Barbados Stairway

I've really been dragging out the old travel photos lately. I've always been attracted to this scene. I tried to paint it years ago in watercolor. That painting was about 30" x 48". I got some base colors on it, decided my greens were too vivid (thalo green, ugh, a killer) and let it sit. After about 3 years I decided to try to salvage it but unfortunately I had left some resist on it which tends to become part of the paper after that long. Oh well. I now have a lot of practice paper.

This photo was taken while we were in Barbados on a cruise probably 20 years ago. We got off of the ship and asked a taxi driver to take us someplace nice to spend the day. He dropped us off at a quaint hotel that overlooks a beautiful bay. These are the steps that lead from the pool area down to a beautiful, secluded beach. It was a wonderful day and I'm glad I finally have finished a painting of the spot. One of the details that I love about this photo is that there is a bent twig holding the door open at the top of the steps. It doesn't really show in this photo and should probably show more in the painting so I may have to enhance that. When I paint the view from the top looking down it will show more because the twig will be in the foreground rather than the background. I wonder how long it will take before I get that one painted.

Barbados Stairway

Image Size 24" x 8"

Oil

Category › Barbados , cliffs , nancy goldman , oil painting , stairs to beach

Puerto Vallarta Coastline

This is a painting from a photo I took in Puerto Vallarta about 20 years ago and I've painted these cliffs before using transparent watercolor. This one is done with gouache. For my non-artist friends, gouache is opaque watercolor. I haven't painted with gouache since my 2D design class back in college which was a few years (uh, decades) ago. I wasn't crazy about it then because when I used it in large areas it was streaky and chalky looking. Now, I really like that chalky look but refer to it as being a velvety, matte finish. That sounds much nicer, don't you think? The gouache was really fun to paint with and a much more relaxing experience than when I use the transparent watercolors because areas can be covered with additional paint if I want to change anything. I can't wait to use it again. So many mediums, so little time.

Puerto Vallarta Coastline
Image Size 7" x 7"
Gouache on gessoed wood
Unframed - sides are painted - can be hung w/o frame
$100.00

Category › bougainvillea , cliffs , gouache paintings , Ocean , Puerto Vallarta