Happy Spring everyone! It's been a looong winter, and I honestly don't think anyone could be much happier about a change of seasons than I am! Any way, to kick off the new season I will wrap up my painting of the Varenna Shoreline. Below you will see I've gotten the buildings of the village fleshed out and am just launching into addressing the water:

Next I work on getting the boats laid in, and adding a little more detail and highlights to the shrubs and trees perched along that wall.

Then the final touches of the masts and buoys are laid down. I use a liner brush to lay in the delicate lines of the masts, starting from bottom to top. A mahl stick really comes in handy here to steady my stroke. At this point I am nearing completion. I may go into it again, but I am going to sit with this a while and start in on something new. If it's not 100% done, it is close.