Tied Up Dog

"Relic Sunrise"    SOLD
watercolor on paper, 2013
6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.13cm)

This watercolor ventures a little outside of my usual palette, something I have been experimenting with lately. The challenge is in avoiding the typical postcard picture and the moment you choose a sunrise or sunset you are immediately faced with that quandary no matter what the subject.
This is due to the fact that both have been done so much and the colors of each are rooted in bright saturated yellows, oranges, pinks and purples.

However I do like the idea of doing some sunrise works, since most of my paintings to date have been later in the day. In many of those I managed to avoid this quandary by waiting until dusk when the colors of sunset have been sucked back into the horizon, painting just before sunset, or by turning east, north or south and away from the treachery of pinks and purples.

Having said that I will occasionally do one with the appropriate colors.

Whenever I see boats jacked up on stilts, looking like they have been forgotten, I think of some caged bird or a dog tied up as other dogs run wild. Here the forgotten boat faces the unseen marina, and away from the viewer, where other boats bob gently in the water. Neglected and left behind, it stands to face another dry day.

That was the idea but I think the bright colors actually defeat that concept. They don't quite burn.
I will have to try another version and re-tackle the melancholy theme.246