Nautical Painting.

Hello Amigos! My friend Melanie is having a baby boy pretty soon here. It's her first baby and I'm so excited for her. So excited... that I got a little ambitious. So ambitious, that I told her I would paint something for her baby's nursery. And I told her, "Just pick a painting. ANY painting, and I'll try to paint it for you". I thought, "Challenges are good. If my efforts look ugly, I'll just buy her baby a cute outfit instead and she doesn't have to hang the painting up and we'll both forget about it". Well... let me show you the inspiring image Melanie sent me in an email few days after my daring proposal.

Hola Gente! Mi amiga Melanie va a tener un bebe en unas semanas. Es su primer bebe, asi que estoy especialmente contenta por ella. Tan contenta... que me senti un poquito "extra" competente cuando le dije que le pintaria algo para la habitacion de su bebe. "Eleji una pintura", le dije. "LA QUE QUIERAS, y voy a tratar de pintartela". Pense, "Los desafios son buenos. Si se termina viendo fea la pintura, le compro una ropita linda al bebe, ella no tiene que colgar la pintura y las dos nos olvidamos del intento". Bueno, dejenme que les muestre la imagen que me mando Melanie en un email unos dias despues de nuestra conversacion.

Evening Sail by Sandy Nelson.

When I saw it in my email I thought, "I've never painted a colorful sky or water... or a boat, or people in a boat, or a sunset. Oh Man, I'm in trouble!" But you know, it's the "good" kind of trouble. The one that makes you try a bit harder and say a prayer before you start painting because it's so challenging! So I started and here's what I have so far.

Cuando vi el email pense, "Nunca pinte agua ni cielos coloridos... ni un barco, ni gente en un barco, ni un atardecer. En que me meti!" Pero, siento que es una "buena" metida de pata (como decimos en Argentina). El tipo de desafio que te impulsa a ponerle mas esfuerzo al intento y a hacer una oracion antes de empezar a pintar porque te cuesta tanto! Asi que, empece la pintura y asi va quedando.

I drew the main shapes and started laying down paint on the darkest spots.

Dibuje las formas basicas y pinte las partes mas oscuras.

And then I worked on getting rid of the white in the canvas and covering as much as I could with color (as close to matching the original as possible). I started noticing the warm (oranges, yellows, pinks) and the cold spots (blues, grays).

Despues trate de deshacerme de lo blanco del lienzo al cubrir la mayor cantidad de espacio con color (tan parecido al original como pude). Empece a notar los colores calidos (anaranjados, amarillos, rosados) y los colores frios (azules, grises).

And the more I looked at it, the better I could lay down the basic colors. It's like mapping it out.

Y mientras mas observo la pintura original, mas zonas de color aparecen. Como las de un mapa.

And this is as far as I've gotten on it. Melanie would like me to use my palette knife to add texture to the painting. So I think that's what I'll do next. 

Y hasta aca llegue anoche. A Melanie le gustaria que la pintura tuviera la textura que le da la espatula y mucha pintura. Asi que, creo que eso es lo que voy a tratar de pintar esta noche.

Candela