A little more.....

Almost finished. Just a few more touches needed and I will paint around the edges of the canvas in a continuation of the front. This painting is on a fairly large 24ins x 24ins square gallery canvas with quite thick sides, so it needs no frame.

Somehow I seem to have got the cross piece of the top window pointing in the wrong direction! I will fix that, and then sign the painting.

Stockdale Mill painting stage 3

Here I have brightened up the colours of the building and worked on the rocks and water in the foreground. I have also put some highlights and shadows in the background trees.

As usual I am in danger of overworking the painting and making it too realistic!

Problems still to fix:

The perspective of the red building is still off a bit. The eavestroughing seems to get wider as it receeds, instead of getting narrower.

I haven't finished painting the left side of the picture yet. I think it needs some red to balance the large area of red on the right, but I am not sure what to do, as in the original scene there is no red there.

I will add a little detail to the windows that still need panes, but I will just suggest the cross pieces lightly.

The dead grasses in the foreground do not show up enough so need more contrast relative to the rocks.

In th orginal painting the yellow sky looks more even than it came out in the photo.

Next stage of mill painting

Here is stage 2 of my painting-in-progress of Stockdale Mill.

As you can see there is a lot of work still to be done. The perspective of the red building is a little off kilter. The windows for a start should not diminish in size quite so much. They need straightening.

The bare tree at the back is right at the corner of the rear building ,so needs to be "moved" a little to the right.

The yellowish part to the left should be lighter on the left hand side where the light hits and darker on the right. The roof should be almost white in places.

The reflections in the water need work.

The green grass on the right while making a statement, is a bit too bright. It could also be balanced by placing some other patches of green, perhaps behind the building. I will have to give that some tought. Suggestions?

I am not trying to make this a realistic painting. Hopefully I will not overwork it and make it too "real"!

Stockdale Mill for fine dining

Yesterday, my husband and I went to Stockdale Mill for dinner. This was a great experience. At night and in the snow with nicely positioned lighting, the old mill looked wonderful. We chose a table with a view of the water. The food was great and very reasonable prices. All home cooked. No alcohol licence as yet, but it is in the works. So is music.
Anyway, the visit inpired me to try and do a painting from a photo I took last year (see above).
I will try and post the stages as I go along. This is the first stage- actually the second- as I began by painting the whole gallery canvas (24ins X 24ins) in a light cadmium yellow.
Bear in mind that I took the photo inside with a flash (never a good idea) and the picture was just propped up against a cabinet, so there are some bits of furniture visible behind and the sides aren't straight.

The Mill is located west of Frankford on Stockdale Rd. It is just north of Trenton, Ontario.