Boats and Condos

The original painting is available.
This is another view from the observation tower at the Erie Basin Marina. I used a zoom lens to get a closer view of the boat docks. What attracted me to paint this image is that it’s realistic and yet it has a number of abstract qualities. The docks created a number of patterns and I enjoyed painting the silvery reflective surface of the lake. The roofs of the condos create another pattern of shapes and the dark shadows create a strong contrast with the water.

You may also be interested in another painting of a view from the same observation tower at Erie Basin Marina.

Lake Erie

Lake Erie
Acrylic on archival Gessobord
5” x 7”
Chris Breier © 2015

The original painting is available.
This past summer I spent an afternoon at the Erie Basin Marina and I walked to the top of the observation tower to get a better view of Lake Erie. It’s the values that create the sense of depth and light in a seascape painting. I struggled with this at first but that’s normal; I had to get some colors down first before I could make a judgement about whether it was too light or dark.

Buffalo Waterfront (SOLD)

Buffalo Waterfront

5"x7"

Watercolor on Strathmore watercolor paper, cold press

Chris Breier © 2014

I took the reference photo for this painting from the observation tower at the Erie Basin Marina. The large building has changed names over the years. It's currently known as "One Seneca Tower."The building in the center of the painting is a condominium known as "The Pasquale at Waterfront Place." I enjoyed painting the different textures and reflections created by the glass.

This painting started out as a pen and ink sketch that I drew without making a preliminary pencil drawing. This makes for a looser sketch where there may be multiple lines describing the same shapes. The line drawing is what creates most of the detail and this allows me to focus mostly on color when I get to the painting stage. You can watch me paint this in the YouTube video below.

If you like this painting you might be interested in my other watercolor paintings.

The YouTube video of this being painted below.