Corey Aber

On my bike ride this weekend I passed this white house, and had to stop for a photo (thanks to my father-in-law for waiting patiently).

The shadows were so pronounced, the air so clear, and the foliage in the right state to try out some loose approaches to it that will be new for me. Since my sketch on last weekend’s ride I have been thinking about being freer with my painting, and there are areas of this that might warrant a different approach.

There was a little something more to this house that appealed to me, but I didn’t get at the time. Only later, when I showed the photo to my dad did I realize why I really liked it.

“If you had told me that was in Edgartown, I would have believed you,” he said.

I remember fondly the long vacations on Martha’s Vineyard as a kid, and I think, without realizing it, I immediately connected this view to that time. The photo doesn’t do it justice. I hope I can get the right feeling from the painting.

This evening I did the preliminary drawing on a block of 14×20 Arches. Then I laid in some under washes and dabbed in some of the underlying foliage, probably more than I should have. I haven’t worked this large before and the house was giving me trouble–you can probably see how much I have redrawn it as I worked out the basic shapes. Tomorrow I will mask the fences and tighten up the drawing. I still don’t have it at a point where I am comfortable with it, but I needed to see some areas blocked in with color to help me understand what really needed to be adjusted, and where I was over thinking it. I don’t have a good feeling about this one yet, but I am sure tomorrow will give me a new perspective on it.

Here is where it stands so far. Thanks for reading.