Resurrecting Old Paintings

La Conner Tug

Watercolor and soft pastels on Arches cold pressed paper

Miki Willa

I took some time yesterday to go through all my old drawings and paintings, all that I have kept, anyway. There were so pleasant surprises, and some embarrassments. I pulled aside four that I think have potential. One of them was this painting. It was done in watercolor before I discovered the joys of pastels. It was done a long time ago. I really liked the boat, but everything else needed resurrection. I didn't have the original photograph, so it was a bit of a challenge. I haven't lived in the Northwest for a while, but I know that the cold water does not have the blue-greens we have here.

I decided to use the watercolor piece as an under painting, leaving some of it to show through. In the original, there were no cast shadows or reflections. The spit on the viewers left was very crudely done with bright reds on the buildings. Pretty much, the only thing I liked was the layout of the boat. It is a better piece now, but one day, I would like to go back to La Conner and do it all over again.