Fort WTF and the Power of Artistic License

Figuring out why a composition is failing can be a real challenge at times. If the painting fundamentally sucks, I know it’s a lack of talent or experience on my part. Sometimes, however, it just doesn’t look right. It’s on this latter front that I often find myself with boats. 

Granted, I don’t have extensive experience painting seascapes that highlight boats. They’re tricky and I believe lots of practice is the key to get the blizzard of weird angles, maddening levels of detail, and the reality that they move constantly, even when anchored, working in concert as a composition. 

Last week I did a short plein air session of boats – it was a total failure, although the outing itself was great time spent on the coast. I decided to try drawing the same scene in the studio to see if I could figure out the issues. As it turns out, this small study solved a lot of problems, of which there were 2 big ones.

First, the viewing angle was too steep, meaning it works better with a more horizontal perspective. The painting I had done was simply too aerial, probably in part because I was standing on a pier and secondly it was low(ish) tide, so everything was below my line of sight. 

Secondly, the composition included something very unusual, namely Fort Gorges, which is literally a Civil War era fort seemingly floating around in Casco Bay. It’s an iconic part of the Bay for those who know Portland, Maine, but for those “from away”, it’s basically a big ‘ol WTF part of the horizon. It’s made all the more confusing to the uninitiated because it has a tree filled square in it’s center, which makes Fort What-the-Fuck even more awkward with what looks like a Jolly Green Giant broccoli patch springing skyward. How does one work that convincingly into a composition. NOBODY! 

Upon realization that Fort WTF needed to be ignored, aka artistic license, the final version of the drawing was complete. Note that in the pictures there is a before and after version to show the impact of using a drastic design decision to make the composition work. Whaddya think?

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