost statesmen. Crafted of coquina stone, the house hosted the prosperous and distinguished Sanchez family until the 1950's.
Here is the original post that I did a few weeks ago, so please compare the two paintings side by side and let me know if I improved the painting overall!
Bridge Street in St. Augustine is one of my favorite streets. It has a couple of real old quirky homes on it with wooden doors that just seem to scream out, "Paint Me! Paint Me!"
Today I did just that. I painted this old wooden door, set in stone at the bottom of Bridge Street on the site of the old Sanchez House, and crowned with a garland of bougainvillea for good measure. I happened upon this gorgeous scene while out for an early morning bike ride a few weeks ago while in St. Augustine. The camera was set on some sort of weird setting, but no matter. I was determined to paint the scene regardless of my lousy photography!
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