ART OF GEORGE WILLIAM VAN HUMBECK

What do you do when you have a panel that is 48 by 16 inches? The usual convention would be to cut it down to make smaller panels? I had originally considered that. But I live in Bright's Grove, Ontario, and I love that panoramic view of the beach.

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This was my first use of a tinted ground. I chose a medium gray by mixing white and black gesso. The composition was made from amalgamating six photographs and some artistic license. This would be apparent to the locals as there are several man-made groins of large rocks all hewn the same size. I chose to create a more organic pile of rock. The storm clouds over the lake are quite common in the summer, always seeming to pass by to the north. To be true to the beach where I live it was necessary to pebble the beach. I learned from trial and error that it is trickier than you might think to create the illusion that the pebbles are covering a surface that is sloping away from our point of view. This painting contains a few firsts for me, but the one that I enjoyed most was the impression of the transparent depth of water on the left side of the painting. The shadows cast on the pebbled lake bottom help to define the idea. As I said previously, if at first you don't succeed glaze, glaze again. I found this the be very helpful when fine-tuning the waves to create the look of the varied distances. Glazing made subtle changes easy.

What do you think, should I have included a killdeer?