"Kitchen Ledge" oil 11 x 14 Evolution of a painting

"Kitchen Ledge"  11 x 14  oil 

Several years ago, I spent a week in a lovely old Victorian house in South Bristol, Maine with several of my artist friends.  I love the feel of the house, well worn, with a variety of comfy chairs, a wrap-around porch, plethora of cups, plates, and glasses, old linoleum and bathroom tiles from the 1960s.  I painted this still life on the window ledge, looking out into the yard.  The painting in the middle is my first go at it, and I was pleased with the backlit lemons, and the interior vignette against the outside.  When I brought it home from Maine, I made some alterations, adding another porch column and a railing.  I described the specifics of the changes in a blog post you can read about here.  

The house had a pencil sharpener on its door frame, which I liked, probably because we had one attached to the door frame in our kitchen growing up.  But, it never added anything to the painting, and was somewhat incongruous, and confusing. So, I excised the sharpener.  I like the painting much better now.  My painting group, Girls Just Wanna Paint, each interpreted the Golden Mean last month.  "Kitchen Ledge" is a good example of the Golden Mean, or Golden Section, in action.  

Thanks for looking.

"Weekend Getaway" oil 16 x 12

A few years ago I spent a great weekend in Provincetown painting with friends.  It was a cool couple of days, definitely pre-season, but so nice to be out walking the lovely streets with all their activity.
The January theme for my Girls Just Wanna Paint group was "referencing the golden section". Here's a good article about the proportions and how the ratio is incorporated into design.  
I have a few changes to make to this painting, but it captures the feel of the day, and uses the golden ratio as a basis for the design. 

Below are a couple of in process photos, and a pen and ink drawing.