Oil painting: Yellow balconies

Oil on canvas panel, 16 X 12

Went to the beach on the weekend and stayed with his parents. The weather was beautiful. I saw the deep blue ocean, the dancing sparkles of sunlight on water, the endless stretch of sand, the cloudless sky, the bright yellow building next door... but I didn't see a painting until Sunday afternoon, when we were out talking on the porch. At some point we all turned around, with our back to the ocean, and then I saw it--a little to my right, the white/pale-gray house, the red chimney, and the yellow balconies against the clear turquoise sky. The juxtaposition of colors was striking.

I got a sudden urge to paint it.

As I was painting, I felt like I was wrestling with many problems at once: colors, lights, shapes, details of the architecture...all I had were only brushes and paints. At times I had to pause and ask myself: can I do this? And then proceed anyhow.

When I finished, it was also time to leave. I like the colors I used in this painting and think I'll call it the "yellow balconies."