Boats, WIP

I'm working on a painting and (((gasp))) it's not of a cat! ;P It's based on a picture Ross took at Kanuga. I'm doing this painting in oils on a 16"x20" canvas.

I began by doing a rough sketch in charcoal directly onto the canvas. I have learned the hard way not to use graphite because it will keep floating to the surface of the paint and then you have these ugly gray lines through your painting.

I apologize the color is so off in these pictures. This canvas is actually the normal white color ;P
After finishing the drawing I attempted to mix a gray color using alizarion crimson, cobalt blue, and white. According to an oil painting book I own this is supposed to make gray. I should have known better! Oh well, it will be a sunny day picture instead of a gloomy day picture :) Next I began blocking in the boats and the dock using white, naples yellow, ultramarine blue and raw umber. I also began painting the shadows of the boats on the water using raw umber and ultramarine blue.
Next I began correcting some of the drawing mistakes with the shape of the boat on the far left and the shadows.

I can already tell that this painting is going to take awhile to finish but it's fun doing something different and it's a good learning experience. If it doesn't turn out well I'm definitely going to try again because there are already some things I would like to do differently.