Stewart Jones Art

A couple of months ago I was walking around Treasure Island looking for something interesting to paint. Near John's Pass I found this old sailboat morned near a boat yard. I didn't have a good view of the sailboat because of all the mangroves that were in the way. There was this one small opening that had a dilapidated dock with boards pointing out towards the vessel. Old structures and old boats are always quite interesting to me so I set up my easel and began sketching the composition. The scene was backlit; creating a lot of vibrant yellow/green leaves in the mangroves. There was so much action in the mangroves that I needed to indicate the sailboat as a few simple larger shapes so it would be viewed separately. I think my favorite part of the painting is the old dock leading you onto the sailboat. Watercolor on Arches archival paper 16 x 12.

There is nothing like painting an old wooden barn. They have so many stories to tell. We don't get to see many interesting barns these days where I live. A lot of them have been taken down and sometimes replaced by concrete and metal structures. Thus I have to refer to some of my old photos. This barn was on the farm where I grew up and has sense been demolished. I used go to the barn and feed the animals everyday before going to school. Sometimes I went to school smelling like an old barn. I wanted to keep the painting mostly warm earth colors to show late autumn season. I threw some salt into the still wet pigments and watched it create crystal like features that I transformed into weeds. A little red cardinal sits on a branch waiting on the first snow. Wouldn't it be nice to keep these old barns around forever?