Status of Original Painting – For Sale

All prices are in Canadian dollars

Size: 13.25 x 20  inches

Price: Inquire

Medium: Watercolour on 300 lb Arches

Description:

I was taking reference photos of the Outer Battery in St. John’s for what became the painting “Precariously Poised,” when I noticed these two sea gulls watching me intently. It seemed I was being trailed by two private detectives. I snapped a few photos and when I reviewed them later, I realized I had a whimsical and colorful scene to paint from sometime.

People ask me how I decide what to paint. Although I do commissions and specific requests, most of the time I simply paint what interests me at that moment. And that’s why you see the variety of seascapes, landscapes, wildlife, international scenes, musicians, and so forth. There are usually contrasts of colors and textures that make it interesting and challenging for me to paint. I also like a painting that tells a story and best if I can cap it off with a most suitable title.

I try to achieve realism and I know I’ve succeeded when people exclaim that they thought at first they were looking at a photograph. I include nitty gritty details that add depth and realism to the work, many of which you won’t see in the lower resolution images saved on this website. In the case of this painting, I belatedly realized that various white streaks I was carefully painting were gull guano! Such effort for realistic excrement! But these are obligatory details wherever sea gulls are to be found.

With my last painting “Sea-Weathered,” I noted the difficulty I’d had in deciding on a title until well after I had finished the painting. With this one, while I was looking at the reference photo, I realized these were young gulls. That prompted me to think “Young Guns” or “Young Dudes.” I was humming David Bowie’s “All the Young Dudes” to myself when I mentioned “Young Dudes” aloud as a possible title, and Emma Walters promptly and enthusiastically responded, “All the Young Dudes! Bowie! Cool!” And so this title was decided upon before I’d even started.